CONVERSATIONS CREATE CAREER TURNOVERS CONVERSATIONS

It’sbeen thirty years since C.J. Davis ’94 dribbled the ball down the court at the Charles Field House. The valuable messages he received on the sidelines from his coach, Steve Hill, made an incredible impact on his life and transformed his future.

“We used to do this thing right before every single practice where we could come together, and coach would give us a five-minute life lesson – something outside of basketball or outside of education,” Davis said. “He always found ways to get us to think beyond who we were as college students. For me, it happened to be one of those life-changing moments. It started to encourage me to be more introspective, examine my behavior, and think about what kind of impact I want on the world.”

Those inspirational chats from Coach Hill caused one of the most significant assists of Davis’ life.

Motivated to align his leadership style of servanthood, the business major expanded his studies and found psychology. Or, as Davis would say, psychology found him.

Today, the Culver-Stockton alumnus is the CEO of one of the country’s largest nonprofit community behavioral health and addiction treatment organizations. Burrell Behavioral Health, which joined Preferred Family Healthcare in January 2022 and now operates independently under the parent company Brightli, has over 200 service locations across four states. Treatments through the program range from counseling to addiction recovery to crisis intervention, among others. Burrell also offers an autism center, youth focus clinic, and integrated services connecting mental health care with community organizations.

As a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in child and adolescent mental health care, Davis found a way to combine his interest in business with his personal mission to make a difference in others’ lives. After earning his undergraduate degree at C-SC, he graduated with a master’s degree from the University of Central Missouri and a doctorate from The School of Professional Psychology at Forest Institute in Springfield, Missouri. With three decades of experience under his belt, he describes the industry as evolving in a positive direction, from a taboo subject to one that is perceived as more acceptable.

“Early on, mental health was something that people didn’t talk about. It was mysterious. It was stigmatizing. People were not proud to talk about how they felt,” he said. “But over the course of time, I have noticed a big shift. Mental health is now cool.”