Welcome to the Transform Awards Winner Spotlight Series, celebrating innovation and leadership in reshaping industries and workplaces globally. These awards commend individuals and companies at the forefront of transformation, setting new standards and challenging the status quo. Recognized for their people-centric and visionary approaches, our awardees are the global changemakers pioneering advancements in business, entrepreneurship, and beyond. This series shines a light on their achievements and the impactful ways they’re moving the world of work forward.
About The Award: Team Magnet – Talent Strategy of the Year
This award recognizes the company with the most exciting and exceptional approach to recruiting, onboarding, and growing both internal and external talent.
About Our Transform Awards Winner Brightside Health
Founded in 2017, Brightside Health delivers life-saving mental health care to individuals across the full spectrum of need, from mild to severe. Combining precision psychiatry, evidence-based therapy, and a technology-driven platform, Brightside Health meets members where they are with personalized, high-quality care. Our mission is to make life-changing mental health care accessible to everyone, delivering hope, healing, and recovery.
Let’s hear from Stephanie Murray, Brightside Health’s senior director of talent Acquisition, to see what made them stand out!
Initiative Overview
Transform: What does this recognition mean to your team?
Stephanie: Winning the Transform Award for Talent Strategy of the Year is a tremendous honor for our team. It validates the heart and innovation behind our approach to recruiting and supporting clinicians in a fully remote environment. This recognition affirms that relationship-building, creativity, and human-centered practices can drive powerful outcomes even without face-to-face interaction. It inspires us to continue evolving and pushing the boundaries of what talent acquisition can look like in mental health care.
Transform: Can you tell us about the initiative or program that earned you this recognition?
Stephanie: Our standout initiative, the Brightside Talent Collective, reimagines how we connect with clinicians before traditional hiring even begins. By building an engaged, mission-driven community of future hires through meet-and-greet events, curated content, and ongoing relationship nurturing, we created a vibrant pipeline that shortens hiring timelines, strengthens our employer brand, and ensures that every new hire feels deeply connected to Brightside’s purpose.
“Our culture thrives when we lead with empathy, clear communication,
and a sense of belonging from the very first interaction.”
Transform: What inspired this idea? How did it first come to life?
Stephanie: The idea was born from the urgent need to keep pace with the soaring demand for mental health services during a period of rapid growth. Traditional hiring models felt too reactive and transactional. We envisioned a new model rooted in proactive relationship-building, drawing inspiration from how we nurture long-term connections with our patients, and applying that philosophy to our clinicians.
Transform: What challenge or opportunity led your team to focus on this initiative?
Stephanie: We faced a critical challenge: high demand for qualified clinicians paired with lengthy traditional hiring and credentialing timelines. We needed a way to dramatically speed up the process without compromising on quality. The opportunity was clear: build connections early, even before roles officially open, to create a ready-to-hire pool of talented clinicians who were already passionate about Brightside’s mission.
Impact & Results
Transform: How do you measure the success or impact of this initiative?
Stephanie: We measure success through key hiring metrics, including time-to-hire, candidate engagement, offer acceptance rates, and overall clinician retention. We also monitor clinician feedback and engagement within the Talent Collective to ensure we are delivering value before, during, and after the hiring process.
Transform: What outcomes or changes have you seen resulting from this work?
Stephanie: Since launching the Talent Collective, we reduced our average clinician time-to-hire by 4 days in just one quarter, bringing it down to 15 days, which is remarkable for the industry. Additionally, onboarding times have been cut by over 50%, allowing clinicians to start making an impact more quickly. Most importantly, we’ve built a highly engaged community that sees Brightside as more than just a platform.
Transform: Can you share an example of how this initiative has positively impacted your team, culture, or business?
Stephanie: One of our Talent Collective members, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) living abroad, remained so connected and inspired through our community that she made a major life decision to move back to the U.S. solely to join Brightside Health. She has since flourished within our team, contributed to positive culture-building, and referred multiple clinicians to Brightside, showing the transformative power of early and consistent engagement.
Transform: Do you have any photos, stories, or links showing this initiative?
Stephanie: Our emails and connection points are proprietary, but here’s a snapshot of how we invite clinicians to Meet & Greets, so they can join our Talent Collective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyvSmKQXb0g&t=103s
Insights & Learning
Transform: What is one lesson or challenge your team faced, and how did you work through it?
Stephanie: One early challenge was maintaining meaningful engagement with Talent Collective members without overwhelming them with communication. We iterated quickly, introducing tailored content streams based on each clinician’s career stage and interests, ensuring we nurtured engagement and offerings thoughtfully rather than flooding inboxes.
“Candidates and employees increasingly expect experiences
that support their individual needs, not just efficient processes.”
Transform: What has this experience taught you about your people, culture, or customers?
Stephanie: This initiative reaffirmed that people—whether candidates, employees, or patients—crave authentic human connection, even in virtual environments. Our culture thrives when we lead with empathy, clear communication, and a sense of belonging from the very first interaction.
Transform: What advice would you give to other organizations aiming to create a similar impact?
Stephanie: Don’t wait until you have a job opening to start building relationships. Think long-term. Treat every candidate interaction as the start of a partnership, not a transaction. Invest in community-building efforts that keep your mission top of mind for future hires.
Growth & What’s Ahead
Transform: How does this initiative align with your company’s mission or vision?
Stephanie: Brightside Health’s mission is to make life-changing mental health care accessible to everyone. By recruiting and supporting clinicians in a proactive, human-centered way, we ensure that we always have the right talent in place to meet our members’ needs quickly, compassionately, and effectively.
Transform: What are your next steps? How do you plan to expand or evolve this work?
Stephanie: We are evolving the Brightside Talent Collective to include career development planning, mentorship pairings, peer networking, and professional education resources, creating an even stronger sense of belonging and growth opportunities within our clinician community. We are also in the beginning stages of starting a Therapist Associate Collective for clinicians still in school.
Transform: What is your company’s vision for the future in terms of workplace transformation or leadership?
Stephanie: We envision a future where remote, mission-driven workplaces foster even deeper community, belonging, and professional growth. Our leadership philosophy centers around empowering clinicians with the tools, support, and human connections they need to thrive, no matter where they are located.
Industry Perspective
Transform: What workplace trend or shift do you think will matter most in the next 3–5 years?
Stephanie: Personalized employee experiences will be more critical than ever, especially as AI integrates more deeply into talent functions. As automation and technology streamline parts of recruiting, onboarding, and engagement, organizations must intentionally prioritize the human touch. Candidates and employees increasingly expect experiences that recognize and support their individual needs, career aspirations, and personal well-being, not just efficient processes.
At the same time, remote work will continue to evolve, requiring companies to invest even more in authentic connection and community-building. Organizations that succeed will blend smart technology with high-touch, relationship-driven strategies, ensuring that while AI may support the process, human connection remains at the heart of the experience.
Transform: How do you see your work today influencing the future of work, teams, or culture?
Stephanie: We believe that leading with humanity—building real relationships early and nurturing them over time—will set the new gold standard for remote talent strategies. Our work demonstrates that innovation in hiring isn’t about technology alone; it’s about creating connections at scale.
Final Thoughts
Transform: Is there a memorable moment from this journey that stands out to your team?
Stephanie: The overwhelming feeling of being recognized for this award during the ceremony will forever be the most memorable moment of this journey!
“Relationship-building, creativity, and human-centered practices can
drive powerful outcomes even without face-to-face interaction.”
Transform: Is there anything else you’d like to share with the Transform Community?
Stephanie: We hope our story encourages other organizations to think beyond traditional hiring pipelines and invest in building authentic, mission-driven communities around their talent. It’s transformational not just for recruiting—but for culture and retention too.
Transform: How would you sum up your overall Transform experience?
Stephanie: Inspiring, energizing, and affirming. Transform celebrates the kind of bold, people-first innovation that we are deeply proud to champion at Brightside Health.
Check out our other Transform Spotlights on the blog to learn more about our Global Ambassadors. People-First Leaders, Authors, Award Winners, and more!