You may have heard of Aspire Indiana Health in passing, but chances are, you don’t know about all of the things Aspire offers and the many initiatives they are working on.
More than 50 years ago, Aspire developed their roots in the behavioral health space, serving Boone, Hamilton, Marion and Madison counties. They have continued to work in behavioral health, offering addiction treatment, rehabilitation treatment and crisis intervention, understanding how mental and emotional health impacts life.
“At Aspire, we serve people who often face multiple, overlapping challenges: medical needs compounded by a mental health condition, an addiction issue exacerbated by housing instability – the list goes on,” said Antony Sheehan, president and CEO of Aspire. “These aren’t hypothetical scenarios. They’re real stories from the lives we touch every day.”
Regardless of what you’re going through, there’s a person on the Aspire team ready to share resources, provide care and lend a listening ear.
“We see ourselves as compassion activists, driven by a heart for service,” Sheehan said. “But for us, compassion is only the beginning; it leads, and innovation follows. That’s why, when a patient walks into one of our clinics, they don’t just get an assessment and a follow-up plan. They gain access to resources that fit their needs and circumstances. We can be a patient’s medical home, psychiatrist, recovery coach, and even their advocate for housing, employment or benefits.”
Dr. Gina Forrest, chief culture and health equity officer, leads the HOPE (health, outreach, prevention and education) team, going out into the community and meeting people where they are.
“Fifty percent of our health has nothing to do with medical care,” Forrest said. “If you don’t have a place to lay your head tonight, you don’t care about getting your diabetes medicine. The HOPE team is literally going out and offering HIV testing, hepatitis C testing, bringing a meal to unhoused camps and trying to change lives.”
Seven years ago Aspire added more services to their system. They now offer primary care with six outpatient offices, and regardless of insurance, they aren’t turning anyone away.
Think of it as a one-stop shop of sorts – receiving all of your health care needs in one space.
“They’re in the same building and that means you get better care,” said dianna Huddleston, vice president of community partnerships. “Most people who suffer from depression or anxiety go to the medical provider first. At Aspire, he or she can connect you with a therapist right there in the building so you can get started and have those conversations. The fact that the pharmacy is in the building means I can see my doctor and go right downstairs to the pharmacist to pick up prescriptions.”
In fact, two of their newest physicians, Dr. Olivia Smith, family practitioner, and Dr. Joanna Chambers, psychiatrist, both specialize in women and children, and work hand in hand with women dealing with substance abuse, postpartum struggles, physical ailments and more.
They are even completing their first year of same-day access, and it’s working just as expected. In 2023, patients would wait approximately 23 days for their appointment, but as of today, patients can call in the morning and are seen that afternoon.
“You can walk into our office today, fill out the paperwork, meet with a coordinator and talk through your needs,” Huddleston said. “We have 5,000 new patients come in per month with our same-day services.”
One of their well-known phrases is, “There’s no wrong door.”
“Some people come in for medical care and that’s all they need,” Huddleston said. “Others we meet for the first time through addiction treatment, or maybe someone called our 24-hour crisis hotline. We meet people along their journey in a variety of ways, but from there, we can connect you to others who can help.”
The relationships built both in and out of the Aspire office are making a difference. Huddleston works on developing community partnerships and Forrest works with human resources, training new employees and improving workplace well-being.
“We want to engage others that do similar work in our communities,” Huddleston said. “We want to maintain relationships with local, state and federal legislators. We want people to be aware of all our services. Our outreach coordinators are busy making those connections, building relationships and looking for ways to partner with nonprofits, the juvenile and adult court system, the county jails and law enforcement. We can’t do any of this without having great relationships.”
Inside Aspire, Forrest is working on developing that culture among physicians and other specialists.
For so long, specialists have worked in silos, in their own practice with their own training, and those in their circle understand how they approach a patient’s need. Aspire is asking those professions to merge together for the good of the patient.
“They’ve been trained to speak their own language based on the profession, so we talk a lot about inclusive language, bias and generational differences,” Forrest said. “There isn’t one way to do something, so we spend a lot of time looking through that intentional lens of helping people feel they belong, their voices are heard and they are empowered at Aspire.”
In early 2025, Aspire conducted their Community Health Needs Assessment. It’s a survey both online and through a variety of focus groups, looking at what the community feels are pressing needs.
“We are able to take that data and reimagine some of our programs and services,” Forrest said. “We want to form health equity alliances in each of our counties with our partners so we can make true change. Let’s get in front of the city council or governing body and show, based on the data, we might be able to help improve the lives of the people in your community.”
Aspire accepts all insurance plans or lack of insurance, including HIP (Healthy Indiana Plan), Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance plans.
“You might not have economic means, but you’re no less of a person,” Forrest said. “You matter to us, and if we can reduce barriers and have integrated care, I think that’s how we should treat people. I’m glad Aspire is here, and it’s our culture that drives the more-than 800 people who have that same mindset to work every day.”