This study examined the perspectives of master-level clinical mental health providers and members of leadership at a Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) in New Hampshire, to understand clinician and leadership perspectives as to why master-level providers choose to continue working at CMHCs. Most prior research on turnover in such organizations has focused on why so many leave their positions, however this study instead focuses on factors related to the decision to stay at a specific CMHC in an urban area of New Hampshire. A single case study method was utilized to focus on masters-level mental health care providers with additional interviews with leadership at the CMHC. Some of the findings that will be explored is what draws providers to community mental health centers, the importance of connections with colleagues and leadership, and aspects of why master-level providers stay. The study contributes to the understanding of clinician retention in community mental health centers and provides recommendations for master-level providers, CMHC leadership, and clinical mental health educators. Some of the overarching themes that surface from the data were around why clinicians remain in the CMHC, the reasons why providers do the work they do each day, the draw to CMHC, and reasons why people master-level providers consider leaving a CMHC. Connections with leadership and supervisor were very important in why clinicians want to stay at the CMHC. Licensure contracts were also an area that was explored in this research. Clinicians and members of leadership provided their perspective on licensure contracts and the implementation of the contracts. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu/) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu)
