DeDe Gatens

DeDe Gatens serves as Chief Customer Officer at Deer Oaks Behavioral Health, where she leads enterprise business development, customer engagement, and marketing strategy for one of the nation’s largest behavioral health providers dedicated exclusively to post-acute care settings. Since joining Deer Oaks in 2002, DeDe has played a pivotal role in the organization’s national expansion and long-term strategic growth.

Bringing more than 15 years of prior experience in nursing home administration, DeDe offers a unique operational perspective that bridges the needs of healthcare operators, clinical teams, residents, and families. Her leadership has been instrumental in expanding Deer Oaks’ geropsychology services from a single-state operation into the largest geographically distributed behavioral health provider in long term care in the United States.

Throughout her career, DeDe has remained focused on strengthening partnerships with skilled nursing, rehabilitation, long-term care, assisted living, and memory care organizations by helping facilities improve access to high-quality behavioral health services for aging populations. She is recognized for her collaborative leadership style, deep understanding of post-acute care operations, and commitment to customer-centered solutions that support both resident outcomes and facility success.

DeDe frequently works alongside healthcare executives, operators, and clinical leaders to develop scalable behavioral health strategies that address the growing mental health and psychiatric needs of medically complex and elderly populations across the continuum of care.

A graduate of Texas State University, DeDe earned her Bachelor of Science in Health Care Administration in 1993. She has long described serving older adults as her calling and remains deeply committed to advancing compassionate, accessible behavioral healthcare for residents nationwide.