Rising Tides Lifts All Boats
How Mental Health Collaboration is the only way to help clients
In the industry of behavioral healthcare, I can say that I’ve been met with a sundry response from all types of mental health professionals. On one end of the spectrum, I have the overly eager to collaborate professionals who see the benefit of “staying in your lane” and helping their clients get connected to all the right resources. On the other end of the spectrum, those who are possessive of their clients find themselves often rearing their ugly competitive heads and intentionally avoiding any collaboration. And of course, everything in between. Sadly, what I’ve been met with the most is those who are enmeshed with their clients and not seeing the benefit of building a therapeutic team around the client and the entire family system. It’s a real shame.
What it comes down to is a lack of education and understanding. What is comes down to is discomfort in letting go of a client who desperately needs more than what you can offer. Along those lines, it’s admitting that you as a professional aren’t enough for that one client. For anyone that is competitive, that doesn’t sit well with you. Losing a client, or rather connecting them to the appropriate resources (i.e. not you), also means you need to market yourself to fill their space. This could be easily done if you are great at your job, living in an area of high need, or damn good at marketing. Or, if you’re holding on to that client because you are worried you won’t fill their slot for awhile, well that’s putting the client in harms way because you are either lazy or haven’t mastered marketing yourself yet. Either way, there’s plenty of other professionals close by who may be interested in helping you.
You see, the idea of all working together to help ourselves and each other will translate to our clients getting well. If we are competitive of our territory, referrals, and clients, we aren’t doing anything but truly shooting ourselves in the foot. For me, I don’t work with adolescents. Guess what? The majority of the inquiry calls I get are for adolescents. I’m sure you can also guess that I don’t just say “sorry, I can’t help you” to the families and end the call. I actually refer them out to other professionals. Why? Because I’m a collaborator. I want what’s best for my clients, and for any family who connects with me looking for support.
It’s unfortunate that in the treatment industry there are bottom lines for revenue. At the same time, we are running a business so there has to be some generated income to continue to stay afloat. Since we are in the industry of helping those who are really struggling, it’s most important for us to put the human first. We must put each other first. If we are vindictive, conniving, dismissive, or not supportive of each other we will only be sinking our own ships. And when that starts to happen, you may not have anyone who is willing or around to throw you a life raft.
The quote “rising tides lifts all boats” speaks to this needed change of more collaboration. Collaboration is the rising tide.If you fight against it, you’ll find yourself harming your own business, professional reputation, and most importantly – your clients. Look around you. Learn about the different types of professionals in your area and how you can support each other. It’s the relationships that will drive your success, and ultimately the success and well-being of your clients. Just think about it.
For questions or comments contact Joanna.
