Behavioral Health Today

Part 1: Creating Space for the Adoptive Experience with Moses Farrow, MFT – Episode 172

About 135,000 children are adopted in the United States each year. About 59% of those are from the child welfare or foster care system. 26% are from other countries and about 15% are voluntarily surrendered American babies. While a number of adoptions do go well, there are common, though often unrecognized and unaddressed issues within the adoption process and within the developmental stages, post adoption that deserves some attention. Trauma can in fact be evident in every part of the adoption experience, even the parts that seem perfect. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Moses Farrow, MFT. Moses is an Adoption Trauma Educator and Marriage and Family Therapist with more than 20 years in the mental health field. As a survivor of child abuse, adoption trauma, and suicide loss, Moses bridges his personal and professional experiences to raise awareness of the human rights and public health issues many adopted people have been facing. Together Graham and Moses discuss the importance of raising awareness around the adoptive process and some of the challenges around it. There is a need for safe spaces and the importance of a trauma-informed perspective when addressing the adopted community.

 

For more information about Moses Farrow, please visit: https://mosesfarrow.com

For more information about Adoption Trauma, please visit: https://www.transformadoption.com

For more information about #truthislouder, please visit: https://www.truthislouder.org

Connect with Moses on social media,

• on twitter @MosesFarrow and use #truthislouder for adoption trauma awareness or visit: https://twitter.com/MosesFarrow
• on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/moses.farrow.50
• or on Instagram at mosesafarrow, or visit: https://www.instagram.com/mosesafarrow/
• or email Moses directly at moses@mosesfarrow.com

An Issue of Ethics within the BCBA Industry with Karen Chung– Episode 171

There’s a need and a demand for ABA services with increased funding beginning to occur. The Behavior Analysis field has some great momentum but as the field grows, and large private equity firms enter this space, there is a concern of degradation of the treatment provided and the quality of services. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Karen Chung, Karen has 12 years of experience as a Certified Behavioral Analyst and is the CEO and founder of Special Learning, Inc., an education technology company that delivers web-based training, virtual supervision, and consultation for BCBAs anywhere in the world. Aside from her work with Special Learning, Karen has been at work building the Ethical Standards Board, an online database of certified ABAs and registered behavioral technicians available for the public to find qualified clinicians and agencies. Together they discuss the current state of the Behavioral Analysis field, some of the challenges of rapid growth, and the demand for services, as well as highlighting some of the gaps in the ethics code and how that fails to regulate the quality of treatment from large private equity firms. Finally, we discuss a new service called the Ethics Standards Board for ABA Centers (ESBAP), which provides a centralized database of ABA Agencies that are rated by their performance by peers as well as by their clients. ESBAP is creating a resource available to the public, to help shift and support those organizations that are behaving ethically, doing quality work, and outcomes-oriented that have opportunities for RBTs to find a career path to mentorship.

 

For more information about Special Learning Inc., please visit: https://www.special-learning.com/

To contact Karen Chung, please email at kchung@special-learning.com

For more information about the Ethical Standards Board for ABA Centers, the ESBAP, please visit: https://esbap.org/

Discussing Shame Behavior with Ragan Schriver, PsyD, MSW – Episode 170

Most shame-based messages are I am _____, and then we fill in the blank with whatever it may be. Most of our shame is unconscious. We have compensatory behaviors develop typically from an early age that set a course in our lives that everything we do is unconsciously driven by trying to avoid that feeling of I am (shame-based message) and to keep others from discovering this about us. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Ragan Schriver, PsyD, MSW. Ragan is an Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Tennessee College of Social Work as well as the Director of the MSSW Program, Knoxville Campus, and chair of the Forensic Social Work Certificate Program. He teaches clinical and leadership courses in the MSSW program. He also serves as the Special Assistant to the President of Catholic Charities USA. In this role he takes part in a team process to develop integrated health programs within the network. Together they discuss the experience of shame and how it can become a fundamental part of our lives. They discuss ways to find shame when working with clients and the challenges around shame. They discuss the idea of healthy shame can assist in understanding our limitations, but when we become overwhelmed with negativity, shame can limit our perspective. We discuss shame from a neurological perspective and some ways shame shows up in four general categories. Finally, we discuss how a therapeutic relationship can provide mirrors to question some of our shameful beliefs about ourselves and right side a sense of who you are. Berné Brown says, if you put shame in a petri dish and you add secrecy and silents and judgement, the thing is going to go crazy. But if have shame and add in empathy and invite others into this experience, then that will stunt the growth of shame.

 

For more information about the University of Tennessee and its Social Work Program, please visit: https://www.csw.utk.edu/

For more information about the UT College of Social Work’s Trauma Treatment Post-Graduate Certification Program, please visit: https://www.csw.utk.edu/post-graduate-trauma-certificate/

 

Part 2: Guidance Through the Grad School Process with Dr. Jeanne Stanley & Dr. Theo Burnes – Episode 169

This episode resumes the conversation with Dr. Graham Taylor and his guests Dr. Jeanne Stanley and Dr. Theo Burnes. In our last episode, we discussed the best practices of the graduate school application process and guidance on where to start, we listed off some questions to ask yourself to help create a list of needs and wats as you look at graduate programs, and we discussed the importance of knowing when graduate school is the right time for you. We’ll resume our talk today by discussing the admissions interview and coaching students to help them feel secure and be successful.

 

For more information about Dr. Jeanne Stanley and Watershed Counseling and Consultation Services, please visit: https://www.watershedservices.biz

For more information about Dr. Theo Burns, please visit: https://theoburnesphd.com

Part 1: Guidance Through the Grad School Process with Dr. Jeanne Stanley & Dr. Theo Burnes – Episode 168

Pursuing graduate school is a significant undertaking. For some students, they may not necessarily know exactly what they want or what they're looking for before they enter this process. Where do you start to help navigate the process successfully? In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Dr. Jeanne Stanley and Dr. Theo Burnes. Jeanne Stanley is a licensed psychologist and the CEO of Watershed Counseling and Consultation and founder of the company, Grad School Coaching. She also works as a national trainer, consultant, published author, and professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education in their Counseling programs with more than 25 years of experience. Theo is a licensed psychologist and professional clinical counselor in private practice. Theo is a professor in the graduate MFT and counseling program at University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education. Together they discuss the best practices to the application process of graduate school, creating a list of needs and wants, and they discuss the importance of knowing when graduate school is the right time for you.

 

For more information about Dr. Jeanne Stanley and Watershed Counseling and Consultation Services, please visit: https://www.watershedservices.biz

For more information about Dr. Theo Burnes, please visit: https://theoburnesphd.com

Bringing Sleep Back to the Autism Community with Emily Varon, BCBA – Episode 167

Up to a third of developing children will experience some sleep disturbance with most children experiencing difficulties going to sleep or maintaining sleep during the night. However, when we think of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, we don’t often realize that as many as 80% of these children experience debilitating sleep disturbances with trouble falling asleep and a tendency to wake up throughout the night. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Emily Varon, BCBA. Emily is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst with a dedicated focus on sleep-related behaviors. She has over 22 years of experience and devoted her practice to improving the sleep habits of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder since 2010. Emily’s company Ready.Set.Sleep, provides education, CEUs, sleep program development, and individual consultation to families seeking support with their child’s sleep. Together they discuss the challenges to sleeping and its effects on the body, we discuss the signs and symptoms of sleep disturbances, and finally some sustainable strategies to ready the body for sleep. Sleep is at the top of the pyramid when it comes to health and wellness, and the sustainability of these strategies do work.

 

For more information about Ready.Set.Sleep, please visit: https://readysetsleep.com

For more information about the services provided by Ready.Set.Sleep, please visit: https://readysetsleep.com/services/

For more information about Ready.Set.Sleep on Instagram, please follow at:  https://www.instagram.com/readysetsleep_/

Part 2: How AI is Unlocking Well-being with Rima Seiilova-Olson and Prentice Tom, MD– Episode 166

This episode resumes the conversation with Dr. Graham Taylor and his guests Rima Seiilova-Olson and Prentice Tom, MD. In our last episode, we discussed the ideas behind the creation of Kintsugi and the mental health needs Kintsugi is looking to address. We discussed the meaning of the name Kintsugi and its metaphoric significance. Rima and Prentice walked us through how Kintsugi’s AI voice program works and its various applications. We’ll resume our talk today by discussing how biomarkers, such as data recorded from Kintsugi’s AI program, is shifting the paradigm of mental health to mental wellness.

 

For more information about Kintsugi, please visit: https://kintsugihello.com

For more information about the Kintsugi App, please visit: https://kintsugihello.com/kintsugi-app

Connect with Kintsugi on Linkedin, please visit: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugihello

Part 1: How AI is Unlocking Well-being with Rima Seiilova-Olson and Prentice Tom, MD– Episode 165

People are suffering from mental health problems with roughly one in six adults, managing some symptoms associated with mental health at any given time. Depression is one such mental health challenge. But it isn't always easy to identify or to diagnose. However, there's one company that's developed an unusual way to tell if someone is depressed by listening to their voice, then using voice biomarkers to measure and predict wellbeing. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Rima Seiilova-Olson and Prentice Tom, MD. They’re both joining us on behalf of Kintsugi, a natural voice biomarker AI program that detects signs of depression and anxiety from short clips of speech. Rima is the founder and chief scientist at Kintsugi. Rima is a former competitive programmer who has extensive experience in developing and productizing ML models. Prentice is the chief medical officer at Kintsugi and a pioneer in health care. Dr. Tom graduated from Harvard Medical School, completed residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and was a Kaiser Fellow at MIT. Together we discuss the ideas behind the creation of Kintsugi and the needs Kintsugi is looking to address, we discuss the meaning of the name and its metaphoric significance, and Rima and Prentice walks us through Kintsugi’s AI voice programs and its various applications.

 

For more information about Kintsugi, please visit: https://kintsugihello.com

For more information about the Kintsugi App, please visit: https://kintsugihello.com/kintsugi-app

Connect with Kintsugi on Linkedin, please visit: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugihello

Providing Wellness Solutions for a New World with Percy Howard, CEO of CIBHS – Episode 164

CIBHS is working alongside community organizations and governmental entities to help improve the clinical services, focused on the needs of certain racial and ethnic populations, to the degree that the mental health of the individuals in that community is improved. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Percy Howard, CEO at the California Institute for Behavioral Health Solutions, a behavioral health consultancy for systems, organizations, and providers who desire to improve outcomes for people with mental health and substance use challenges. Percy is responsible for quality improvement, project construction, executive leadership, and all performance-related aspects of the CIBHS body of business and portfolio of projects. Together Graham and Percy discuss the strategy, skills, and tools to be able to help communities, the eye for the culture of mental health needs, social determinants and those challenges, and the involvement of CIBHS at a grassroots level. CIBHS is bringing restoration into social services and assisting people in the transformative work to help others grow and bloom.

 

For more information about the California Institute for Behavioral Health Solutions (CIBHS), please visit: https://www.cibhs.org/

To contact CIBHS, please visit: https://www.cibhs.org/contact/

Part 2: NBPA & Changing the Culture of Wellness in Athletics with Dr. William Parham, Derek Anderson, and Tracy Murray – Episode 163

This episode resumes the conversation with Dr. Graham Taylor and his guests, Dr. William Parham, the director of the National Basketball Players Association’s Mental Health and Wellness Program and two Wellness Program Advocates and former NBA superstars Derek Anderson and Tracy Murray. In our last episode, we discussed the NBPA’s Mental Health and Wellness program and its goals, the importance of managing one’s mental health, survivor mentality physical adversity, and the hidden genius found inside each of us. We’ll resume our talk today by discussing the importance of the spiritual side of who we are when addressing mental health. The antidote for shame and trauma is vulnerability. The more we talk about it, we can change that culture and narrative. It takes strength and trust to work through trauma and with vulnerability there is going to be greater health and wellbeing.

 

For more information about NBPA’s Mental Health and Wellness Program, please visit: https://nbpa.com/mentalwellness

For more information about the social media report Decoding Online Abuse of Players, please visit: https://imgix.cosmicjs.com/8b71df90-e064-11ec-bb19-d9085ce408df-FIFPRO-NBPA-WNBPA-DecodingOnlineAbuse.pdf

For more information about mental health and athletics, please visit: https://mindhealth.nba.com

For more information about Stamina Foundation, created by Derek Anderson that empowers youth and young adults with life skills, please visit: https://staminafd.com

We want to remind our listeners about the upcoming National Lifeline set to launch this July. If you need someone to talk to and/or in need of mental health resources, please dial 988.

Part 1: NBPA & Changing the Culture of Wellness in Athletics with Dr. William Parham, Derek Anderson, and Tracy Murray – Episode 162

An athlete’s mental health is their mental wealth. And the National Basketball Player’s Association is looking to lead the conversation in terms of redefining what mental health and mental illness is. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Dr. William Parham, the director of the National Basketball Players Association’s Mental Health and Wellness Program, and two Wellness Program Advocates and former NBA superstars Derek Anderson and Tracy Murray. Together they discuss the NBPA program and its goals, the importance of managing one’s mental health, survivor mentality, physical adversity, and the hidden genius inside each of us. There is a light inside us and the people around us that illuminates, so when we do the work to see how bright we shine, you’ll see the star system around us. The goal of the NBPA Mental Health and Wellness program is to help shepherd athletes with an outlet and education to find illuminate their hidden genius.

 

For more information about NBPA’s Mental Health and Wellness Program, please visit: https://nbpa.com/mentalwellness

For more information about mental health and athletics, please visit: https://mindhealth.nba.com

For more information about Stamina Foundation, created by Derek Anderson that empowers youth and young adults with life skills, please visit: https://staminafd.com

We want to remind our listeners about the upcoming National Lifeline set to launch this July. If you need someone to talk to and/or in need of mental health resources, please dial 988.

Open Path Psychotherapy Collective and Serving the Underserved with Paul Fugelsang & Caitlin Erwin – Episode 161

People are interested, motivated, and earnest in wanting to get help and begin therapy that is going to benefit their lives, but sometimes access to therapy or financial barriers can make that very, very hard. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Paul Fugelsang and Caitlin Erwin. Both Paul and Caitlin join us from Open Path Psychotherapy Collective, a national nonprofit providing affordable psychotherapy to uninsured or underinsured individuals, couples, families, and children. Paul is the Founder and Executive Director of Open Path. Paul is a Licensed Professional Counselor with 26 years of experience working in the mental health field. Caitlin is the Program Manager at Open Path. She has a MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lenoir Rhyne University. In her 6 years of experience with Open Path, Caitlin has helped break down barriers to access to mental health support. Together they discuss the Open Path platform, the ways clients can access therapists in a variety of specialties, the qualifying process as a therapist to become part of the collective, the free incentives available to therapists who work with Open Path, and finally, they discuss a new program focused on the healing arts called the Open Path Healing Arts Collective. Open Path Psychotherapy Collective is providing people with important mental health services, but with sensitivity to the financial and economic piece of access to care.

 

For more information about Open Path Collective, please visit:

https://openpathcollective.org

For more information about the Open Path’s Therapist Referral Program, please visit: https://openpathcollective.org/blog/open-paths-therapist-referral-program/

For more information about Open Path Healing Arts Collective, please visit: https://healingarts.org

For more information about Open Path Online Wellness Courses, please visit: https://mentalhealth.openpathcollective.org

Psychological Perspective of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher with Lloyd Sederer – Episode 160

There is something about Jack Reacher, the protagonist in a series of crime thriller novels by a British author, Lee Child, that is special. Child has written 24 New York times best-selling Jack Reacher thrillers, 14, having reached the number one position suggesting that Reacher is touching something in us that might just be worth understanding psychologically. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor is joined by Dr. Lloyd Sederer, mental health commissioner, adjunct professor, and super-fan of Lee Child’s Jack Reach book series. Lloyd has written four articles about the Jack Reacher character. Together Graham and Lloyd discuss the qualities we gravitate towards Reacher and a deeper discussion around reclaiming masculinity in the healthiest, most loving, tender-hearted, strong, courageous, noble kind of way.

 

Read Lloyd’s review of Blue Moon: A Jack Reach Novel: https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/blue-moon-jack-reacher-novel

Read Lloyd’s review of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher Books: A Confession and Holiday Reading List: https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/blue-moon-jack-reacher-novel

Read Lloyd’s review of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher Books: A Confession and Holiday Reading List: https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/blue-moon-jack-reacher-novel

For more information about Dr. Lloyd Sederer, please visit: https://www.askdrlloyd.com

For more information about Ink-Stained for Life by Lloyd Sederer, please visit: https://www.askdrlloyd.com/ink-stained-for-life

Public Policy and Systemic Change with Reyna Taylor – Episode 159

If we see the passion behind changing the system for mental health and substance use, both on the federal side and the state side, we have a real opportunity to make a difference in the change of that system. In today’s episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Reyna Taylor. Reyna is the Vice President of Public Policy and Advocacy. She leads public policy and government affairs activities, supervises legislative matters, and guides overall public policy strategy at the state and federal levels. Together Graham and Reyna discuss the work the National Council is doing on a federal and state levels, implementing systemic change, and the impact of national programs to assist both communities to address mental wellness as well as the health and wellness of providers to keep the workforce strong.

 

For more information about the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, please visit: https://www.thenationalcouncil.org

For more information about the National Council’s Policy Priorities, please visit: https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/get-involved/be-an-advocate/policy-priorities/

For more information about Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs), please visit: https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/our-work/ccbhc/

Commanding Collaborative Care with Virna Little – Episode 158

Concert Health is aiming to rearchitect the nation's behavioral health system with a mission to give every American access to higher quality behavioral health services in collaborative care with their trusted primary care provider. In today’s episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Virna Little. Virna is the Co-founder and Chief Clinical Officer for Concert Health, a national organization providing behavioral health services to primary care providers. Virna has a Doctoral degree in Psychology, a master’s in social work. She has over 22 years of experience as Senior Vice President for a larger FQHC network in New York overseeing over 300 behavioral health and community staff and worked in New York City Health and Hospitals as a city-wide family violence coordinator. Together they discuss the challenges of primary care in addressing mental health needs, the successes and improved patients from collaborative care, and the integration process and measurements used to identify patients, review patient progress, and build key relapse prevention. Concert Health is taking the mental health component off the hands of primary care physicians, making it easier for them, and supporting primary care physicians to truly practice whole person care.

 

For more information about Concert Health, please visit: https://www.concerthealth.io

To contact Concert Health about Partnership, please visit: https://www.concerthealth.io/contact-us

For career opportunities and joining the Concert Team, please visit: https://www.concerthealth.io/careers