Behavioral Health Today

Birthday Special: Therapy Reimagined with Katie Vernoy and Curt Widhalm - Episode 65

In celebration of our first birthday, we’re releasing the first of two new episodes this week. In this episode, Katie Vernoy, LMFT, and Curt Widhalm, LMFT, the founders of Therapy Re-imagined Conferences, and hosts of the Modern Therapist Survival Guide Podcasts, join Dr. Graham Taylor in encouraging clinicians to reimagine therapy and therapist education. Their conferences and podcast are embracing aspects of making continuing education more active, teaching therapists how to find their authenticity, ways to bring their whole selves into their practice, and reconnecting to the values of what brought you into being a therapist.

 

For more information about Therapy Reimagined Conference 2021, please visit: https://therapyreimaginedconference.com

For more information about the Modern Therapist Survival Guide Podcast, please visit: http://mtsgpodcast.com/

For more information about the Therapy Reimagined Private Facebook Group, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/therapyreimagined

For more information about Therapy Reimagined, consultation, workshops, resources, and more, please visit: https://therapyreimagined.com

Birthday Special: The Psychology of Pandemics with Dr. Steven Taylor – Episode 64

In celebration of our first birthday, we’re re-releasing one of our favorite episodes from the past year. Author of The Psychology of Pandemics, Dr. Steven Taylor joins Dr. Graham Taylor in a discussion about the current and past pandemics. Dr. Steven Taylor outlines the patterns that occur from a global pandemic, identifies the warning signs of stress, and the components of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for symptoms that linger past the COVID-19 Pandemic. Together they identify the issues occurring and possible solutions toward better awareness and develop resilience that we can get through this. Let’s identify the things we can control, seize those, and the things that are out of our control will likely go much better for us.

For more information about the impacts of COVID-19 visit: https://coronaphobia.org

Free use self-assessment test to identify the warning signs of stress caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, visit: https://coronaphobia.org/list/

Trauma-Informed Work with Guy Macpherson Ph.D. - Episode 63

Trauma is a very unique aspect of our field, where we get to not necessarily bring people up out of their trauma but to join them in it. And as we do, we watch them find this path that's uniquely their own and they get to walk us through their path of healing. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor is joined by Dr. Guy Macpherson, clinical psychologist, and creator of the Trauma Therapist Project and the host of Trauma Therapist Podcast. Together they talk about trauma-informed work, opportunities for self-care within ourselves and the community, the importance of our self-exploration and authenticity within the therapeutic relationship, and finally the value of being able to honor someone's trauma process.

 

If you’re working with people who have been impacted by trauma, working in this area alone is very challenging. The Trauma Therapist Project is creating a community and safe space for trauma therapists to care for each other, share their experiences, and encourage each other.

 

For more information about Trauma Therapist 2.0, please visit:

http://traumatherapist2.com

 

For more information on the Trauma Therapist Podcast, please visit:

https://www.thetraumatherapistproject.com/podcasts/

 

For more information about The Inner Work eBook, please visit: https://www.thetraumatherapistproject.com/downloads/the-inner-work-ebook/

Part 2: Rethinking Your Private Practice with Joe Sanok – Episode 62

If you don't know the best use of your time and your money, where you're getting the biggest ROI, then you are missing out in so many different ways. In this second episode, we resume our discussion with Joe Sanok, the creator of Practice of the Practice, about ways to think about money and to grow that wealth in a way that can be beneficial to ourselves our time. Together they talk about opportunities for veteran practitioners, how to rethink the usage of our time and energy, and a message to practitioners about self-care and an encouragement to enter the public space more aggressively, actively guiding the conversation as a well-educated person that has the ethics behind it. Our message is bigger than what our clients hear. Our message is bigger than our own office.

 

For more information about Practice of the Practice, please visit: https://www.practiceofthepractice.com/

 

If you are just getting started in your private practice, please visit: https://practiceofthepractice.lpages.co/next-level-practice-invite/

 

Starting a Private Practice? Get this 28-step Checklist, please visit: https://practiceofthepractice.lpages.co/28-step-checklist-split-test/

 

Apply for Practice of the Practice consultation, please visit: https://practiceofthepractice.lpages.co/pop-apply-page/

 

For more information about Thursday is the New Friday book, please visit: https://www.amazon.com/Thursday-New-Friday-Smarter-Matters/dp/1400225981

Part 1: Rethinking Your Private Practice with Joe Sanok - Episode 61

Mental health is such a wonderful field to be involved in, but in our schooling, we are not typically taught about the business side of running a private practice. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Joe Sanok, the creator behind the practice of the practice. Joe is a speaker, a mental health counselor business consultant, and a podcaster. In 2012, Joe started the practice of the practice podcast and it's become the number one podcast for counselors in private practice, helping private practice clinicians find innovative ways to start and to grow and scale the private practice. Together they walk through the offerings of Practice of the Practice and how practitioners in the various stages of their career can rethink their private practice and align their work in unique ways that are successful and fulfilling.

 

For more information about Practice of the Practice, please visit: https://www.practiceofthepractice.com/

 

If you are just getting started in your private practice, please visit: https://practiceofthepractice.lpages.co/next-level-practice-invite/

 

Starting a Private Practice? Get this 28-step Checklist, please visit: https://practiceofthepractice.lpages.co/28-step-checklist-split-test/

 

Apply for Practice of the Practice consultation, please visit: https://practiceofthepractice.lpages.co/pop-apply-page/

 

For more information about Thursday is the New Friday book, please visit: https://www.amazon.com/Thursday-New-Friday-Smarter-Matters/dp/1400225981

EHRs and You with Dr. Susan Litton - Episode 60

There are a lot of aspects to our practice: HIPAA compliance, working with insurance panels, collecting copays, notifications of sessions coming up, note-taking, and more. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor is joined by Susan Litton, CEO of PSYBooks. Susan shares her story going from Clinical Psychologist to Web Developer and Designer a passion that gave her unique skills to help create a better EHR and Portal. She explains the history behind EHRs and some of the challenges that practitioners experience. And a look behind the PSYBooks program and some of the convenient tools behind their program to help streamline management and help practitioners.

 

 

For more information about PSYBooks, please visit: https://www.psybooks.com/

 

Read more about EHRs at https://www.psybooks.com/why-do-people-hate-ehrs/

Read more about the Open Notes Rule at https://www.psybooks.com/does-open-notes-apply-to-me/

Read more about PSYBooks integration at https://www.psybooks.com/more-than-a-three-room-house/

Read more about the various PSYBooks programs at https://www.psybooks.com/why-get-an-integrated-product/

Functional Contextual Approaches to Behavioral Health with Kristen Rollman, BCBA - Episode 59

The field of behavior analysis continues to uncover new and improved knowledge about behavior - for the purposes of description, prediction, and control - to emphasize the functional relationships between behavior and one's environment. In this episode Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Kristen Rollman, BCBA about the functional contextual approaches to behavior analysis, its importance within the assessment process, and how this approach can help understand cultural competency. By asking these types of questions you're really able to connect more with the families, the clients, and the programming that you're implementing to ensure it is the best fit for that individual. 

 

For more information about Evolution and Contextual Behavioral Science David Sloan Wilson and Steven C. Hayes, please visit: https://www.newharbinger.com/9781626259133/ 

For more information about Relational Frame Theory and Contextual Behavioral Science, please visit: https://contextualscience.org/ 

Part 2: Effective Leadership with Head Coach Joshua Taylor - Episode 58

In part 1 we were able to establish a foundation of what effective leadership is and some of the meaningful ways we define the role of being a leader. There are great opportunities for us to find ways to lead in our lives. In part 2, Dr. Graham Taylor is again joined by Joshua Taylor, Head Coach of the University of Missouri Women’s Volleyball Program. We'll resume our conversation today with a free association naming exercise that Dr. Taylor poses to Josh to think about those who have been leaders and mentors in our lives that have left an indelible mark. 

For resources from our topic of effective leadership:

Harvard Business Review 10 Must Reads on Leadership by Peter F. Drucker, please visit: https://store.hbr.org/product/hbr-s-10-must-reads-on-leadership-with-featured-article-what-makes-an-effective-executive-by-peter-f-drucker/12546

Dare to Lead by Brené Brown, please visit:
https://daretolead.brenebrown.com/

Wooden on Leadership by John Wooden, please visit: https://mhebooklibrary.com/doi/book/10.1036/0071453393

Part 1: Effective Leadership with Head Coach Joshua Taylor - Episode 57

 In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor is joined by Joshua Taylor, Head Coach of the University of Missouri Women’s Volleyball Program. Together they discuss the characteristics of being an effective leader, the value of being a good teammate, modeling yourself as a leader, living a disciplined life determined to do right things, gratitude and the importance of empathy and trust. These strategies, these ways of thinking, attitudes, behaviors, relational qualities, these are generalizable to all parts of our lives.

An effective leader earns the right to lead through individual connections and building trust within their group. 'Ubuntu' is a term that roughly translates to the concept 'I am, because we are'. In other words, Me is a result of We. And it's a way of living that some might see as the essence of being human, a person becomes a person through other people.

 

For resources from our topic of effective leadership

Harvard Business Review 10 Must Reads on Leadership by Peter F. Drucker, please visit: https://store.hbr.org/product/hbr-s-10-must-reads-on-leadership-with-featured-article-what-makes-an-effective-executive-by-peter-f-drucker/12546

Dare to Lead by Brené Brown, please visit:
https://daretolead.brenebrown.com/

Wooden on Leadership by John Wooden, please visit: https://mhebooklibrary.com/doi/book/10.1036/0071453393

Clinicians Series: Couples Focused Work with Michele Haley, Ph.D. - Episode 56

 This episode is part of our Clinicians’ Series, where we take a deeper dive into the strategies and therapeutic practices around couples focused work. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor is joined by Dr. Michele Haley. Michele has nearly two decades of experience in couples therapy, romantic relationship, and group work. Together they discuss terrific strategies for healthy couples communication, skill building, emotional regulation, identifying I-statements, listening exercises, and non-violent communication work. There is hope for couples and what they can achieve in their lives.

If you are in danger of intimate partner violence, please visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline: https://www.thehotline.org or call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)

For more information about Futures Without Violence, visit: https://www.futureswithoutviolence.org

For more information about the Aspire App, visit: https://www.whengeorgiasmiled.org/aspire-news-app/

For more information about the Hot Peach Page, visit: https://www.hotpeachpages.net/index.html

For more information about Gary Chapman’s book The Five Love Languages, visit: https://www.5lovelanguages.com

For more information about Sue Johnson’s book Hold Me Tight, visit: https://drsuejohnson.com/books/

For more information about John M. Gottman’s book The Seven Principles for Making Marriages Work, visit: https://www.gottman.com/product/the-seven-principles-for-making-marriage-work/

 

If you're looking for workshops on  learning about couples, counseling, or workshops for patients about Couple's communication, please visit: https://www.togetherwell.org/

And, if you are a therapist interested in joining TogetherWell, visit: https://www.togetherwell.org/join

Suicidal Crisis and the Art of Mental Wellness with Kevin Hines - Episode 55

In today's episode Kevin Hines, award winning global speaker, author, filmmaker, and suicide prevention and mental health advocate, tells his story of living with mental illness, being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and his survival after jumping from the golden gate bridge. Together Dr. Graham Taylor and Kevin discuss suicide prevention, the art of wellness, ways to successfully live well, and ways we can craft language and help those in suicidal crisis.

“You don't need to see the light at the end of the tunnel to know that it's there. You have to find a way to make it and find a way to move forward until you reach the hope.” 

If you believe someone you suspect is in a suicidal crisis, simply ask:

• Are you okay? Is something wrong? Can I help you? I am worried about you?
• or - I want to ask you a very serious question, but I don’t want to offend you. Are you thinking about killing your self? Have you ever made plans to take your life?

If you are hearing this message and happen to be a suicidal individual, ask for help. Use four simple but effective words, “I need help now”. And you must say it to every person you come across until someone is willing to guide you to safety.

 

If you are in crisis, please text CNQR to 741-741 or call 1-800-273-8255. (+1 for military or veterans)

 

For more information about Kevin Hines, visit: https://www.kevinhinesstory.com

 

Visit his YouTube channel with over 400 videos on how to better your life today:

https://www.youtube.com/kevinhines

 

Please visit his video playlist, Series: The Art of Wellness (A Ten Step Guide to Better Mental, Brain, Mind, Behavioral, and Physical Wellbeing)

 

Listen to his podcast, Mental Health Marvels Podcast

Eating Disorders with Lauren Smolar from NEDA - Episode 54

Eating disorders have the second highest mortality rate of any mental illness. In this episode Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Lauren Smolar, Senior Director of Programs at the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA). Together they discuss the behavioral patterns that lead to an eating disorder, questions around what defines certain eating disorders, warning signs that could indicate an eating disorder, and the impact of social media and COVID on eating disorders.  They also talk about crafting language so that you can approach someone in a way that’s helpful and nonjudgmental. If you're observing behaviors that have changed dramatically in somebody, even if it's their attitude around food or their feelings around being around you, those can be signs of concern and something to really look into and seek help for. Get involved in National Eating Disorders Awareness Week Feb. 22nd through 28th #NEDAwareness

 

If you are looking for help, please visit: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/screening-tool or call or text the NEDA helpline at 1-800-931-2237

To participate in this year’s Eating Disorders Awareness Week, get involved by visiting: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/get-involved/nedawareness

For more information about the National Eating Disorders Association, visit: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org

Human Spirituality and the Awareness of Personhood with Dr. Ann Callahan, LCSW - Episode 53

In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Dr. Ann Callahan, LCSW about how we can use human spirituality to enhance our relationships with clients in ways that will increase their quality of life. Dr. Callahan shares her experience working in hospice and palliative care and ways to incorporate this perspective into a client’s assessment, ways to engage in nursing homes, expressions of spirituality, dignity and respect, and the importance of personhood. Spirituality can add to the liveliness of an environment as a strength and the wholeness of that environment. Connecting with people is the vehicle through which we help.

 

For more information about Dr. Ann Callahan, visit: https://dranncallahan.info

Read Dr. Ann Callahan in Social Work Today, visit: https://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/0720p10.shtml

For more information on Social Work Today, visit: https://www.socialworktoday.com

Pathway Home™: A Successful Transition with Mark Graham, LCSW - Episode 52

In this episode Dr. Graham Taylor talks with Mark Graham, LCSW, Vice President and manager of program services for Coordinated Behavioral Care (CBC). Mark has been instrumental in the creation of CBC’s innovative Pathway Home™ program, an evidence-based critical time intervention program that effectively transitions individuals from intensive behavioral health settings to the community. Together they discuss how the Pathway Home™ program addresses the issues and the core needs of their clients, creating a synergistic team of social workers, and how this relational model is creating stronger relationships by actively engaging their clients with conversational assessment and connects them to a program close to their home and meets their needs in a sustainable manner. Pathway Home™ has achieved an incredible 94% rate of participants staying out of the hospital after the first 30 days back into the community.

 

If you would like to learn more and discuss a referral, please email PathwayHomeInfo@cbcare.org or call (646) 930-8841

For more information about Pathway Home™, visit: http://www.cbcare.org/innovative-programs/pathway-home/

For information about Coordinated Behavioral Care, visit: http://www.cbcare.org/

For more information about the Psychiatric Services articles on Pathway Home™, view article here. 

An Ink Stained Life with Dr. Lloyd Sederer - Episode 51

There is hope to achieve what we all want. A life with relationships, work that expresses our inner passion, and a life that leaves an indelible 'ink-stained' contribution. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor is joined by Dr. Lloyd Sederer, Mental Health Commissioner, adjunct professor, and author of a new book, “Ink-Stained for Life”, a collection of stories each matched by an essay connecting the story to today. The book takes you on a journey covering his development as a youth, gratitude, and a life of purpose and contribution. The stories in the novel demonstrate that when we come into people’s lives, we do leave an indelible mark, it can be a contribution that changes them forever.

 For more information about the novel Ink-Stained for Life, visit: https://www.askdrlloyd.com/ink-stained-for-life

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

For more information about the other books Dr. Sederer has authored, visit: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/authors/lloyd-i-sederer-md

For more information about the National Alliance on Mental Illness, visit: https://www.nami.org/home