The Fight to Save Psychotherapy

It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. We are human beings who can now present ourselves as whole people, with authenticity, purpose, and connection. Especially now, when therapists must develop a personal brand to market their practices.

To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.

Interview with Benjamin E. Caldwell, Psy.D. Dr. Benjamin Caldwell is the author of five books, including Basics of California Law for LMFTs, LPCCs, and LCSWs, which is now on its fourth edition, and Saving Psychotherapy, which has been the focus of several invited conference presentations. He serves as adjunct faculty for California State University Northridge and The Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA. In his role as Chair of the Legislative and Advocacy Committee for the California Division of AAMFT, he has been directly involved in California's first-in-the-nation ban on reparative therapy for minors, and he drove the change in title from "intern" to "associate" for prelicensed MFTs and PCCs. For his advocacy work, he was awarded the AAMFT Division Contribution Award in 2013. He is a California licensed marriage and family therapist (#42723) and maintains a private practice in Los Angeles, specializing in working with couples. In this episode we talk about:

• Why psychotherapy needs to be saved, looking at the huge financial barriers to entering the profession and the diminishing amount of money spent on treatment.
• The advocacy needed to address training requirements, outdated laws and ethical codes, etc.
• The importance of being clear in communicating what we do, how we’re different from each other, and why we do what we do
• Why people don’t like or trust therapists
• How Evidence Based Practices are impacting the field
• Why we’ve not become more effective as a profession
• The need to improve therapists, not treatment protocols
• The “way of being” of a therapist is more important than the clinical interventions used
• Deliberate Practice
• How to improve workplaces to take better care of therapists
• How to advocate at each stage of your career

Resources mentioned:

We’ve pulled together any resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links.

Curt’s almost weekly mention of Scott Miller and his work (and Ben chimes in a lot this time)

The Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference

Saving Psychotherapy by Benjamin E. Caldwell

Basics of California Law for LMFTs, LPCCs, and LCSWs by Benjamin E. Caldwell

Ben Caldwell Labs

Psychotherapy Notes

Our events:

The Brand Called “You”: Legal and Ethical Issues in Developing Your Personal Brand

The Therapy Reimagined Conference in Los Angeles in October 2018!!

Credits:

Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/

Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano http://www.crystalmangano.com/