Trauma Informed Work Place

An interview with Kristin Martinez, LMFT, about how trauma informed practices apply to the workplace. Curt and Katie talk with Kristin about her person-centered management, the benefits of treating employees well, and the risks of managing individuals as though they were cogs in a machine.

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 Kristin Martinez, LMFT Kristin Martinez is a licensed therapist who developed a process of management coined: Person Centered Management. She developed Person Centered Management through her own experience and expertise in trauma informed psychotherapy and being a leader in several organizations. Kristin owns a consulting firm and a group therapy practice. Prior to being a business owner, Kristin spent over 10 years in the mental health field as case worker, therapist, and administrator in private, contracted, and government entities. She has experience as a Director in Logistics prior to entering the field of mental health and knows the power of good teaming.

In this episode we talk about:

• The idea of best practices for workplaces – Trauma Informed Workplaces, Person-centered management
• How Kristin came to identify the need for trauma informed practices not just with clients, but with the therapists and workforce as well
• Looking at the community mental health perspective
• How current practices lead to burnout at all levels
• How to introduce best practices into public mental health
• The importance of treating employees as people and developing real relationships with employees
• A primer on trauma informed perspective
• Look at context of behavior in order to address things like timeliness
• The idea of “therapy for the work place”
• Best practices for supervising and managing
• The myth that this type of work that focuses on the individual takes more time
• The risk of burnout and turnover for workplaces that don’t take care of their people
• How to introduce these concepts into the classroom
• How to infuse hope into the option of working in community mental health
• The importance of boundaries, asking for help, understanding expectations
• The attempts of these agencies to improve employee engagement and supporting the staff to stay longer
• The danger of the silos that different clinicians can be in (i.e., community mental health, private practice, other types of treatment centers)
• The benefit of connection with other therapists
• How processing your own stuff, making sure to consult, and taking time for self-care needs to be incorporated into a trauma-informed workplace
• Suggestions for group or solo practice owners to incorporate these best practices
• How Kristin puts her money where her mouth is, in her group practice
• Looking at how the workplace can impact each individual, looking at trauma responses for everyone involved (every client, every employee, everyone)
• Kristin believes that therapists are too focused on behavior and symptom reduction
• The importance of training all staff within interdisciplinary teams, taking care of all staff at levels
• The hope of transforming workplaces to make our career more sustainable