“Two great speakers – inspirational in the first half and bang on in the second – I now know how much I don’t know”
Just out now in time for Christmas…no seriously though… this year I had the good fortune to team up with Biomedica and in particular Rachel McDonald and we delivered a 3 hour seminar called Mental Health in Holistic Practice. The intention behind this collaboration was to shift the education focus for practitioners from a prescription based approach, to one really about the clinical reality of managing mental health clients. Probably most of you will agree that the ‘treatment’ counts for only a portion of the positive outcomes in your patients and this is particularly true in clients challenged with mental health issues. After more than 20 years in practice working in this area, I’m keen to share what I’ve learned so other practitioners can get there much much faster!
While Rachel McDonald set the foundation with hands on help: the critical questions to ask, the important stuff to understand about the diagnoses & the best ways to approach care, I got to do the fun stuff! I presented two of my current clients – a 15 year old boy with marked anxiety disorders and a 40 something female with severe dysfunctional depression. So many of our clients are ultimately our teachers and these two together really illustrate the important stuff we need to understand beyond the prescription…
I want someone who is anxious & scared to trust me and form a therapeutic rapport that will accelerate their recovery – how do I facilitate that?
I want someone with amotivational depression to exercise – how on earth am I going to make that happen?
I’m treating teenagers: how do I connect and whose agenda am I to follow: theirs or their family’s?
How do I work with someone who’s already medicated? How do I work with someone who’s not?
This seminar received excellent feedback from attendees including:
“Fantastic Seminar – incredibly useful and accessible- best seminar I have attended”
“A thoroughly professional, informative and insightful event – made sacrificing a sunny Sunday well worth it – Thank you!”
So if you missed our seminar you can purchase your very own DVD recording of it J here’s the link …just in time for Christmas …that break you’re going to take from clinic over the new year when you catch up on all the educational stuff you couldn’t fit in previously…at least that’s my plan J