• Making History in Delft, Holland: The Launch of the first Consumer-Driven Outcome Management App

    Dateline: October 18, 2011 Chicago, Illinois USA Last week I was in Europe: three days in Norway, a week in Sweden, and a day in Holland.  In a day or two, I’ll say more about developments in Norway and the launch of the largest study in history on FIT in Sweden.  Meanwhile, I’m pleased to… — read more

    Oct 18, 2011

  • Are Mental Health Practioners Afraid of Research and Statistics?

    A few weeks back I received an email from Dr. Kevin Carroll, a marriage and family therapist in Iowa.  Attached were the findings from his doctoral dissertation.  The subject was near and dear to my heart: the measurement of outcome in routine clinical practice.  The findings were inspiring.  Although few graduate level programs include training… — read more

    Sep 30, 2011

  • Psychologist Alan Kazdin Needs Help: Please Give

    Look at this picture.  This man needs help.  He is psychologist, Alan Kazdin, former president of the American Psychological Association, and current Professor of Psychology at Yale University.  A little over a week ago, to the surprise and shock of many in the field, he disclosed a problem in his professional life.  In an interview… — read more

    Sep 25, 2011

  • Achieving Clinical Excellence Conference 2013: CALL FOR PAPERS

    Horsholm, Denmark Spent the weekend with the planning committe for the 2013 Achieving Clinical Excellence Conference.  Committee members came in from all over the world–the USA, Romania, Holland, the UK, and Denmark–to finalize speakers, the conference venue, and mock up the logo for the conference brochure and advertizing.  Like last time, we are not only bringing in the… — read more

    Sep 20, 2011

  • The ICCE Feedback-Informed Treatment Manuals

      September 12, 2011 Copenhagen, Denmark Fall is in the air.  For me, that means the start of the travel season.  For the next two weeks, I’ll be traveling throughout Scandanavia–this week in Denmark and Norway.  It’s great to be back on the road meeting clinicians and consulting with agencies about feedback-informed treatment (FIT).  On… — read more

    Sep 12, 2011

  • Is Psychotherapy Dead?

      "AMERICANS PREFER DRUGS" screams the headline posted by the Reuters news service and attributed to Consumer Reports–one of the most respected periodical for the average American reader.  "NEARLY 80 PERCENT TAKE A PILL FOR DEPRESSION," the article continues.  Read a little further and do some searching around on the internet and a different story emerges.  Americans it turns… — read more

    Aug 26, 2011

  • Deliberate Practice: What’s all the fuss about?

    Whatever they might be engaged in—dancing, singling, teaching, or doing therapy, top performers make “it” look so easy. Witnessing such a performance inspires awe and wonder, leading many unitiated to whisper about some being lucky, “born with talent.” How else can one explain the superior abilities of those we admire? “Sure, most will readily acknowledge,… — read more

    Aug 24, 2011

  • Becoming FIT: The 2011 Training of Trainers

    August 10th, 2011 Chicago, IL The first week of August was one of the hottest weeks on record in Chicago.  It was also the location of the hottest training on "feedback-informed treatment" (FIT)–the 5th Annual "Training of Trainers" weeklong intensive training.  We worked intensively over 5 days preparing an international group of administrators, supervisors, researchers, and… — read more

    Aug 10, 2011

  • Yes, More Evidence: Spanish version of the ORS Validated by Chilean Researchers

    Last week, Chile.  This week, Perth, Australia.  Yesterday, I landed in Sydney following a 30 hour flight from the United States.  I managed to catch the last flight out to Perth before all air travel was grounded due to another ash clound–this time coming from Chile!  I say "another" as just over a year ago,… — read more

    Jun 16, 2011

  • How Much More Evidence Is Needed? A New Meta-Analysis on Feedback-Informed Treatment

    Received an email from friend and colleague John Norcross, Ph.D.  Attached were the results of a meta-analysis completed by Michael Lambert and Kenichi Shimokawa on Feedback-Informed Treatment (FIT) which will appear in the second edition of his book, Psychotherapy Relationships that Work (Oxford University Press).  For those who cannot wait, you can access the same results… — read more

    Jun 9, 2011

  • The World Did Not End: What it a Bad Thing?

    May 25th, 2011 Chicago, Illinois On Saturday the 21st of May, 2011 the world was supposed to come to an end.  It did not.  My question: was that a bad thing?  Would it have been better if, as the now twice wrong Prophet Harold Camping predicted, the world had ended.  In the world of public… — read more

    May 25, 2011

  • The Mystery of Mastery: Excellence Takes Center Stage in the Psychotherapy Networker

    The Psychotherapy Networker has long been the most popular periodical among practicing clinicians.  Rumor has it that the magazine has 80,000+ subscribers and sells over 120,000 copies of each issue.  If you want to know what therapists are thinking and talking about, the Networker magazine is the place to look.  And in the May/June issue,… — read more

    May 16, 2011

  • The "Fragile Balance": Putting the Pieces together at the 2013 Achieving Clinical Excellence Conference in Amsterdam, Holland

    Dateline: May 8th, 2011 Copenhagen, Denmark It is with great pleasure and high expectations that I announce the second "Achieving Excellence Conference" to be held in Amsterdam, Holland on May 16th-18th, 2013. The title of the 2013 ACE conference is, "Putting the Pieces Together: The ‘Fragile Balance,’" emphasizing the steps, practices, and supports required for excellence in the field… — read more

    May 9, 2011

  • The Cryptonite of Behavioral Health: Making Mistakes

      Most people readily agree that its important to "learn from mistakes."  In truth, however, few actually believe it.  Mistakes are like cryptonite, making us feel and, more importantly, look stupid and weak.  As a result, despite what we might advise others, we do our best to avoid making and admitting them.  Such avoidance comes with… — read more

    May 7, 2011

  • Why is this man laughing?

    May 4th, 2011 Copenhagen, Denmark Just finished my first day of a two week trip covering spots in Denmark and Holland.  Yesterday, I traveled to Copenhagen from Hilo, Hawaii where I was presenting for the Hawaiian Association of Marriage and Family Therapy.  Dr. Gay Barflied (pictured on the far left above) spent years lobbying to… — read more

    May 4, 2011

  • The "F" Word in Behavioral Health

      Since the 1960’s, over 10,000 how-to books on psychotherapy/counseling have been published—everything from nude marathon group therapy to the most recent “energy-based treatments.” Clinicians have at their disposal literally hundreds of methods to apply to an ever growing list of diagnoses as codified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (soon available in… — read more

    Apr 20, 2011

  • Changing Home-Based Mental Health Care for Good: Using Feedback Informed Treatment

    Modified                 Arnold Woodruff     &    Kathy Levenston   Some teach.  Some write.  Some publish research.  Arnold Woodruff and Kathy Levenston work for a living!  Kathy Levenston specializes in working with foster and adopted children. Arnold Woodruff developed the first intensive in-home program run by a community services board in Virginia. He has over 30 years of experience, and has served as… — read more

    Feb 8, 2011

  • The Growing Evidence Base for Feedback-Informed Treatment (FIT)

    Dateline: February 2, 2011 Location: Anchorage, AK   Greetings from Anchorage, Alaska where I’ve been traveling and teaching about feedback-informed treatment (FIT).  On Monday, I worked with dedicated behavioral health professionals living and working in Barrow–the northern most point in the United States.  FIT has literally reached the "top of the world."  How incredible is that? Here… — read more

    Jan 25, 2011

  • Getting FIT: The Advanced Intensive Training

    Dateline: January 19, 2011 Buffalo, New York The New Year is here and travel/training season is in full swing.  Last week, I was in Ohio and Virginia.  This week New York and Idaho (keep your weather fingers crossed, it’s going to be dicey getting from here to there and home again). Interest in "Feedback Informed… — read more

    Jan 19, 2011

  • Getting FIT in the New Year: The Latest Evidence

     John Norcross, Ph.D.  is without a doubt the researcher that has done the most to highlight the evidence-base supporting the importance of the relationship between clinician and consumer in successful behavioral healthcare.   The second edition of his book, Psychotherapy Relationships that Work, is about to be released. Like the last edition, this volume is a virtual… — read more

    Jan 18, 2011

  • Becoming FIT: Simple but not Easy

    Becoming FIT (feedback informed in treatment).  Ask any experienced practitioner and they will tell you, "it’s such a simple idea, but it’s not easy."  In addition to the time it takes to master the administration and interpretation of formal feedback, special skills are required for using the information to guide service delivery.  Implementation in agencies… — read more

    Nov 29, 2010

  • The War on Unhappiness Heats Up

    Back in September, I blogged about an article by Gary Greenberg published in the August issue of Harper’s magazine that took aim at the "helping profession."   He cast a critical eye on the history of the field, it’s colorful characters, constantly shifting theoretical landscape, and claims and counterclaims regarding "best practice."   Several paragraphs were devoted to my own work; specifically, research documenting the relatively inconsequential role that particular treatment approaches play… — read more

    Nov 24, 2010

  • Feedback informed treatment (FIT) takes center stage in Sweden

    Just a short entry to highlight recent developments in Sweden… On November 17th and 18th, over 500 politicians, agency directors, and service managers gathered together to discuss "the future of alcohol and drug treatment" in Sweden.  High on the agenda? Feedback Informed Treatment!  Psychologist and ICCE Associate, Gun-Eva Langdahl and the rest of the talented crew at… — read more

    Nov 23, 2010

  • Cha-cha-cha-changes on a Grand Scale: Think Tank Meets in Chicago

    David Mee-Lee, MD     Bill Miller, Ph.D.     Scott D. Miller, Ph.D. Jim Prochaska, Ph.D.                                    Don Kuhl, CEO Change is in the air.  Whether in the United States or Europe, Asia or Australia, the field of behavioral health is undergoing a period of dramatic change.  Some would say, "transformation."  At least that’s the verdict of the group… — read more

    Nov 11, 2010

  • Growing by Leaps and Bounds: ICCE Membership Nearing 2000!

    In December 2009, the International Center for Clinical Excellence was officially launched.  From our booth at the Evolution of Psychotherapy conference, the international web-based community "went live," adding hundreds of members in a few days.  By April, as I reported in my blog, over 1000 clinicians, researchers, policy makers, and adminsitrators had joined the site, making… — read more

    Nov 9, 2010

  • Pushing the Research Envelope: Getting Researchers to Conduct Clinically Meaningful Research

    At the recent ACE conference, I had the pleasure of learning from the world’s leading experts on expertise and top performance.  Equally stimulating were conversations in the hallways between presentations with clinicians, policy makers, and researchers attending the event.  One of those was Bill Andrews, the director of the HGI Practice Research Network in the UK who… — read more

    Nov 5, 2010

  • Am-ACE-ing Events in Kansas City: The First International Achieving Clinical Excellence Conference

    Here’s a riddle for you: What do therapists, researchers, case managers, magicians, surgeons, award winning musicians, counselors, jugglers, behavioral health agency directors, and balloon twisting artists have in common? Answer: They all participated in the first "Achieving Clinical Excellence" held last week in Kansas City, Missouri. It’s true. The "motley" crew of presenters, entertainers, and attendees came to Kansas… — read more

    Oct 27, 2010

  • What is "Best Practice?"

    You have to admit the phrase “best practice” is the buzzword of late. Graduate school training programs, professional continuing education events, policy and practice guidelines, and funding decisions are tied in some form or another to the concept. So, what exactly is it? At the State and Federal level, lists of so-called “evidence-based” interventions have been assembled and… — read more

    Oct 20, 2010

  • No Therapist Left Behind: Improving the Quality and Outcome of Behavioral Health Services One Practitioner at a Time

    Staying “up-to-date” isn’t easy in today’s practice environment. In these lean economic times, training budgets are often the first to be cut. On the other hand, trying to separate the “important” from “irrelevant” in our information-rich age can be, as Mitchell Kapor once observed, “a bit like trying to get a drink from a fire hydrant.”  … — read more

    Oct 12, 2010

  • Clinician Beware: Ignoring Research Can be Hazardous to Your Professional (and Economic) Health

    “Studies show…” “Available data indicate…” “This method is evidence-based…” My how things have changed. Twenty years ago when I entered the field, professional training, continuing education events, and books rarely referred to research or evidence. Now, everyone refers to the “data.” The equation is simple: no research = no money.  Having “an evidence-base” increasingly determines book sales, attendance at… — read more

    Sep 25, 2010
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