Behavioral Health – Page 3 – Scott D.Miller

Ohio Update: Use of CDOI improves outcome, retention, and decreases "board-level" complaints

A few days ago, I received an email from Shirley Galdys, the Associate Director of the Crawford-Marion Alcohol and Drug/Mental Health Services Board in Marion, Ohio. Back in January, I blogged about the steps the group had taken to deal with the cutbacks, shortfalls, and all around tough economic circumstances facing agencies in Ohio. At… — read more
Hope Transcends: Learning from our Clients

"Hope Transcends" was the theme of the 39th Annual Summer Institute on Substance Abuse and Mental Health held in Newark, Delaware this last week. I had the honor of working with 60+ clinicians, agency managers, peer supports, and consumers of mental health services presenting a two-day, intensive training on "feedback-informed clinical work." I met so… — read more
So you want to be a better therapist? Take a hike!

How best to improve your performance as a clinician? Take the continuing education mutliple-choice quiz: a. Attend a two-day training; b. Have an hour of supervision from a recognized expert in a particular treatment approach; c. Read a professional book, article, or research study; d. Take a walk or nap. If you chose a, b,… — read more
Feedback Informed Treatment (FIT): A Worldwide Trend in Behavioral Health

In my prior blogpost, I reviewed exciting developments taking place throughout Canada regarding "feedback-informed treatment" (FIT). For those following me on Twitter–and if you’re not, please do so by clicking on the link–you already know that last week I was in Tunbridge, England for a two day training sponsored by the Kent-Medway National Healthcare Trust on "Supershrinks: Learning from the Fields… — read more
O Canada! Leading the Way to Improved Behavioral Health Services

Last month, I traveled back and forth between the United States and Canada several times. First, I was in Edmonton working with several hundred dedicated social workers, case managers, and therapists at The Family Centre. A week later I traveled to Saskatoon, spending two days talking about outcome-informed clinical work at the Addiction Professionals Associational of Saskatchewan… — read more
Implementing Consumer-Driven, Outcome-Informed (CDOI) Behavioral Health Services: The ICCE and 2010 Training of Trainers Event

This week I’m in Calgary, Canada. Last week, I was in Charleston, South Carolina. Next week, I’ll be in Marion, Ohio and Bay city, Michigan. In each instance, I’m working with the management and staff of public behavioral health agencies that are busy implementing consumer-driven, outcome-informed clinical work. Some of the groups are just beginning… — read more
The Road to Clinical Excellence is Paved with Practice, Mistakes, & Hard Work

Last week, I received an email from friend and ICCE member David Claud. I’ve known Dave for the better part of a decade, having met–I believe–at a Ericksonian conference in Florida where he lives and works. He and the crew at the Center for Family Service in Palm Beach County figure prominently in the history… — read more
More Eruptions (in Europe and in Research)

Dateline: Tuesday, 8:21pm, April 20th, 2010, Skellefteå, Sweden What an incredible week. Spent the day today working with 250 social workers, case managers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and agency directors in the far nothern town of Skellefteå, Sweden. Many practitioners here are already measuring outcomes on an ongoing basis and using the information to improve the results of their work… — read more
Eruptions in Europe and in Research

Dateline: 11:20 am, April 18th, 2010 Today I was supposed to fly from Stockholm, Sweden to the far northern town of Skelleftea–a flight that takes a little over an hour. Instead, I’m sitting on a train headed for Sundsvall, the first leg of a 12 hour trip that will include a 6 hour bus ride… — read more
Where Necessity is the Mother of Invention: Forming Alliances with Consumers on the Margins

Spring of last year, I traveled to Gothenburg, Sweden to provide training GCK–an top notch organization led by Ulla Hansson and Ulla Westling-Missios providing cutting-edge training on “what works” in psychotherapy. I’ll be back this week again doing an open workshop and an advanced training for the group. While I’m always excited to be out and about traveling… — read more
Improving Outcomes in the Treatment of Obesity via Practice-Based Evidence: Weight Loss, Nutrition, and Work Productivity

Obesity is a large and growing problem in the United States and elswhere. Data gathered by the National Center for Health Statistics indicate that 33% Americans are obese. When overweight people are added to the mix, the figure climbs to a staggering 66%! The problem is not likely to go away soon or on its own as the same figures apply… — read more
Neurobabble Redux: Comments from Dr. Mark Hubble on the Latest Fad in the World of Therapy Spark Comment and Controversy

Last week, my long time colleague and friend, Dr. Mark Hubble blogged about the current interest of non-medically trained therapists in the so-called "neurobiology of human behavior." In my intro to his post, I "worried" out loud about the field’s tendency to search for legitimzing foundational metaphors. Over the years, psychotherapy has flirted with… — read more
Outcomes in New Zealand

Made it back to Chicago after a week in New Zealand providing training and consultation. As I blogged about last Thursday, the last two days of my trip were spent in Christchurch providing a two-day training on "What Works" for Te Pou–New Zealand’s National Centre of Mental Health Research, Information, and Workforce Development. Last year… — read more
Excellence on a Shoestring: The “Home for Good” Program

Today I’m teaching in Christchurch, New Zealand. For the last two days, I’ve been in Nelson, a picturesque coastal town opposite Abel Tasman, working with the local DHB (District Health Board). If you’ve never visited, make a point of adding the country to your list of top travel destinations. The landscape and the people are second to none. (In… — read more
Leading for a Change: The Training of Trainer’s (TOT) Chicago

I’m writing tonight from my hotel room at the River Rock Inn in Rockland, Ontario, Canada. For those of you who are not familiar with the area, it is a biligual (French & English) community of around 9,000 located about 25 km west of Ottawa. Today through Thursday, I’m working with the staff, supervisors, and agency administrators of… — read more
Addressing the Financial Crisis in Public Behavioral Healthcare Head On in Chesterfield, Virginia

If you are following me on Twitter (and I hope you are), you know the last month has been extremely busy. This week I worked with clinicians in Peterborough, Ontario Canada. Last week, I was in Nashville, Tennessee and Richmond Virginia. Prior to that, I spent nearly two weeks in Europe, providing training and consultations in the… — read more
The Future of Behavioral Health: Integrated Care & Entrepreneurship

Nicholas Cummings, Ph.D. Sometime in late 1986 I wrote a letter to Dr. Nicholas Cummings. As a then student-member of the American Psychological Association (APA), I was automatically subscribed to and receiving the American Psychologist. In the April issue, Dr. Cummings published an article, provocatively titled, "The Dismantling of Our Health System: Strategies for the Survival of Psychological Practice." … — read more
The Turn to Outcomes: A Revolution in Behavioral Health Practice

Get ready. The revolution is coming (if not already here). Whether you are a direct service provider (psychologist, counselor, marriage and family therapist), agency, broker, or funder, you will be required to measure and likely report the outcomes of your clinical work. Jay Lebow, Ph.D. Just this month, Dr. Jay Lebow, a professor of psychology at the… — read more
Behavioral Healthcare in Holland: The Turn Away from the Single-payer, Government-Based Reimbursement System

Several years ago I was contacted by a group of practitioners located in the largest city in the north of the Netherlands–actually the capital of the province known as Groningen. The "Platform," as they are known, were wondering if I’d be willing to come and speak at one of their upcoming conferences. The practice environment was undergoing dramatic change,… — read more
Accountability in Behavioral Health: Steps for Dealing with Cutbacks, Shortfalls, and Tough Economic Conditions

As anyone who follows me on Twitter knows, I get around. In the past few months, I visited Australia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark (to name but a few countries) as well as criss-crossed the United States. If I were asked to sum up the state of public behavioral health agencies in a single word, the word–with very… — read more
Outcomes in the Artic: An Interview with Norwegian Practitioner Konrad Kummernes

Dateline: Mosjoen, Norway The last stop on my training tour around northern Norway was Mosjoen. The large group of psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, case managers, and physicians laughed uproariously when I talked about the bumpy, "white-knuckler" ride aboard the small twin-engine airplane that delivered me to the snowy, mountain-rimmed town. They were all to familiar with the… — read more
Practice-Based Evidence in Norway: An Interview with Psychologist Mikael Aagard

For those of you following me on Twitter–and if you’re not, click here to start–you know that I was traveling above the artic circle in Norway last week. I always enjoy visiting the Scandanavia countries. My grandparents immigrated from nearby Sweden. I lived there myself for a number of years (and speak the language). And I am married… — read more
Evidence-based practice or practice-based evidence? Article in the Los Angeles Times addresses the debate in behavioral health

January 11th, 2010 "Debate over Cognitive & Traditional Mental Health Therapy" by Eric Jaffe The fight debate between different factons, interest groups, scholars within the field of mental health hit the pages of the Los Angeles Times this last week. At issue? Supposedly, whether the field will become "scientific" in practice or remain mired in traditions of… — read more
"What Works" in Norway

Dateline: Tromsø, Norway Place: Rica Ishavshotel For the last two days, I’ve had the privilege of working with 125+ clinicians (psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, and addiction treatment professionals) in far northern Norway. The focus of the two-day training was on "What Works" in treatment, in particular examining what constitutes "evidence-based practice" and how to… — read more
Are all treatments approaches equally effective?

Bruce Wampold, Ph.D. Late yesterday, I blogged about a soon-to-be published article in Clinical Psychology Review in which the authors argue that the finding by Benish, Imel, & Wampold (2008) of equivalence in outcomes among treatments for PTSD was due to, "bias, overgeneralization, lack of transparency, and poor judgement." Which interpretation of the evidence is correct? Are there… — read more
DODO BIRD HYPOTHESIS PROVEN FALSE! Study of PTSD finally proves Wampold, Miller, and other "common factor" proponents wrong

Researchers Anke Ehlers, Jonathon Bisson, David Clark, Mark Creamer, Steven Pilling, David Richards, Paula Schnurr, Stuart Turner, and William Yule have finally done it! They slayed the "dodo." Not the real bird of course–that beast has been extinct since the mid to late 17th century but rather the "dodo bird" conjecture first articulated by Saul Rozenzweig, Ph.D.… — read more
Why ongoing, formal feedback is critical for improving outcomes in healthcare

Not long ago, I had a rather lengthy email exchange with a well-known, high profile psychotherapist in the United States. Feedback was the topic. We both agreed that feedback was central to successful psychotherapy. We differed, however, in terms of method. I argued for the use of simple, standardized measures of progress and alliance (e.g., ORS and SRS). In support… — read more
Magical Moments in Kansas

Registrations are already coming in for the first International Conference on "Achieving Clinical Excellence." Earlier on this blog, I announced that internationally known researcher K. Anders Erickson, Ph.D.–the "expert on experts"–had agreed to present at the event. At that time, I also indicated that a number of internationally accomplished performers from a variety of professions (including psychology, business, medicine,… — read more
New Year’s Resolutions: Progress Report and Future Plans

One year ago today, I blogged about my New Year’s resolution to "take up the study of expertise and expert performance." The promise marked a significant departure from my work up to that point in time and was not without controversy. "Was I no longer interested in psychotherapy?" "Had I given up on the common factors? The… — read more
The Study of Excellence: A Radically New Approach to Understanding "What Works" in Behavioral Health

"What works" in therapy? Believe it or not, that question–as simple as it is–has and continues to spark considerable debate. For decades, the field has been divided. On one side are those who argue that the efficacy of psychological treatments is due to specific factors (e.g., changing negative thinking patterns) inherent in the model of… — read more