What is Therapy Reimagined? What are some of the services/offerings that you provide?

Therapy Reimagined is the #therapymovement that we are starting. We found that too much of what we learn in grad school and in subsequent continuing education is clinical intervention and tools to use with clients. We know that the therapeutic relationship is the most important (efficacious) part of the treatment, but we only really take care of the client-half of the relationship. We wanted to make sure that we were taking care of therapists. Too many of us burnout, which can lead to poorer treatment outcomes and even loss of access to treatment because people leave the profession. We know that there is a better way, so we figured why not start that ourselves. We have a podcast that talks about how to navigate #moderntherapistproblems and have started putting on workshops and a conference to provide the type of education that we think is missing for therapists.

 

How did the idea of Therapy Reimagined come about?

We are both very active within our profession, so we would run into each other at conferences, professional organization meetings, and other places that therapists typically show up. We started having these conversations and realized that we held a unique perspective, but one that, in essence, we shared. We have different takes on how to reimagine therapy, but we are coming from a similar grounding – we want to make sure that people have space to be creative and innovative, to be authentically themselves (bringing their unique perspective and celebrating their diversity), and to challenge the status quo, while grounding the work in laws and ethics and clinical excellence.

 

Give us the details on the podcast series that is featured on TR!

The Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide is a weekly podcast that includes both interviews with other experts as well as conversations that we have about the #moderntherapistproblems that we face in the modern age. Times have changed, we have social media, technology, and other innovations to grapple with, while the laws and ethics are adjusted at a glacial pace and can’t seem to keep up. We also have societies that are becoming more aware of the diversity we enjoy and we need to make sure that we are honoring and embracing this diversity in our therapy rooms. We love the conversations we’re having and have received a lot of feedback that not many people are talking about the topics that we’ve chosen. It’s a lot of fun to provide these conversations to the public. 

 

You are kicking of the 1st annual Therapy Reimagined conference, give our readers the juicy details about who is speaking and the hot topics that will be covered.

Therapy Reimagined 2018 is our first chance to bring together #moderntherapists to talk about embracing the clinicians individuality. We’re doing this with the leaders in our field who address:

  • How to build practices that welcome diversity 
  • How to integrate technology and business systems 
  • How to engage in political and social advocacy for our profession
  • How to incorporate deliberate practice and self-care.  

We have some amazing people coming! Dr. Ben Caldwell is talking about Saving Psychotherapy, Katie is interviewing Paul Gilmartin (of The Mental Illness Happy Hour Podcast) about What Therapists Get Wrong, looking from the client perspective. Kelly and Miranda of Zynnyme are talking about the clinical importance of Niche and Specialization (and providing some insights on how that can translate into powerful marketing), Ernesto Segismundo, from Fylmit.com is going to talk about Social Media and Video Marketing as a mechanism for psychoeducation and supporting your community.

We will be talking about how to survive and sustain yourselves in this career, with The Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide – putting forward the idea that we don’t all have to have a burnout story. Maelisa Hall of QA Prep is talking about how to make your documentation meaningful, Maureen Werrbach of the Group Practice Exchange will be talking about how to start a group practice. Perry Rosenbloom, the CEO of Brighter Vision, will be talking about SEO and starting your therapeutic alliance during the web search.

We have so many additional speakers as well! We’ve put together a full slate of what we’re calling Thought Bubbles which are concise, powerful talks from new and inspiring modern therapists. These speakers will be providing a road map on how to show up and take care of yourself as a Whole Person Therapist, how to set up your Business to support your clients AND you, and how to advocate for our Profession to address the systems that need to change to make the mental health field more sustainable.

 

Tell us about the hashtag #therapymovement.

We recognize that as #moderntherapists we’re facing new challenges. Oftentimes challenges that we have not ever learned about in a formal way. Too many of the people in our profession or in the communities we serve are silenced, disregarded, or left to fend for themselves. We know that our work needs to evolve – to better support us and to better reflect the real realities of the world. But frequently these conversations are happening ad hoc, behind closed doors. We are calling this a #therapymovement because we feel that modern therapists need a place to have more productive conversations as a community. We need to think about how our profession is changing (or needs to change), while still grounding what we do in laws, ethics, and clinical excellence. We need specific plans – we’ve called it a road map – to create careers that we can sustain. We need to learn how to provide strong clinical services, while being whole people with unique perspectives and human needs. We need to become strong business people without losing track of who we’re serving or burning ourselves out. We feel strongly that is important to put these pieces together to help newer clinicians (and those of us who’ve been around for awhile) to avoid what often feels like inevitable burnout. We need to help clinicians to make a go of this career, so our communities get the access to mental health services we need.

 

What is your favorite part of Therapy Reimagined?

This is a tough one. We love the structure of the conference – everything is short-form and experiential, so we know we’re not going to be bored. We are excited to have every attendee take home new strategies that they can implement right away!

AND we’re talking about the stuff that is usually taught piecemeal or only in online settings. The conference is solely focused on the clinician – how to take care of ourselves, our business and our profession. That’s a whole lot of self-care in two days!

We also love that we’re going to be having in-person conversations with new thought leaders in the profession. We can come together and really dig into the challenges that modern therapists are facing today. It is really exciting to think about what we can develop. The people who are speaking, supporting, and attending the conference are amazing collaborators. We can’t wait to see how we’re able to make a difference in our field.