Curt and Katie talk about therapists’ responsibility for mental health access and the (sometimes moral) decision about whether one focuses on income or providing treatment to all. We look at a living wage, the mental health system, entrepreneurship, and capitalism.

It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. 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.

In this episode we talk about:

Is mental health access a universal right?
Group Practice Owner’s Summit 2019 where Katie got some wild ideas, especially during the talk by Maureen Werrbach and Michael Blumberg: Mental Health Access as a Human Right
The moral dilemma regarding raising your fees to the point that you are only working with people who can afford it
The extremes of martyrdom and pure entrepreneurship/capitalism
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a place to assess where we identify human rights
The distinction of the system providing mental health access and individuals providing this access
Homelessness, mental illness, and addiction
Where systems and social services are best able to take care of mental health and other concerns
Larger mission and vision of how to impact the world
Taking care of your needs as a therapist/person first before society
The systemic issue of not providing all therapists a living wage and therapists needing to go into entrepreneurship to survive
The potential impact of universal mental healthcare on entrepreneurship and the field
The concern about stagnation and stifled innovation
The power of passion and motivation in the work
Finding creative ways to increase access, while not negatively impacting your bottom line
How to make individual decisions about mental health access versus the therapist’s individual income
Self-actualization - #topofthepyramid
How the system impacts which therapists are able to continue practicing
Draw bridge effect of later career therapists not treating newer therapists how they wished they were treated
Locus of Control impacting decision-making
The poor treatment of employees, low wages as contributing factors
The system impacts on people at all levels
Basic Needs - #bottomofthepyramid
Profit First versus clients who do not bring revenue in
Beyond Basic Needs - #middleofthepyramid
The salary needs that connects to optimal happiness
Questions about how to address these concerns and which to address first

The ABCs of Spiritual Hygiene