Challenging Ideas of Mental Health
Perceptions can be very powerful. We often form beliefs or ideas based on our experiences or what we learned or were taught. Forming an impression about someone or something is natural and can even be helpful for making decisions, particularly when it involves avoiding dangerous situations. However, while our perceptions can be accurate, sometimes they can be wrong. It’s the wrong impressions that we form that can be damaging, especially in the face of combating stereotypes and stigmas. When you think of mental health, what comes to mind? It can be thought of as something that’s for “those people” who have significant emotional or psychiatric challenges, have been hospitalized, are on state/federal insurance or other government assistance, are overmedicated, and/or are low-income earners or are unemployed or receive disability, among other associations that have been linked to individuals receiving mental health care. Due to this, maybe you’ve believed that mental health is not for you.
In previous blogs, I’ve shared about what has drawn me to mental health care. Also, see my story. Ultimately, I am inspired by the healing and growth of others and what makes people uniquely special. In life we all go through challenges, some more difficult than others (likewise, everyone experiences and navigates challenges differently). Yet, there is power in overcoming and confirming/affirming your strengths. There is also power in sharing compassion and hope with others. I would like to encourage people to think about mental health differently. Consider the support that may be helpful for you towards healing/wholeness. Or the skills/tools that may contribute to success personally and professionally, especially as you seek to assist others in the best way possible. It is my desire to assist professionals, particularly in mental health and related fields, to receive support and be successful. This is the purpose of Whole Leader Group. Sometimes, it’s a matter of changing the way you think.
Unfortunately, society and systems of care have not helped with this shift in thinking about mental health. In my experiences, far too often institutions have assisted in creating the stereotypes and stigmas we see today. As someone who values healthy messages, it has been particularly disheartening to see systems of oppression and co-dependency communicated in words and actions in the mental health field. In these cases, adverse solutions have involved putting bandages on festering wounds or creating greater problems than what previously existed, one resulting issue being the debilitation of people. Consequently, it becomes easier to make excuses for unhealthy behaviors - blaming actions on conditions or attributing actions to aspects of one’s personality that is believed can’t or won’t change. While medication may be helpful for addressing certain medical issues, it is imperative to come face to face with the heart of the matter in order to achieve lasting change. It has been disappointing to find an absence of values such as independence, growth, and success in mental health. I would argue that this picture of mental health care is not what mental health is about. As stated earlier, real growth is needed in the lives of people, personally and professionally. Thus, it has been part of my mission to advocate for change in mental health services.
I am excited for the growth that is possible in the lives of people and organizations as a whole, especially mental health care. It begins with challenging ideas. I would love to hear your thoughts on opportunities for personal and professional growth, the state of mental health care, what you would like to see done differently, and your hopes for the field.
Feel free to share a comment or reach out if you’d like to connect, have questions, or are interested in partnering.
Healthy Messages™ helps professionals, leaders, and business owners in human services improve, craft, and implement communication within and across systems.
Learn more about Healthy Messages™ mission, vision, and outcomes.
Measuring Success
How is the success of an organization measured? Often success is measured by numbers - how many people are served or products are sold or how much revenue is made. While organizations may be clear on their mission, vision, goals, and maybe even the results they would like to see, one area that I’ve found to be easily and consistently overlooked is how goals/objectives, practices, and outcomes are consistent (or inconsistent) with each other and contribute to success. A question I would like to encourage you to think about is how evaluating progress supports organizational health. As well, consider how you can achieve growth or change by the clarity of your message.
Over the years I have observed this missing link when providing mental health/human services supports more often than not, whether it was for-profit hospitals, non-profit community organizations, or largely government-funded agencies. Although identifying the right goals or questions and the strategies or services needed to achieve outcomes make up the foundations or building blocks of an organization or business, it is unfortunately frequently neglected. On the surface, it may not appear this way - some organizations, especially those which receive Medicaid or other government funding, are familiar with the task of filling out copious amounts of paperwork, even questionnaires that capture demographics and other information about the services individuals are receiving. Yet, when taking a deeper look it becomes clearer that despite these efforts, the most important questions remain unasked and unanswered. Are targets (population, outcomes) being reached? What’s working? What needs to be improved? Are resources being utilized effectively/efficiently? What information is needed and how is information used to achieve goals and outcomes? Is a difference being made and what is its impact? Are alternative solutions needed, and if so, what additional supports are needed or that can or should be outsourced?
It is the absence of these questions and the reality of the answers these questions would produce that has motivated me to advocate for change to support growth. I believe regularly measuring success contributes to the health of individuals (clients and professionals) and organizations as a whole. The information gathered from the ongoing evaluation of leadership, services, and administrative protocols and procedures better informs practice. Not only is it important to close the gaps between goals/objectives, practices, and outcomes, but it is imperative to understand the true impact of efforts. It is my hope that Healthy Messages can be a source of existing data on what makes human services and mental health services in particular successful as well as a resource for related research tools. Additionally, Healthy Message seeks to help shed light on the need for systems of gathering and sharing information and provide solutions for crafting, implementing, and improving healthy messages.
As a leader, how do you measure success? What’s important to you in evaluating growth and change? Please also keep an eye out for opportunities to participate in research from Healthy Messages. Your contribution will help to support efforts to craft, implement, and improve healthy messages for individuals, organizations, and systems at large.
I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to share a comment or reach out if you’d like to connect, have questions, or are interested in partnering.
Healthy Messages™ helps professionals, leaders, and business owners in human services improve, craft, and implement communication within and across systems.
Learn more about Healthy Messages™ mission, vision, and outcomes.
Courage & Confidence in Leading
Leadership is a wonderful opportunity to positively influence those around you through your voice, actions, and way of being, even your very presence. Leading can be associated with managing, directing, supervising, among other titles/functions. As well, being a ‘boss’ has become popular. However, I would say while we may see leaders operating in any of these capacities, more than anything, leading is about doing what’s best for others and contributing to growth, change, and success that not only lasts but transcends. Leading in this way invites you to identify and stand on values that you hold dear with courage and confidence, even in the face of adversity.
This is not always easy or popular. Also, values and beliefs can clash (what may be important to you may not be important to others). Yet, your values and contributions will matter to the right person at the right time. We all have a unique part to play and place of influence in the lives of others (look back at my blog on Natural Gifts from 3/31/21), so you shouldn’t feel pressured to fit into a certain mold. Why not be the best you that you can be? It’s the authentic you that will make a difference in the lives of others. In my own life I’ve had to learn this. Once, a special leader in my life told me to write down ‘I can trust me’. This was extremely significant for me at the time because I didn’t even realize how much I let other people persuade me to not be me due to pressures to respond in certain ways. I was fearful of not being liked and even of being rejected. This resulted in silencing my voice, which has been my most valued asset in bringing to light important areas for micro (individual) and macro (systemic) change in truth, honesty, and love.
The idea of leading through adding value even when it’s not the status quo is what draws me to leadership. It is what drives me to offer Healthy Messages; unfortunately, the existence of healthy messaging in mental health and related fields can be easily presumed. Thus, it’s important to me to help professionals/leaders to craft, implement, and improve healthy messaging towards meaningful growth, change, and success.
It’s extremely important to consider not only your values, but the stance it requires in order to see your vision, mission, and goals through to the end. How do you hope to influence others? What do you hope to improve or change? What does this require of you, especially in the face of adversity? Have you considered what you may lose and if it is worth it for you in the end? Loss and change can be extremely difficult to work through, yet necessary to personally contemplate in your own life as you are also asking others to do the same. In addition to daily adversities, over the last year we have faced adversities as a community and world. Now more than ever we are faced with the need to consider our values in every aspect of our lives and the reality of whether we will stand on them no matter what life may bring.
I would like to encourage you to consider your life and the ways in which you hope to lead by adding value, and to do so courageously and confidently. I would also love to hear your thoughts on what leading courageously and confidently looks like to you. As well, how this blog speaks to what you have experienced or or are currently experiencing in your life as you seek to pursue your vision, mission, and goals despite the challenges that come your way.
I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to share a comment or reach out if you’d like to connect, have questions, or are interested in partnering.
Healthy Messages™ helps professionals, leaders, and business owners in human services improve, craft, and implement communication within and across systems.
Learn more about Healthy Messages™ mission, vision, and outcomes.