Good Morning, and welcome to Counselor Weekly!  The newsletter that celebrates YOU, the folks willing to do the hard work!

Thanks again for being part of the community!

Until I have an official sponsor, looks like I'm the sponsor!

I'm launching a new site in the next couple weeks and you can sign up to be notified when it's ready to go!  Just click HERE, or the photo above and it will take you right to the site.  If you are an LPC Supervisor in Texas (sorry, starting in Texas only and will look at options for other states down the road), or a potential Supervisee looking for a Supervisor, this is the place for you!  It's a directory for LPC Supervisors to market their services by listing their information so that potential Supervisees can connect with them and hopefully find a perfect match!  If you have any questions, click REPLY to this email and I can answer any questions you have.  Thanks again for allowing me this personal promotion!  🙏

So let's get to it!

Today is 4/5/23 and it's National Walking Day!  Get out there and take in the fresh spring air!

Here's the short and skinny of today's newsletter:

• Treatment Planning

• Interesting Articles

• Lame Job of the Month

• Cat Photo

Treatment Planning

I want to thank one of my amazing subscribers for this topic suggestion (thanks Gregg 🙌).  If you have suggestions, just respond to this email and I'd be happy to research for you.

What is a treatment plan?  Here's the definition from one site:

Here's another fairly good article about treatment plans you may find helpful from PositivePsychology.com

For many of us, we use a software that will help you automate treatment plans and make life much simpler!  If you want help with this, feel free to email me and I'll talk you through some options.

The Takeaway: 

• Every client is different and comes with a set of unique needs, requiring a unique treatment plans.

• Develop your framework for a treatment plan to help guide you in efficiently completing it.

• Since insurance typically requires one, you may want to invest in a software that will easily automate this process.

• Don't stress too much about them! The goal is to work with your client to create a pathway for therapy and keep you on track towards meeting the needs of your client.

• Make sure you are well trained in effective diagnosing. The mental health disorder you diagnose the client with will directly affect your treatment plan.

And now some interesting articles:

How the Billions of Creatures Inside Your Gut Can Boost Mental Health 

For us to be the best mental health professional possible, we need to make sure we are doing the things that protect our own mental health.  Time to maybe try some probiotics!  This is not a sponsor, but I have used Athletic Greens for a few years off and on, and I can really tell the difference when I commit to drinking it every morning (it has probiotics plus many other quality nutrients)

The Big Difference Between Schizophrenia and Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Since we talked about treatment plans, here's an example of making sure we diagnose the correct mental disorder, as that plays a major role in an effective treatment plan. 

Are Licensing Exams Failing Clinicians?

I don't know how you feel after reading this, but I actually believe we need EVEN MORE GATEKEEPING!  Over the last few years, I've notice more and more mental health professionals coming out of master's level programs that have no business offering professional counseling services.  We need to make sure that our profession remains highly respected so we can continue to be paid and valued at higher levels.  There's no doubt our country has a desperate need for more counselors, but that doesn't mean we should lessen the requirements just to have another body in the room.  What we don't want to do is create an issue that the military is currently facing by lowering standards to have more licensed professionals.  Just my opinion!

Lame Job of the Month

A lot to unpack here:

• First off, this is Miami. Not the cheapest place to live...

• Second, it doesn't appear they guarantee you the referrals, so you could be motivated to work 40 hours a week, but stuck at 20-25 because they don't have the clients to fill your schedule. This is a HUGE discussion point if looking to join a private practice! You want to see proof they have the ability to maintain the referrals to keep you as full as you want to be. If they can't provide that, I would be VERY cautious. Also, if you have to take an advance on your pay, stay away! You'll have to pay that back no matter how many referrals you're provided in the future.

• Third, it's not great pay at any level they offer. If you worked forty hours every week (which is extremely draining and will likely cause burnout), here's what your hourly rate will basically look like at the max pay range:

  • $74,000 divided by 50 weeks (allowing for two weeks off. Remember, if you take more time off, you'll make less money. It does say paid vacation is offered but doesn't provide specifics) is $1480 per week.

  • $1480 per week divided by 40 hours per week equals $37 per hour!! That's your true hourly rate for busting your tail seeing 40 clients per week! That doesn't even include all the additional time dealing with paperwork and everything else.

• It also says "flexibility! Set your own schedule", but later in the job post says you must be available to work evening and weekends. I guess you don't really get to set your own schedule!

• I could go further, but I think that's enough for one post. If you want to see the post yourself, go here.

And, Finally the Cat Picture

Ping Pong Cat!  By my son, Cole.