Who wants a professional?

I’m closing in on my first month without a job. This is part of a three month, intentional exercise in finding out where my next employed step will be. Yesterday, I found myself pondering why it’s so frustrating trying to be a social worker/therapist in Seattle. Granted, I’m still finding my way around Seattle given I’ve only been here for 4 yrs, but this is a bit of what I’ve found so far.

There are a lot of people in private practice in the helping professions. Not only do we have the University of Washington, that turns out MSW’s from not just one, but two campuses, but we have a number of other universities and professional schools that offer Masters degrees that can lead to counseling positions. Up until recently, Washington did not the require licensure to be in private practice (though the Registered Counselor issue is soon being rectified.) I happen to know of one prominent local woman that, last I checked, had no verified credentials listed on the Department of Health license list, but yet she offers not just counseling and therapy, but also classes and personal sessions on more intimate topics.

More than a couple of my former clients at both the hospital and with the mental health court would tell me that they had found a naturopath that could treat their schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. While I do not discount that lifestyle, dietary and supplemental changes can have a positive impact on mental health, usually by the time I’ve met this person, they’ve gotten themselves in some serious trouble that sends a clear signal that something wasn’t working.

I actually love going to my naturopath (ND) as that I’m more interested in getting wellness tips on a regular basis than seeing someone once every two years (or more) for an infection that’s not self-resolving. The problem with ND’s is the same problem I find with many of the people advertising as therapists in the Seattle area: how do you distinguish from the grounded, holistic, respectful of conventional medicine/practice individuals and the flighty, fanatical, anti-establisment practitioners? Jon reminded me of an ND he saw once a few years back who went on an anti-semetic rant regarding 9/11, which was a stark contrast to the professionalism and level-headedness of my ND.

Both of them were Bastyr graduates, if I recall correctly.

If I did go into private practice, how would I distinguish myself? I could start with the very true statement that I take my profession very seriously, endeavor to keep up to date on current research in therapeutic techniques, distill that with my experience and ability to sniff bullshit, and offer a person-centered, strengths based approach to counseling. I then could add that I’ve spent over 2 years working with people with acute mental illness in various stages of wellness and have had the oversight of some of the best psychiatrists in Western Washington. I could say on my promotional material, “experience counts!” and hope that nobody thinks of politicians or personal injury lawyers.

Here’s the other side, though, and this one I can understand because I think there is a reason we have so many alternatives to conventional therapy and medicine on the West Coast. There remains a distrust of the establishment and an idea that there are secrets to wellness that conventional medicine, pharmacology and therapy won’t tell you. It’s easy to get sour when you see ads for medications to cure every ailment you’ve ever had or could imagine, especially when your doctor is telling you to take them and you don’t feel like you need them (ie. my doctor wanted me to take a steroid nasal spray for minor seasonal allergies).

I witnessed this attitude when I worked at Whole Foods Market a few years ago in the Whole Body (supplements and body care) department. One day, a rotund, tall, blind man came into my department and came up to the counter. In his hand, he had a bottle of supplement that in the very least, claims to help support healthy blood pressure. He told me that he had been experiencing chest pain, radiating down his left arm, and then handed the bottle to me to ask if this supplement would help. As I had told many other customers in the past, I told him that I was not a medical professional, so I could not diagnose or treat any problem. I was in a state of alarm thinking this guy was going to drop dead any minute from a heart attack. So as best as I could, following the guidelines of my job, I let him know that what I was hearing him describe might necessitate him going to the emergency room ASAP. He stood there, gestured to the supplement again, and asked again if I thought the supplement would help. I spent probably five minutes trying to convince him that he needed to stop talking to me and go to a medical professional, or at least call one, but he wasn’t interested. He seemed quite aware that his situation wasn’t good, but preferred to talk to a sales person selling snake oil than someone who might be able to save his life.

He wasn’t the first, and wasn’t the last.

This is what I’m up against in my professional career. It might be easier in the Midwest, where there is a sense of professionalism, where experience and credentials matter to the client – where alternatives, fortunately and unfortunately, are hard to find.

What’s next? Stay tuned…