Effectively Addressing Unique Therapeutic Needs in Community-Based Services – 06/2020 Position Paper

Therapeutic Needs in Community-Based Services 06-2020 Position Paper Summary:

In community mental health treatment, clients often encounter social, and structural barriers and stressors that impact the effectiveness of therapy. These Therapy-Interfering Conditions (TICs) include unmet concrete needs like housing, education, employment, and transportation, and these conditions impact our clients’ therapeutic needs.

Clients’ experiences of toxic stress and trauma are often exacerbated by their environments. To ensure effective therapy, these factors must be taken into consideration, focusing on clients’ fundamental requirements- physical, social, and emotional. At the Institute, we know, relying only on traditional cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) will not suffice for minoritized clients experiencing complex barriers and inequalities to treatment.

Instead, addressing clients unique comprehensive therapeutic needs must be done with a combination of upstream interventions, tailored cultural competency training for mental health professionals, and innovative approaches like CBT+ from the Institute of Family & Community Impact. This approach presents an opportunity to bridge health disparities, both psychological and physiological, and empower minoritized, vulnerabilized and communities who are not allocated the same advantages or privileges as those with more power in our society.

Read below and visit our Position Papers page to explore the rest of our releases! 

Who Should Read About Therapeutic Needs in Community-Based Services?

At the Institute, our Position Papers are accessible and free to anyone looking to learn! However, we encourage the following groups to use this paper and the contents immediately to better improve behavioral healthcare for our communities:

• Clinicians, therapists, and mental health professionals
• Program directors and policymakers
• Government and NGO social services agencies
• Managed care organizations and healthcare providers
• Researchers in health-related fields
• Community organizers and stakeholders

What’s Inside?

• Goals for Community Mental Health Treatment
  • Who uses community mental health treatment?
  • Intersecting contexts: how they increase risk of stress and adversity.
• Client Needs
  • Where CBT can help and where clients need something more.
  • Contextualizing client needs.
• A “life story” of a community mental health client: exploring the unique therapeutic needs of this client as a case study.
  • What this case study tells us about client needs.
  • Establishing long-term goals.
• Where we go from Here and What We’re Already Doing:
  • Case Management
  • Evidence-Based Treatments
• About our innovations
  • CBT+
  • Guided Imagery Nar-ART-Ives
  • Story Building Therapy
• Resources & References:
  • Example: Moreno (2019) Article on Indigenous Youth Healthcare Access

Feedback & Questions:

The Institute of Family & Community Impact, an initiative of OhioGuidestone, understands all of our work is informed by the communities we serve. Have questions about who we are or what we do? Or have a suggestion for a future Position Paper topic? Visit our FAQ page or contact us today.