Insight_2nd Edition

Therapy is a difficult drill, but it helps a person get bet- ter. I reassure people by telling them that I have en- dured the drill — I have faced hard things in my life, and I encourage them that they can do it, too. I also love the narrative of people’s lives. I am a proponent for work-family balance; I do a lot of mentoring with young people about how to obtain balance so that work doesn’t consume them. It’s a big issue in our cul- ture right now. What is the most important issue/challenge you are dealing with in your industry right now? To be honest, computerization is very distracting. There is a constant focus when it comes to time on charts and not time with patients. The obsession with computerization and computerized records that are overly detailed really take away from patient care. You absolutely have to document what you are doing — we all agree about this, but the amount of time it takes to type and computerize is so excessive. How do you feel your industry has changed/evolved over time? I’m concerned about fragmentation. Academic social work professionals in schools are terrific, but they are not really connected to what is going on in the real world, so there’s a kind of split. Also, I think that some of the student training is superficial and not in- depth the way I was trained to properly understand the complexity of people. A lot of training focuses on techniques and it’s not evidenced-based, so it won’t always be covered by insurance. So, students are being taught about something that won’t be paid for, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s the wrong way to instruct students. Additionally, I think the social work field is insulated. There should be increased integration and dialogue on projects that are cross- disciplined. What new innovations or technologies do you feel will shape the future of your industry? I was trained in dynamic psychiatry, which is old school. This model integrates everything about the patient’s life and their history, family history, biology “ Therapy is a difficult drill, but it helps a person get better. I reassure people by telling them that I have endured the drill, and I encourage them that they can do it, too. ” Second Edition | Marquis Who ’ s Who Insight 9 — everything. The newer techniques focus much more on current behavior. Even though I am steeped and trained in dynamic psychiatry, I think some of the newer innovations are very helpful to people. Before the coronavirus, I never did video therapy, but now that we’re doing it, I see that the patients absolutely love it. I would say that I was late to this kind of ther- apy. I was not a person who was Skype-ing — I was always an office-based professional, but I would like to say that given what we are experiencing in the world, video works just as well.