Entries by Curt Widhalm

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Volunteering for shame

We clearly stand for paying people for work, as evidenced by our episode on A Living Wage for Prelicensees. Additionally, there’s an aspect of the pervasiveness of volunteer positions for prelicenesees in our profession that is potentially killing the ability to earn a living wage once licensed—and it’s not for the reasons that one might […]

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OK Boomer is Coming to the Mental Health Workforce

“OK Boomer” is going to come to the mental health workforce We haven’t exactly shied away from looking at generational differences in the mental health labor force. While the debate continues on about what exactly is happening, what has seemingly been lost in the mix is why this is happening. Generational differences have existed for […]

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Older therapists hate younger therapists

Why are we so bad at applying therapy skills to…therapy? For a field that is built on teaching people critical thinking about their lives, helping them develop strategies about improving their lives, encouraging personal advocacy, and fighting injustices, we do a pretty poor job of treating the workforce in our field with the same principles. […]

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We’re failing as lifelong learners

When it comes to therapist education, we have a bad case of “that’s how we’ve always done it.” Our education system is slow to change, including how to address client-informed care, working within interdisciplinary teams, and subject areas such as substance use and sexuality. This creates workforce problems where employers find that new graduates are […]

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Is it time to burn it all down?

Your degree and your license are likely keeping your clients from feeling better more quickly. The educational system is making you jump through hoops that shouldn’t necessarily be there, teaching you things that don’t necessarily benefit clients, and holding you accountable to things that aren’t necessarily inclusive of today’s clients. There is a chasm between […]