A mental health professional or counselor helps individuals and families deal with difficult emotions
A mental health professional or counselor helps individuals and families deal with difficult
emotions, mental health disorders and trauma. A counselor’s role is to provide therapy
and coaching to help his patients manage their stress, redirect disturbing emotions and set
goals for themselves. They might focus therapy sessions on recovery or on better
management of conditions. Often, mental health counselors also help their patients learn
to modify their behaviors for better results. Mental health services also reduce the risk of
chronic diseases related to stress, anxiety and substance abuse. Most importantly, mental
health services save lives, while improving the outlook for people who may feel hopeless
and lost.
CASE SCENARIO-SWOT ANALYSIS
You are thinking about going to school to become a mental health professional. However,
you have heard that mental health professionals face liability issues and complaints–but
you are unsure why.
Write 5 page paper -the content does NOT include (pages 1 or 7):
Page 1- Cover and Title page
Pages 2 through 5: Include information- using our text and the internet include
information on why the mental health profession is important and using this text and the
Internet to find reasons why mental health professionals are at high risk for complaints.
NEXT
Page 6: Perform a SWOT Analysis- using a SWOT DIAGRAM illustrating the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats regarding becoming a mental health professional.
Page 7: Hanging Reference list include 3 peer reviewed sourcesSpecial Instructions:
Assistance on performing a SWOT:
SWOT Analysis – What is SWOT? Definition, Examples and How to Do a SWOT Analysishttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXXHqM6RzZQ&t=1s
TEXT:
Mental Health Professionals
Mental health problems impact not only the individual but family members and friends as well.
As a result of the vast impact of mental health disabilities, behavioral services are provided by
psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, counselors, and therapists (Shi & Singh,
2019). Social workers receive training in counseling, normally a master’s degree, and can
provide support for an individual with a mental health disability. Family and vocational
counselors and recreational therapists may also be involved in the treatment plan. Because
mental illness often is complex and impacts many different aspects of life, it is useful to have a
variety of mental health professionals available for support and treatment. Most of these mental
health professionals provide outpatient or ambulatory care for the mentally ill. Inpatient care
may be offered in the psychiatric units of a hospital, mental hospitals, or substance abuse
facilities (Pointer, Williams, Isaacs, & Knickman, 2007).
Psychiatrists are specialty physicians who can prescribe medication and admit patients to
hospitals. Psychologists, who also participate in the treatment of mental health, cannot
prescribe medications but provide different types of therapy. Social workers focus on mental
health counseling. Nurses may also specialize in psychiatric care. There may be additional
counselors and therapists who participate in the treatment of the mentally disabled.
However, there are liability issues that mental health professionals may face. A recent study
(Woody, 2008) indicated that there were seven reasons mental health professionals are at high
risk for liability and complaints:
■ When mental health professionals provide services to both children and their families, they
are at risk for more complaints from their patients regarding care. Families may be wary when a
mental health professional provides services to their children.
■ Because of increased governmental regulation regarding the licensing of practitioners,
professionals no longer have a say in establishing standards for care.
■ The litigious U.S. society has included the mental health profession in their complaints.
■ Patients have become more distrustful of their providers and are not always willing to adhere
to treatment guidelines. If they are not cured, they blame the provider.
■ Managed care has imposed restrictions on the number of sessions, resulting in increased
liability of providers.
■ Because of the high cost of health care, more patients are abandoning their healthcare
treatment, which has reduced revenues. As a result, practitioners have developed cost-cutting
practices that may result in more errors.
■ Mental health practitioners are ignoring their professional liability issues and do not hire
professionals to resolve their problems. As a result, many practitioners are ill prepared to defend
their actions and are found liable.
Mental Health Commitment Law
Commitment laws are laws that enable family members, law enforcement, or healthcare
professionals to commit a person to a facility or a treatment program. Voluntary commitment
occurs when people commit themselves willingly to receive care. If a person voluntarily commits
for treatment, that person can leave of his or her own free will. Involuntary commitment occurs
when people are forced to receive treatment or are committed to a facility against their wishes.
A hearing must be held to prove the person is dangerous to himself or herself or others or is
suffering from a mental disorder. If they are committed, they are not free to leave (Pointer et al.,
2007). An involuntary commitment may occur as an outpatient mental health treatment plan.
This type of involuntary commitment is normally a court-ordered program for mental health
services.
Managed Care Behavioral Organizations
Mental health services are provided by distinct components of the healthcare system. There are
specialty healthcare providers, as explained previously, such as psychiatrists and psychologists.
However, the primary care provider (e.g., family physicians, internists) is often the initial contact
for the mentally ill and may often serve as the treatment provider. An important component of
mental health care is the social service sector, such as social service workers and counselors,
who provide assistance to both the individual and the family. Finally, there is a growing sector of
nonprofit groups and organizations for the mentally ill that provide education and support,
including the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Mental Health America. These
components are known as the de facto mental health service system (FIGURE 13-1) (U.S.
Public Health Service, 1999).
FIGURE 13-1 The De Facto Mental Health Service System
U.S. Public Health Service. (1999). Mental health: A report of the surgeon general. Retrieved
from https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/ResourceMetadata/NNBBHS
Private insurance coverage for mental health conditions and substance abuse or behavioral
care is less generous than the coverage for traditional medical care. Many small companies do
not offer mental health coverage. Employers routinely impose higher employee copayments and
may limit outpatient visit reimbursement. The Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, enacted in 1998,
provided the mental health field with more equity for health insurance coverage to ensure that
mental health services were being reimbursed at the same level as traditional medical care. The
Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 requires group health insurance plans
(those with more than 50 insured employees) that offer coverage for mental illness and
substance use disorders to provide those benefits in a no more restrictive way than all other
medical and surgical procedures covered by the plan. It does not require group health plans to
provide mental health and substance use disorder benefits, but when plans do provide these
benefits, mental health and substance use disorder benefits must be provided at levels that are
no lower and with treatment limitations that are no more restrictive than would be the case for
the other medical and surgical benefits offered by the plan (SAMHSA, 2018b). Many mental
health advocates were dismayed by the weakness of this legislation, so in November 2013, a
final rule was issued for the 2008 Act that includes the following consumer protections:
■ Ensuring that parity applies to intermediate levels of care received in residential treatment or
intensive outpatient settings;
■ Clarifying the scope of the transparency required by health plans, including the disclosure
rights of plan participants, to ensure compliance with the law;
■ Clarifying that parity applies to all plan standards, including geographic limits, facility-type
limits, and network adequacy; and
■ Eliminating the provision that allowed insurance companies to make an exception to parity
requirements for certain benefits on the basis of ‘clinically appropriate standards of care,’ which
clinical experts advised was not necessary and which is confusing and open to potential abuse
(MHPAEA, 2018).
Medicare and Medicaid are a large source of mental health funding, particularly for individuals
with serious mental disabilities who often cannot work. Medicaid is the single largest payer for
state-financed mental health care (Shi & Singh, 2019). Medicare does impose a 50%
copayment rate for outpatient services other than initial diagnoses and drug management. The
normal copayment rate is 20% for traditional medical care (Anderson et al., 2007). However, as
a result of cost concerns over mental health care, managed care organizations contracted with
external vendors that focused on mental health care. These external vendors became known as
managed behavioral healthcare organizations.
There is still a stigma attached to being mentally disabled. Individuals may be embarrassed to
admit they might have a mental health problem and ignore it, or they might not understand what
is happening to them. Families can be embarrassed by having a relative who is mentally
disabled. A patient’s primary care provider may also be uncomfortable dealing with a patient that
may have a mental health disorder.
Who Are the Mentally Ill?
The DSM is a guide published by the APA that explains the signs and symptoms that mark more
than 300 types of mental health conditions. Traditionally, mental health providers use the DSM
to diagnose everything from anorexia to voyeurism and, if necessary, determine appropriate
treatment. Health insurance companies also use the DSM to determine coverage and benefits
and to reimburse mental health providers (Mayo Clinic, 2019). The DSM has been in publication
since 1952 and periodically publishes an updated manual. The most recent update was in 2013.
The NIMH, which is a research-oriented organization, is developing a new classification system
of mental health disorders based on science and genetics, which is a different approach to the
DSM-5. The NIMH believes that research should not be constrained by the DSM categories.
This type of classification has just started, so there is no discussion of replacing the DSM
classification system at this time (Grohol, 2018).
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