What Modern Therapists Should Know About Law Enforcement Mental Health: An Interview with Cyndi Doyle, LPC
The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy
Release Date: 10/17/2022
Private Practice Planning for the Future of Mental Healthcare: An Interview with Maureen Werrbach
The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy
Private Practice Planning for the Future of Mental Healthcare: An Interview with Maureen Werrbach Curt and Katie interview Maureen Werrbach of the Group Practice Exchange on upcoming trends for mental healthcare. We talk about what is predicted, how to prepare your private practice for success in 2023, and how to plan for unexpected changes to our profession. Transcripts for this episode will be available at ! An Interview with Maureen Werrbach, LCPC, The Group Practice Exchange Maureen Werrbach established The Group Practice Exchange after starting her private practice, Urban Wellness, and...
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Penny Wise and Pound Foolish: Thoughts on investing and getting paid as a therapist
The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy
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How to Manage Your Practice as a Traveling Therapist: An Interview with Kym Tolson, LCSW
The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy
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Smarter than SMART: How therapists can improve goal-setting with clients
The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy
Smarter than SMART: How therapists can improve goal-setting with clients Curt and Katie chat about setting goals. We look at why goals are important to therapists, SMART goals (what they are, what works and what doesn’t), and how to move beyond SMART goals to more robust goal setting and behavior design. This is a continuing education podcourse. Transcripts for this episode will be available at ! In this podcast episode we talk about how to strengthen your goal-setting skills Many therapists learn SMART Goals and objectives as the primary tools for creating treatment plans. Oftentimes, goal...
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Navigating the Social Media Self-Diagnosis Trend
The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy
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What Therapists Should Know About Sexual Health, Monkey Pox, and the Echoes of the AIDS Epidemic: An Interview with Mallory Garrett, LMFT
The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy
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It’s the Lack of Thought That Counts: Ethical Decision Making in Dual Relationships
The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy
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How Can Therapists Help Couples Recover from Infidelity?: An Interview with Dr. Talal H. Alsaleem
The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy
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Why Aren’t Men Becoming Therapists Anymore?
The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy
Why Aren’t Men Becoming Therapists Anymore? Curt and Katie chat about the lack of male therapists and the decreasing number of male students in the profession. We look at current statistics and reported experiences of men in the field. We also dig into what needs to change to balance gender representation and increase the number of men becoming therapists. Transcripts for this episode will be available at ! In this podcast episode we talk about male therapists Continuing forward within men’s health month, we are looking at the state of the profession for male therapists....
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Why Men Don’t Stay in Therapy
The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy
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info_outlineWhat Modern Therapists Should Know About Law Enforcement Mental Health: An Interview with Cyndi Doyle, LPC
Curt and Katie interview Cyndi Doyle on the mental health of law enforcement officers. We look at how being a cop impacts their mental health as well as specific incidents and the chronic desensitization. We also explore the feelings in law enforcement related to calls to defund the police and how society views the cops. Content warning: potentially traumatic incidents (violence, death)
Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com!
An Interview with Cyndi Doyle, LPC
Cyndi Doyle is a Licensed Professional Counselor, group practice co-owner, founder of Code4Couples®, podcaster, and author of Hold the Line: The Essential Guide to Protecting Your Law Enforcement Relationship. She has spoken nationally and internationally including at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conferences (IACP), the FBI National Academy Association (FBINAA) Conference, keynoted at police spouse conferences throughout the country, and at trained various police departments. While much of her work focuses on first responders, Cyndi’s stories of embracing and wrestling with living her own bold and authentic life have resulted in her being a sought-after speaker for other mental health professionals. Her message of humanizing struggle, compassion, courage, and resilience has resulted in her speaking nationally and even keynoting at the 2020 Texas Counseling Association Professional Growth Conference. That same year, the American Counseling Association awarded her the Samuel Gladding Unsung Heroes Award for her work with first responders and contribution to the field of counseling.
In this podcast episode, we talk about Law Enforcement Mental Health
We reached out to our friend, Cyndi Doyle to explore a population of folks who we typically don’t think about as our patients: Law Enforcement Officers (LEO).
What should modern therapists know about the mental health of Law Enforcement Officers and their families?
“[Law Enforcement Officers] don't feel safe, not just their physical safety, but emotional safety. Many times, they don't feel supported by their communities. They don't feel supported by their departments, by their administration. …Would you really want to go to a job every day where you were potentially hated?” – Cyndi Doyle, LPC
- Different dynamics than typical couples
- The definition of cynicism
- How training impacts the mental health of officers
- Misinterpretation of control versus abuse
- Over diagnosis of trauma
The negative impacts on police officers of the heightened scrutiny and criticism
- Hypervigilance and the impact of cameras on police offers performing their jobs
- The lack of support from the community (or the legislators or even law enforcement leadership) for officers
- Lack of compassion satisfaction, considering quitting their job, PTSD
- The impact on Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) families
Exploration of the calls to defund the police and fund other resources
“You'll see the cellphone videos or the videos out there of officers playing basketball or playing football or engaging with the community. And that's what community policing is. Community policing is the idea of I know my community well enough to know who potentially has a mental health situation that I need to be aware of.” – Cyndi Doyle, LPC
- Looking at the law enforcement response to defunding the police
- Exploring community policing and how that could help decrease abuses
- The cultural shifts and education happening at police departments
- The potential for mental health resources being added to policing
- When staffing is down, there is less time to recuperate and be prepared for work
Mental Health Concerns that bring law enforcement officers and their families into therapy
“Sometimes we assume, I think, as clinicians that like oh, that would be traumatic for me to see. When in actuality [cops] have seen it so often that there's a desensitization. Now, does the desensitization impact to them? Sure. It also doesn't mean that every situation is traumatic to them. That unfortunately, once you've seen something or done something time and time again, it cannot impact you the same way.” – Cyndi Doyle, LPC
- Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Addiction
- Relationships, family and couple
- Incident, critical incident, trauma
- Desensitization to violent incidents, injuries, and death
- The personalization in incidents that can cause more of a trauma response
- The insufficient training to build resilience for law enforcement officers
- The shifting culture that is now recognizing mental health as health, but the ongoing stigma for seeking support
Cynicism, lack of empathy, and bias in Law Enforcement
- The mindset that narrows down to “everyone” behaves
- Working to make officers more human, so they can see more good in the world
- The importance of supporting the resilience and empathy within LEO (while recognizing that some of these things are not helpful “on the job”)
Our Generous Sponsors for this episode of the Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide:
Thrizer
Thrizer is a new modern billing platform for therapists that was built on the belief that therapy should be accessible AND clinicians should earn what they are worth. Their platform automatically gets clients reimbursed by their insurance after every session. Just by billing your clients through Thrizer, you can potentially save them hundreds every month, with no extra work on your end. Every time you bill a client through Thrizer, an insurance claim is automatically generated and sent directly to the client's insurance. From there, Thrizer provides concierge support to ensure clients get their reimbursement quickly, directly into their bank account. By eliminating reimbursement by check, confusion around benefits, and obscurity with reimbursement status, they allow your clients to focus on what actually matters rather than worrying about their money. It is very quick to get set up and it works great in completement with EHR systems. Their team is super helpful and responsive, and the founder is actually a long-time therapy client who grew frustrated with his reimbursement times The best part is you don't need to give up your rate. They charge a standard 3% payment processing fee!
Thrizer lets you become more accessible while remaining in complete control of your practice. A better experience for your clients during therapy means higher retention. Money won't be the reason they quit on therapy. Sign up using bit.ly/moderntherapists if you want to test Thrizer completely risk free! Sign up for Thrizer with code 'moderntherapists' for 1 month of no credit card fees or payment processing fees! That’s right - you will get one month of no payment processing fees, meaning you earn 100% of your cash rate during that time.
Simplified SEO Consulting
Have you spent countless hours trying to get your website just right and yet, it's not showing up on Google and it doesn't seem like anyone's able to find it? Simplified SEO Consulting has a unique solution. They've been training therapists to optimize their websites, so they show up better on Google for the past 4 years. But let's face it, with the busy schedules we all keep it can be hard to find the time to optimize your website even when you learn how. So, they are hosting a 16-day cruise in July 2023 going from LA to Hawaii and back. When you join them, you'll get intensive SEO education and coaching during the 10 days at sea. Most importantly, you'll have plenty of time to sit next to the pool and implement everything you've learned and then ask their team for feedback. Yes, it's the perfect excuse for a Hawaii vacation. But it's also a time to both learn about SEO and actually implement what you learn.
The upcoming cruise is a unique opportunity to learn to optimize your own website, have time to practice what you learn and the ability to get feedback from leading SEO professionals in our field.
To reserve your spot before it fills up, go to https://simplifiedseoconsulting.com/training-cruise-for-better-seo/
Resources for Modern Therapists mentioned in this Podcast Episode:
We’ve pulled together resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links. Please note that some of the links below may be affiliate links, so if you purchase after clicking below, we may get a little bit of cash in our pockets. We thank you in advance!
Code 4 Couples
Social media:
https://www.instagram.com/code4couples/
https://www.facebook.com/code4couples
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyndidoylelpc/
https://www.instagram.com/cyndi_doyle/ https://www.facebook.com/cyndi.b.doyle
Relevant Episodes of MTSG Podcast:
Therapists on the Hostage Negotiation Team: An interview with Dr. Andy Young
Treating First Responders: An interview with Yael Shuman, LMFT
Who we are:
Curt Widhalm, LMFT
Curt Widhalm is in private practice in the Los Angeles area. He is the cofounder of the Therapy Reimagined conference, an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University and CSUN, a former Subject Matter Expert for the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, former CFO of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, and a loving husband and father. He is 1/2 great person, 1/2 provocateur, and 1/2 geek, in that order. He dabbles in the dark art of making "dad jokes" and usually has a half-empty cup of coffee somewhere nearby. Learn more at: www.curtwidhalm.com
Katie Vernoy, LMFT
Katie Vernoy is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, coach, and consultant supporting leaders, visionaries, executives, and helping professionals to create sustainable careers. Katie, with Curt, has developed workshops and a conference, Therapy Reimagined, to support therapists navigating through the modern challenges of this profession. Katie is also a former President of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. In her spare time, Katie is secretly siphoning off Curt's youthful energy, so that she can take over the world. Learn more at: www.katievernoy.com
A Quick Note:
Our opinions are our own. We are only speaking for ourselves – except when we speak for each other, or over each other. We’re working on it.
Our guests are also only speaking for themselves and have their own opinions. We aren’t trying to take their voice, and no one speaks for us either. Mostly because they don’t want to, but hey.
Stay in Touch with Curt, Katie, and the whole Therapy Reimagined #TherapyMovement:
Consultation services with Curt Widhalm or Katie Vernoy:
Connect with the Modern Therapist Community:
Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapists Group
Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide Creative Credits:
Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/
Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano https://groomsymusic.com/