Trauma Informed Work Place

The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy

An interview with Kristin Martinez, LMFT, about how trauma informed practices apply to the workplace. Curt and Katie talk with Kristin about her person-centered management, the benefits of treating employees well, and the risks of managing individuals as though they were cogs in a machine.

It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. We are human beings who can now present ourselves as whole people, with authenticity, purpose, and connection. Especially now, when therapists must develop a personal brand to market their practices.

To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.

Interview with Kristin Martinez, LMFT Kristin Martinez is a licensed therapist who developed a process of management coined: Person Centered Management. She developed Person Centered Management through her own experience and expertise in trauma informed psychotherapy and being a leader in several organizations. Kristin owns a consulting firm and a group therapy practice. Prior to being a business owner, Kristin spent over 10 years in the mental health field as case worker, therapist, and administrator in private, contracted, and government entities. She has experience as a Director in Logistics prior to entering the field of mental health and knows the power of good teaming.

In this episode we talk about:

• The idea of best practices for workplaces – Trauma Informed Workplaces, Person-centered management
• How Kristin came to identify the need for trauma informed practices not just with clients, but with the therapists and workforce as well
• Looking at the community mental health perspective
• How current practices lead to burnout at all levels
• How to introduce best practices into public mental health
• The importance of treating employees as people and developing real relationships with employees
• A primer on trauma informed perspective
• Look at context of behavior in order to address things like timeliness
• The idea of “therapy for the work place”
• Best practices for supervising and managing
• The myth that this type of work that focuses on the individual takes more time
• The risk of burnout and turnover for workplaces that don’t take care of their people
• How to introduce these concepts into the classroom
• How to infuse hope into the option of working in community mental health
• The importance of boundaries, asking for help, understanding expectations
• The attempts of these agencies to improve employee engagement and supporting the staff to stay longer
• The danger of the silos that different clinicians can be in (i.e., community mental health, private practice, other types of treatment centers)
• The benefit of connection with other therapists
• How processing your own stuff, making sure to consult, and taking time for self-care needs to be incorporated into a trauma-informed workplace
• Suggestions for group or solo practice owners to incorporate these best practices
• How Kristin puts her money where her mouth is, in her group practice
• Looking at how the workplace can impact each individual, looking at trauma responses for everyone involved (every client, every employee, everyone)
• Kristin believes that therapists are too focused on behavior and symptom reduction
• The importance of training all staff within interdisciplinary teams, taking care of all staff at levels
• The hope of transforming workplaces to make our career more sustainable