Today, we’re seeing numerous organizations and groups competing for a slice of the finite financial pie that has been designated to address some of the most vital concerns facing us today. Mental health, increasingly seen as one of those concerns, has begun, in the last several years, to get a small slice of that pie. Unfortunately, the increase in worldwide mental health issues is outpacing the resources available. This trend is likely to continue in the coming decades. Those funds dedicated to mental health will need to be spread thinner than they already are. Although one possible solution, increasing available funding is a political issue that will be decided by politicians. As such, we can’t count on seeing any significant solution any time soon.
There is only one practical solution for those working in the trenches and confronting the challenges that poor mental health brings. Those limited funds need to be utilized as efficiently and effectively as possible.
One way to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of mental health resources is through the integration of MyOutcomes into the clinical setting. MyOutcomes pioneered the first valid and reliable digital measures of treatment progress and therapeutic alliance known to:
- strengthen client engagement in the clinical setting,
- increase the number of successful outcomes and
- reduce early drop out.
Integrating Feedback-Informed Treatment best practices into the therapeutic session enables MyOutcomes to assist the clinician and the client to mutually identify the clinical goals and see when goals have been reached. Routine Outcome Monitoring (ROM) is simple and feasible with a standardized Outcome Rating Scale (ORS) that predicts session outcomes and red flags clients, who may superficially appear to be benefiting from treatment, but are, in fact, deteriorating and are at risk for dropping out. The therapist can use the feedback elicited by MyOutcomes each session to identify their struggling clients and adjust therapy to better meet the clients’ therapeutic needs.
Another strategy for increasing effectiveness and efficiency is to use group therapy. There are numerous advantages to group therapy, two of which are:
1) an enhanced use of clinic time
2) a reduction in cost for services.
With the right clients, group therapy can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of services provided. One of the main downsides, however, is that the client may not form a strong therapeutic relationship. We have known for several decades that a strong therapeutic alliance is predictive of successful outcomes. Without this alliance, the client may not feel engaged with the therapist or the group. At the very least, any strengths that group therapy could provide may be cancelled out. At its worst, the client may be inclined to drop out without reaching their therapeutic goals.
Not only does MyOutcomes’ ORS integrate into group therapy as easily as it does individual therapy, but it also enables the provider to monitor the therapeutic alliance when using the Group Session Rating Scale (GSRS). Integrating a group therapy alliance measure into every group therapy session may not seem feasible but with all the administration and reporting options that MyOutcomes has developed, it is really quite simple.
Read MyOutcomes® Group Therapy Solutions Guide to learn more: https://f2.leadsquaredcdn.com/t/myoutcomes/content/common/documents/
MyOutcomes%202021%20Group%20Therapy%20Solution.pdf
“I know we can help you successfully collect outcome data, the trick is learning to use that data to inform and improve care”, a phrase I often repeat during implementation consultations.
No one could have anticipated how our world circumstances would change, and with it our mode of how we operate in it. In order to protect each other, we need to do things differently, and fast. For most, if not all, distance therapy will need to be the norm for some time.
With the release of V19, MyOutcomes has vastly increased the capacity of the PCOMS Measures to serve as a 
An RCT reporting reliable and clinically significant change instills a high degree of confidence in the results. So why does strictly adhering to a manualized EBP, with multiple published RCT’s in top tier journals, often fail to translate into even noticeable improvements in clinical settings? Experience suggests that the real world is more heterogeneous than the world imagined by RCTs and it can be confusing and disappointing when individuals you are trying to help fail to benefit.