Mental health care is at its best not one-on-one, one therapist for one hour a week. The people who benefit most from mental health care often have some kind of additional supportive network keeping things running on the straight and narrow – even when it gets tough. This doesn’t mean they have a legion of specialists (although some do). It just means there are enough people from the right components who keep in touch if things go awry – which more often than not, they do.
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The Problem with Sustained Treatment
The rub, however, is that it’s one thing to receive mental health care and another thing entirely to receive it for months, years on end. It’s easy to go to therapy three times and think “I’ve got this.” It’s easy to go to therapy three times and get frustrated with no betterment and throw in the towel. It’s easy to be uncomfortable with medication titration and choose against it. It’s easy for a therapist to have maternity leave and forget that you have to start all over again.
It’s easy for all of this to happen outside of the session – forgetting to call for a prescription refill, missing the call of the prescribing clinician, not recognizing insurance changed because no one told them. In a busy world, three cancelled and rescheduled appointments becomes two months’ time without treatment.
None of this is failure – it’s part of life. There are so many moving parts when it comes to mental health care and when someone is trying to manage whatever brought them into treatment in the first place, it’s difficult.
Who Keeps The Ball Rolling?
Therefore, more people are involved in successful mental health treatment plans than most could initially assume. Sure, there’s your therapist – but beyond that steady relationship, there are often secondary and tertiary characters involved to keep things running more smoothly.
For example, there are psychiatrists who prescribe medications while a therapist provides talk therapy. A care coordinator may adjust scheduling needs and make sure everyone is on the same page. There may be a case manager stepping in between sessions for check-ins or resource management for transportation.
For those who present with comorbidities or severe symptoms that require medications like mood stabilizers, personality disorder meds or SSRIs, mental health advocates can help manage insurance woes, communication efforts and ensure treatment plans have follow through. They are needed when life becomes so overwhelming that even minutia of treatment recommendations are too much to deal with.
In addition, your GP is going to be very important – especially for those on medication. Physical wellness and mental wellness are inextricably connected; what’s going on in one system is bound to affect the other. Therefore, when everyone knows what’s going on, less changes in care occur.
What Really Keeps People In Treatment?
Researchers have shown that best practices include connectivity to maintain ongoing mental health care as well as fewer barriers to practicality.
For example, connectivity means your therapist knows what you talked about last week. Someone reaches out because you missed an appointment instead of chastising you with a missed appointment charge. When someone tells you something isn’t working they’re willing to listen.
Practicality is just as important – are appointments easily accessible? Is the office along a public transportation route? Is there someone available to help figure out what’s covered by insurance first?
Someone calls you back expediently; prescription refills take not three weeks; there’s structure in place when urgent responses are needed.
These are small things – but when compounded unfortunate circumstances complicate ineffective mental health care when no one can ensure they occur in the first place. When a team – whose job it is to make sure these things happen – it makes all the difference.
When You Need More Than A Once-a-Week Appointment
There are certain mental health concerns that require more intensive support either temporarily or permanently. This comes as Partial Hospitalization Programs which require an individual to seek interventions for hours during the day or Intensive Outpatient Programs which require an individual to seek interventions several times per week.
These programs typically have supports within – group therapy, individual therapy, psychiatry services and case management occur within the same halls with interprofessional coordinated efforts. Less falls through the cracks this way when everyone operates under the same roof under similar goals.
Even so, it’s better to foster such a support network so backsliding isn’t the only option. If you’re absent from group one day someone can check in with you if they’re having trouble; if someone remembers this time last year was difficult someone can step in proactively.
Family and Friends Play a Role Too
While professionals are critical sources of support, those outside treatment options are beneficial for sustained mental health care as well.
This doesn’t mean they need to know every detail about your diagnosis and treatment – they just need to know you have therapy every Tuesday at 3pm so they don’t book their own appointment then. They might notice you’re struggling and ask if you’ve mentioned it to your therapist yet.
It’s most helpful that they can provide transportation if need be – to appointments and prescription pickups or help finding other support if someone isn’t doing their job effectively. They should know how best to assist you at home should a crisis occur.
But there’s a fine line – they shouldn’t be your therapist; it’s unfair to them and ineffective, All therapeutic relationships should do the heavy lifting while personal relationships can provide supportive management – but no clinical problem solving has to go on with non-professionals involved.
What Happens When It’s Not Supported?
It’s clear when someone lacks a support network – frequent no-shows at sessions; prescription refills with no concern; crises because minor nuances weren’t addressed sooner.
Sometimes this happens because there was never a connected treatment network – the therapist who wasn’t told what happened after session one; no follow-up or secondary systems or call check-ins between sessions.
Sometimes it happens because things get derailed – the therapist leaves and coverage isn’t available; things shift – insurance requires additional paperwork; the person who was helping became too overwhelmed so he/she backed away – whatever it is, now the supports are gone and nothing implodes rapidly.
This is why mental health care works best when connected as a system from the beginning instead of individual sessions as parts; when one part collapses other pieces hold until reconstruction can begin.
How To Help Yourself Find A Support Network
If you find yourself struggling with mental health either after an unsuccessful start with what’s currently available or something that’s working but needs more support coverage – it’s best to rally who else needs insight along the way.
At minimum, your GP should be aware of what’s going on for whatever you feel supports you’re attempting. From there, figure out if there’s any relevant approach for anyone else – from insurance considerations, appointment needs or medication-related assessments – those are tangible hours we may not have ourselves.
Ask your current professionals if they think anyone could be worthwhile – they often have care coordinators available or they can refer outside services up elsewhere. If finances are a concern, community mental health agencies have far more support services than privately owned operations do – or vice versa depending upon your needs.
Talk to your own personal network about what’s come up – presenting supportive boundaries helps; it’s one thing to agree but another not knowing what they’re agreeing to could create ineffective measures down the line. “Can you remind me on my therapy days?” is far more important than “I need your help for my mental health.”
And if you’re not sure where you can get this support network – this is what an advocate or care coordinator can do – to determine what’s best for you because sometimes getting help means someone else needs help getting helped first.
The Bottom Line
Mental health care isn’t supposed to white knuckle alone. People do best when there’s a supportive network around them making check-in improvements more successful while compliance remains consistent and it’s all much easier once things derail when it’s easier for others to come in and make it happen sooner rather than later.
That supportive network looks different for everyone – from fully interconnected clinical teams or a therapist and a few strategically placed individuals in one’s own life for logistical support – even so much more coverage exists than making stressors small pieces of overtasked lives away from treatment combined with practical help from those who could do it better than oneself trying to get better at that moment in time anyway There’s no reason someone should have to go it alone once they’re already trying their best under difficult circumstances. Effective mental health care understands that staying the course is its own complication divorced from whatever’s being treated; having proper network systems makes that complication manageable instead of overwhelming every time it’s preventable by all kinds of other supportive services!
