One of the advantages of having an office in Mt. Washington Village — Charm City Cupcakes.   They have taken over a tiny stand-alone building behind the Whole Foods and sell nothing but cupcakes.

Military OneSource is an employee assistance program (EAP) run by Ceridian for DOD that effective January 1st started requiring therapists to UPLOAD EACH TREATMENT NOTE to them in order to get paid. The potential for abuse is unbelievably high. They also forbid therapists from treating certain common conditions (PTSD anyone?).

There is a recent article in the Missoulan newspaper entitled “Missoula therapist fights human resources firm over confidentiality, PTSD treatment for soldiers” that explores this issue in some depth.  You should take the time to read it here.

The argument that 100% of treatment notes need to be uploaded to a central computer for quality control simply does not hold water. The argument that short-term EAP counseling is not the place for long-term therapy concerns falls apart when you realize that they typically authorize 12 sessions (about 3 months) of EAP work before referral to an ongoing therapist. What — you are not supposed to work on the real issues for 3 months?  EAP benefits strictly for the purpose of assessment and referral typically (and unfortunately) are only authorized for about 3 sessions.

This sort of thing cannot be left unchallenged by clients or therapists if we wish to continue trusting in the privacy and efficacy of therapy.  It is entirely possible that nothing inappropriate will happen with those uploaded notes — but why should clients have to trust that?

Clients need to be able to trust that their sessions are confidential and that their therapists can treat them for whatever ails them if within the skill set of the therapist.

This sort of increasing control over therapy services by insurance companies is typically pitched in terms of quality of care, but could so easily stray into denial of care or workplace ramifications.  It is a slippery slope.

This is a mental health blog, not a currency blog, but I do want to take a moment to post about the great potluck I went to last night with members of the Baltimore Currency Association.

Several good ideas got discussed in the brainstorming session, including a possible future debit card system.

The comment that really struck me was about the symbolic value of a dollar.  That is, every time someone holds a Baltimore currency note in their hands, they will be reminded of 1) civic pride in their neighborhood and/or city, 2) the value of their neighbors, and 3) to shop locally.  Reminds me very much of some of the NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) work I sometimes do — especially with the NLP concept of anchoring.  In any case, what a great way to maintain continual awareness of important values!

They are looking at a possible time-line (still flexible) of starting to sell BNotes after their fundraising is complete March 11th, launching the currency April 16th at an Eco event in Druid Hill Park, and following that up with a block party with the Baltimore Free Farm April 17th.

Their were several very good brochures last night — brochures I am not sure are on the main website.  I am attaching below color scans of the brochures.  They are quick, concise, and well-done pieces on what the BNote is about.  Please download them.

BNote Flyer 1 — .pdf longer flyer about the value of the BNote to the commuty and the cycle of money.

BNote Flyer 2 — .pdf short flyer about the BNote.

BNote Merchants — .pdf flyer on merchants signed-on to accept the BNote as of January 2011.

An interesting article from the Los Angeles Times:

Insurers Are Scouring Social Media for Evidence of Fraud

The article concerns the ways in which insurance companies are using FaceBook and other social media to detect fraud.  A case example is given of a women losing disability benefits for depression after posting photos of herself going to the beach.

This gets me rather angry actually.  Imagine being depressed and NOT going to the beach for fear of not looking depressed?  We all know how much more depressed clients are who isolate and don’t try.

I’m having visions of blogs all in black with sad faces and thunderstorm video links maintained by people who want to look depressed to maintain their benefits.

I’m also imagining idiot database engines denying me coverage and what-not based upon my amazon.com buying patterns… I buy books on every disorder imaginable… I must be really sick…

So — is this a real problem?  Do we all have to rush out and scour our FaceBooks?  Or is the LA Times just finding a good fear angle to sell papers?

Or maybe insurance companies SHOULD do this — if they intelligently investigate all angles?

– Michael

I just want to thank everyone who stopped by my booth at SpiritFest this past weekend at Mystickal  Voyage.  I met several people who are interested in counseling services.  I also met people who just wanted to chat and who wanted to do some really fast coaching on a specific problem.

I was struck by how most of those I met were already half-way towards healing.  Outside of spiritual communities this is not usually the case.  There is something to be said for participating in an empowering spirituality of your own choice where there are tools under your control to help yourself and a community that believes in you.  I felt lucky to be potentially seeing clients with such internal and external resources.

I was also struck by the potential of cooperation amongst healers.  How one healing modality flows into the next.  I was frequently a useful part of a bigger matrix of work going on.  We need to figure out how to get client to see (and how they pay for) teams of healers with complementary skills.

– Michael