Basic Rights as a Person Receiving Care

It is so important that a person living with mental illness (or any condition) learn to become a strong advocate for themselves. Personally as a clinician and a recipient of services, I can tell you 100% that you will not get good quality care if you don’t speak up and fight for good quality care. Do not be afraid to “shop around” for a good provider. There are many programs for help that are not advertised. Take a guess why? For some programs more clients means the program needs to spend money. Advocate. Ask questions. Sometimes you need to PUSH. Never stop. Hunt for those solutions! Be relentless. (Inside info – Care Managers are clinicians specifically available to help clients in need connect with the resources they need. A top notch CM knows all the programs in your area). Also don’t be afraid to ask more than once if what you are hearing sounds like BS! Seriously understand that in the mental health care field *everyone has a supervisor or entity that supervises whomever you are receiving care from. Once you start asking questions, you become a force to reckoned with. Bad clinicians will fear you once you involve yourself actively in treatment. (Insider Info: A incompetent clinician loves giving the diagnosis Borderline Personality Disorder. They blame the competent client for their own mistakes and incompetence. (BPD is really severe trauma, complex ptsd, mood swings, high intelligence, vocal in treatment).
Beware of how clinicians document about you. I say this because I was shocked by how clinicians I worked with portrayed their clients. The clients were misconstrued in negative ways that severely impacted the services they could receive, such as social security.
Be sure to carefully review treatment plans. If a clinician says “sign here” carefully review what you are signing off on. It is a document you can modify if you don’t like what you read!
Be aware that any documentation that you request may appear to a bad provider to be a threat. Threatened providers are, per my experience, ego-centric and insecure. Providers may tell you – to thwart you – that there is a fee per page of documentation you requested. Sometimes advocating for yourself feels like throwing a fit! But let me tell you, throwing a constructive fit is how you get results. In the mental health field THE SQUEAKY WHEEL REALLY DOES GET THE GREESE!!
Word to the wise *everyone has a supervisor in the field of mental health treatment. Even those providers in private practice have supervising entities. If you ask for the supervising entities contact information, they must provide this to you. You should not feel shy approaching this person about your concerns regarding treatment. If you go to a clinic, you have the right to work with a provider who is specialized in the kind of care you need. Providers may act like this is a big deal to ask for a different clinician. In my experience, clients are bluntly given to whoever clinician has availability. It’s not based on treating your specialized need! When you ask for a change in provider they may try to fight you and act like your mental health issues are the reason you have a problem with your clinician. You have the right to ask for a particular advocate if you feel you are a better fit with that individual. And, if that individual has a caseload that could accommodate you, a competent agency will make the switch happen for you. Ask around your area who is the best clinician that goes to that clinic and once you find out that’s who you need to ask for. In my experience, 10% of clinicians are actually talented, inspired, and believe in ideal positive outcomes.

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Dr. Anastasia Zyuban

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