In this fast-paced world, mental health clinicians are constantly challenged to navigate multiple demands. Clinicians spend countless hours gaining knowledge, pursuing specializations, obtaining licensure and maintaining awareness of evidenced-based approaches for use in their practices. Much of their time, effort and energy are focused on helping others improve emotional wellness and developing healthy relationships. Yet, when the day ends, what do they have left, if anything, for their significant others, children, family or friends? We have often heard the adage, “Doctors make the worst patients.” It’s an assertion that can also be applied to mental health clinicians. When clinicians set out to help others, they may miss signs that indicate a need for additional support. This can lead to burnout, poor decision making and a decline in their ability to maintain healthy personal relationships. Sh’Nai Simmons is a licensed professional counselor and executive director of Community Victory Family Services in Jacksonville, Florida. Based on her experience, reports from licensure boards and research, she’s concluded that clinicians are “more prone to experiencing complications in relationships.” So, it is important to consider the barriers preventing mental health clinicians from seeking help so they can ensure that their personal relationships remain intact. Some barriers, according to Simmons, include denial as well as feelings of shame, guilt and hopelessness. Others are “exhaustion, lack of reinforcement and/or mechanisms in place to establish healthy boundaries, a ‘hero complex’ and poor work-life balance …” Thus, if clinical programs, supervision and consultation with peers aren’t effective, healthy boundaries and “prioritization of relationships” can’t develop. There are two crucial ways to improve the chances a clinician will seek help. First, address the stigma associated with mental health by using language to destigmatize reasons for seeking help. Such language includes the term “emotional wellness” versus “mental health.” In addition, says Simmons, it’s important to view therapy as a “wellness tool versus interventions to fix something broken.” Deleted the rest since it seems redundant. Asked how she sustains healthy relationships on a daily basis, Simmons says she surrounds herself with various sources of accountability (family, peers, spouse, etc,.) to ensure she maintains boundaries between her personal and professional life, “checks her pride” so she can recognize when she may need additional support and “gives grace” to others who are also in need of support. Donita Holmes is a licensed, independent social worker-clinical practice, with 20-plus years of clinical experience. She earned a doctorate in I/O psychology, with a specialization in organizational psychology.
First published in Black Mental Health Today, Winter 2021 (No. 2).