by Dr. Benjamin Nordstrom
The April calendar is packed with opportunities relevant to our work here at BHG. Celebrate Diversity Month. Alcohol Awareness Month. National Public Health Week. National Minority Health Month. National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. Patient Experience Week. While these dates may indicate that society is evolving, barriers for our peers and patients are alive and well. I challenge us to consider what more we can be doing to help them feel seen, heard and known. What more can we do as a team so that we can do more for our patients?
Every day, it’s our obligation to change the way we deliver care. So often, treatment and recovery are presented as a selection of different one-size-fits-all philosophies and approaches. The good news is that there’s a path out of that conventional thinking. Daily, we get the opportunity to dispel that myth in all that we do as we create a new class of recovery.
- When you know better, you do better. Say yes to learning more about the cultural backgrounds of your peers and your patients. Say yes to making bold “asks” of community partners who can expand our cultural competency and knowledge, our networks and resources, and our access to better help our patients from all walks of life use their individual and community strengths to navigate the system.
- Get rid of preconceived notions. Orthodoxy is a barrier. Take, for instance, a patient who has successfully stayed accountable to his peer support group from his evangelical church instead of attending the more familiar 12 Step meetings. I know patients like him. While that group doesn’t fit in the box of prescribed, typical approaches, that group works for him because it’s within his social reality.
- Have humility. Accept that we don’t automatically understand what’s going to “work” for our patients. Irrespective of gender, race, religion, housed or homeless, the people who come to see us do want to stop suffering. Beyond that, we need to understand that the motivations and goals of each of our patients can vary widely, and that not everybody wants what mainstream Americans wants. Learning about patients’ backgrounds and social realities helps build trusting relationships and individually tailored plans of care that will help them authentically be themselves in recovery.
- Use the individual strengths in your teams to make the best counselor-patient match. While it’s unrealistic to think that all people know how to meet every person’s needs, the diversity of strengths on our teams can be used to help all our patients. Taking these steps can help us facilitate the crucial counselor-patient relationship and meet them where they are when they need us.
We need to see past the trees. BHG is home for everyone. When we are open to learning about our patients’ conventional and nonconventional environments and realities, we can also realize our common vulnerabilities. When that happens, that’s where the work of real recovery can begin.
Have thoughts to share or questions to ask? Reach out to me at [email protected] or 603-306-6047. As always, please stay informed about COVID-19-related updates on our website.