AREA OF PRACTICE.
Obviously, a qualified professional should be someone who actually
works with [the group requiring attention, for instance] adolescents
and the problems parents bring to their attention. The area in which a
professional practices can be misleading and it may cause
misunderstanding. Many professionals have overlapping areas of
practice. For instance, a physician who works in adolescent medicine
will encounter many of the problems that parents have with their
children. But these same professionals can be limited in their ability
to help because of time constraints or their lack of knowledge and
experience with youth intervention resources. In addition, they may not be able to provide the level of support and guidance necessary.
For
these reasons and others, clients need to find a professional or series
of professionals who work with the problem presented. This means
that clients may need someone to be in charge of managing the "big
picture" or the clients themselves will need to assume responsibility
to assure that everything gets done. Consultants can be employed to
focus on goals and not just one link in a series of issues or problems.
This means that clients dealing with a complex problem will encounter
frustration and disappointment if they seek help from professionals who
can only address a small piece of a much bigger problem. With regard to
the area of practice, the key is to find someone who has the time, is
available and committed to creating a solution for problems they work
with. Finally, it is important to find the right professional. Some
problems may seem to require more than one professional. But in many
cases the right professional may provide a better and more
comprehensive solution.
TRAINING.
Professionals learn from experience but they also learn a great deal
from training that is specific to their area of practice. Training
provides professionals with new information as well as contact with
others who represent actual standards of care and behavior. Licensed
professionals are required to attend recognized and credible training
in order to maintain their license. Unlicensed professional are not
required to attend training or credible training. Whenever possible,
clients should review a professionals training experience or ask about
their training in the area in which they practice. Asking should not
offend a true or confident professional.
EXPERIENCE.
Experience is what separates a mere professional from a highly
qualified professional. Working with a lot of problems in the
[particular population, for instance the] youth population gives a
professional the ability to appreciate the complexity and potential
issues as well as how well interventions work. This can be invaluable
because working with youth is not easy. Intervention, counseling and
treatment options are numerous. Knowing what is available, works and is
cost effective requires experience. It can take years of work in the
field of youth intervention in order to guide parents successfully.
KNOWLEDGE. Information, and especially current information, is critical in order to construct an effective intervention. Knowledge
empowers clients to make informed decisions. Knowledge allows
professionals to be credible and to provide that information that
clients need. Professionals need to have knowledge pertaining to
individual, group, family and program services. This includes boarding
schools, emotional growth programs, therapeutic programs, residential
treatment, behavior modification programs, psychiatric hospitalization,
psychiatric services, counseling, psychotherapy, family therapy, group
therapy, psychological testing, adventure therapy, wilderness therapy
and outdoor behavioral health.
Dated: January 9, 2006
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