A Research-Informed and Lived Contribution to Clinical Practice
This paper reflects our commitment to research-informed psychotherapy while explicitly naming the limits of hierarchical clinical models. It integrates empirical outcome research, shared decision-making literature, trauma-informed principles, and liberation psychology with direct clinical experience from our work with individuals, couples, and families. We offer this paper as a contribution to ongoing dialogue about client agency, informed consent, and power in mental health treatment. The framework is grounded both in peer-reviewed research and in lived therapeutic practice within our clinical community.
Abstract
The therapeutic process usually entails a patient having some kind of mental health alignment. They attend an appointment with a health professional, and are prescribed a treatment protocol that the patient is supposed to follow until symptoms abate. This is known clinically as achieving stasis. This paper looks at how collaborative care models that support the prioritization of a client's understanding of their treatment, and/or the theoretical framework, and/or options that might exist in support of their care create better outcomes overall. These are the tentpoles for what we call ‘client literacy’ as best practice, which disrupts the hierarchical power dynamics that are often inherent in traditional clinical settings.