everything is clinical: a podcast for mental health pros Jackie Dunagan, LMFT

Host: Jackie Dunagan, LMFT, AAMFT Approved Supervisor
Episode Summary: In this solo episode, Jackie dives into the often challenging task of record keeping, focusing primarily on note-taking for clinicians. Jackie shares her personal experiences and confesses to not being naturally organized, highlighting the common struggle among right-brained clinicians who excel in emotional and clinical skills but may find administrative tasks daunting. This episode aims to demystify note-taking, providing practical tips and emphasizing the importance of keeping it simple and effective.
Key Points Discussed:
The Importance of Note-Taking:
Note-taking is an ethical requirement and a standard of care upheld by major professional organizations (e.g., AAMFT, ACA, APA, NASW).It protects against malpractice claims and is often necessary for insurance reimbursements.Proper notes enhance clinical skills and ensure continuity in client care.
Common Misconceptions and Challenges:
Many clinicians overcomplicate note-taking, aiming for perfection rather than sufficiency.The need for notes to be concise yet comprehensive, balancing detail with client confidentiality.
Types of Notes:
Progress Notes: Document the clinical journey, including who was present, the type of therapy, progress, and psychological impairments.Process Notes: Used by clinicians to process the case and plan interventions, requiring confidentiality but more detailed than progress notes.
Note-Taking Systems and Tips:
Formats: SOAP (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan), DAP (Data, Assessment, Plan), and BIRP (Behavior, Intervention, Response, Plan).Tools and Methods: Dictation, scannable notebooks, and potentially AI-driven note-taking programs.Experiment with different systems to find what works best for you and integrate it into your workflow.
Risk Management:
Ensure notes are HIPAA-compliant, whether kept digitally or in hard copy.
Practical Advice:
Don’t strive for perfection; “good enough” is often excellent.Regularly review notes before sessions to ensure continuity and preparedness.Customize your note-taking practice to fit your personal and professional needs, ensuring it doesn’t add unnecessary stress.
Closing Thoughts: Jackie encourages clinicians not to stress over note-taking and to adopt a mindset where "good enough" is sufficient. By simplifying the process, clinicians can focus more on providing quality care to their clients.
Call to Action:
Share your note-taking experiences and tips with Jackie.Consider trying out new tools or systems mentioned in the episode to see if they can simplify your practice.
Resources Mentioned:
"Documenting Psychotherapy Essentials for Mental Health Practitioners" by Malene Williams and Austin.
This podcast is purely informational and is not a replacement for professional supervision.   
Music for this podcast has been provided by Audionautix.com. 
About The Right Counselor website:
At The Right Counselor, we work hard to drive the right kinds of traffic to your page, at no charge to you, so you can find the clients who are right for you. Our main goal is to create meaningful connections that lead to healthy communities. We

In this episode, Rebekah Jones, LPC, CPCS, shares how she lays the groundwork for her work with minors.  If you are like me, it feels like there are a lot of t’s to cross and i’s to dot when you work with minors.  Rebekah certainly made it feel a lot more manageable for me, although I’m still sticking with adults.  We discuss how she navigates getting consent from parents or guardians, how she protects confidentiality for the child, and her approach to the question of providing custody recommendations.
If you enjoy the show, please click the follow button in your podcast player and new episodes will appear automatically in your podcast feed. 
About Rebekah Jones, LPC, CPCS
Rebekah Jones is a licensed professional counselor and a certified professional counselor supervisor.  She is in practice at Grow Counseling in Peachtree City Georgia.  She works with men, women, children, and teens, and specializes in parenting, life transitions, anxiety, and depression
You may find more info about Rebekah at: https://growcounseling.com/team/rebekah-jones/
This podcast is purely informational and is not a replacement for professional supervision.   
Music for this podcast has been provided by Audionautix.com. 
About The Right Counselor website:
At The Right Counselor, we work hard to drive the right kinds of traffic to your page, at no charge to you, so you can find the clients who are right for you. Our main goal is to create meaningful connections that lead to healthy communities. We have created an ad-free, soothing environment where you can focus on what you do best and know we will be working to make sure potential clients find you.
Copyright 2024 The Right Counselor

Dr. Wendy Dickinson Ragland, joins us today to discuss considerations with regard to setting clinical fees. 
In this podcast, Dr. Dickinson and I have an open chat about setting fees for your clinical work.  In this podcast, we discuss:
Considerations with regard to setting an appropriate feeWhen you might want to consider lowering your fee or doing pro-bono workHow some of our own stuff can get in the way of your setting an appropriate fee for your work
About Wendy Dickinson Ragland, PhD
Dr. Dickinson is a licensed psychologist. She received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Georgia State University. Dr. Dickinson is the Founder and CEO at GROW Counseling, GROW Counseling Network, GROW Restored, and The Right Counselor website.  
You may find more info about Dr. Dickinson at: https://growcounseling.com/team/wendy-dickinson/
This podcast is purely informational and is not a replacement for professional supervision.   
Music for this podcast has been provided by Audionautix.com. 
About The Right Counselor website:
At The Right Counselor, we work hard to drive the right kinds of traffic to your page, at no charge to you, so you can find the clients who are right for you. Our main goal is to create meaningful connections that lead to healthy communities. We have created an ad-free, soothing environment where you can focus on what you do best and know we will be working to make sure potential clients find you.
Copyright 2024 The Right Counselor

In this episode, we discuss how fitness and yoga can be used as a supplement to mental health counseling. Lauren and John Busing discuss their approach to wellness and fitness. John and Lauren are the owners of MOVE+breathe in Cumming, GA.
About Lauren and John
Lauren Reese Busing, E-RYT 200 and Certified Yoga Tune Up® Teacher, is co-owner of MOVE+breathe. She has been involved in group fitness for over 20 years. She started with teaching aerobics, weight training classes, and triathlons. After several injuries, Lauren found herself in pain. Frustrated – because even though she was “fit”, her body was always hurting – she turned to yoga to find strength and healing for her injuries. Yoga not only helped her feel better physically, but yoga also taught her the importance of balance, both literally and figuratively.
Lauren’s classes are powerful yet playful and encouraging. Her creative sequencing mirrors her lighthearted personality, and each class is a new experience. Lauren’s goal is to help her students find balance for their bodies and their lives. She finds her passion in working with athletes (both privately, with sports teams, and with both college and professional athletes), leading adult yoga retreats, and teaching kids yoga. Lauren was a PrAna featured yogi on REI’s Yoga for Athletes Live Tour, and she has studied with Sage Rountree, Jill Miller, and Leslie Kaminoff.
Certifications include RYT 200 Lifted Heart Yoga School, Certified Sage Yoga for Athletes Teacher (one of only 33 in the country!), Certified Yoga Tune Up® Teacher, Certified Roll Model Method® Teacher, Certified Functional Movement Systems, Certified Grounded Kids Instructor, and Certified Yoga Fit.
John Busing played college football at Miami University and professionally in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals, Houston Texans, and New York Giants. While involved in athletics growing up he developed a passion for the training and preparation it took to achieve results. Upon retirement in 2012, he moved into fitness and performance to follow that passion. Since then he has worked with all segments of the population including youth, college and professional athletes as well as those wanting to achieve fitness and wellness goals. John is looking forward to sharing his fitness, health and wellness philosophy with you in order to live a healthy lifestyle and move well.
John’s strength classes incorporate mindful movement with resistance to strengthen the body and mind.
Connect with MOVE+breathe
Follow MOVE+breathe on Instagram
Resources mentioned in this podcast: 
McGonigal, K. (2021). The joy of movement : how exercise helps us find happiness, hope, connection, and courage (First trade paperback edition). Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.Information on Polyvagal Theory at the Polyvagal Institute.
This podcast is purely informational and is not a replacement for professional supervision.   
Music for this podcast has been provided by Audionautix.com. 
About The Right Counselor website:
At The Right Counselor, we work hard to drive the right kinds of traffic

In this episode of Everything is Clinical: A Podcast for Mental Health Pros, Matt Golino from Zen VR discusses how virtual reality can be used with clients to help them learn meditation and as a counseling tool, both in and out of session. 
Matt is the founder and CEO of ZenVR. With almost ten years of meditation teaching experience and a Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction, launching his MS thesis project, a virtual reality meditation classroom and curriculum, as a startup to help therapists and their clients build real life meditation and mindfulness skills was only natural.
Matt is passionate about helping others find their paths into the often confusing world of mental health and meditation and believes using technology to incorporate research-backed practices to calm the mind alongside more standard therapy techniques is key to forging a mentally healthier tomorrow for our society!
ZenVR's website is: https://www.zenvrapp.com/
Matt can be reached at matt.golino@zenvrapp.com
Resources: Matt’s peer-reviewed article on using virtual reality meditation in a counseling setting. 
This podcast is purely informational and is not a replacement for professional supervision.   
Music for this podcast has been provided by Audionautix.com. 
About The Right Counselor website:
At The Right Counselor, we work hard to drive the right kinds of traffic to your page, at no charge to you, so you can find the clients who are right for you. Our main goal is to create meaningful connections that lead to healthy communities. We have created an ad-free, soothing environment where you can focus on what you do best and know we will be working to make sure potential clients find you.
Copyright 2024 The Right Counselor

In this episode, Dr. Lisa Korey, talks with us about Autism Spectrum Disorder. Dr. Korey discusses what clinicians should pay attention to if they may have a client who may benefit from an ASD assessment referral. The 3 areas that she specifically highlights are social anxiety, sensory perception, and emotional regulation. She also discusses some of the common myths about individuals with ASD.
In the podcast, Dr. Korey discusses three assessment tools that are available to the public and may be helpful for clients to use as screening tools. Each is discussed in detail in the podcast. NOTE: These are just screening tools and not to be used to rule out or confirm a diagnosis unless done by a specialist. 
The Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised (RAADS-R) - https://aspietests.org/userdetails.php?target=raads/index.phpThe Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) - https://aspietests.org/userdetails.php?target=aq/index.phpCamouflaging Autistic Traits (CAT-Q) for everyone, but especially for women, who tend to be very high masking - https://aspietests.org/userdetails.php?target=cat/index.php
Dr. Lisa Korey is a licensed psychologist and the Director and Founder of North Metro Psychological Services, a private practice with a mission to empower and inspire neurodivergent individuals and families through psychological assessment and counseling.
She has over 15 years of experience in providing diagnostic evaluation for autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Korey is passionate about providing neurodiversity-affirming care to children and adults. 
You may find more info about Dr. Korey at https://www.northmetropsych.com/providers/dr-lisa-korey-psychologist-marietta-ga
This podcast is purely informational and is not a replacement for professional supervision.   
Music for this podcast has been provided by Audionautix.com. 
About The Right Counselor website:
At The Right Counselor, we work hard to drive the right kinds of traffic to your page, at no charge to you, so you can find the clients who are right for you. Our main goal is to create meaningful connections that lead to healthy communities. We have created an ad-free, soothing environment where you can focus on what you do best and know we will be working to make sure potential clients find you.
Copyright 2024 The Right Counselor