A Crucial Alliance: SLPs and Mental Health Professionals

Published: March 1, 2022, 5:25 a.m.

Get .1 ASHA CEU here

Episode Summary

Ever feel under-equipped to deal with the counseling demands that often pop up in your daily SLP work? You’re not alone! So much of what we do as SLP’s is “grief work” and many of us find ourselves in over our heads at times with the counseling needs of our clients or students and their families. This week, Kate and Amy capitalize on their “forced friendship” with Beverly Montgomery of Lex Communicate to talk about the power of alliances with mental health professionals in addressing the holistic needs of individuals with communication differences and the caregivers who support them. Beverly discusses how mental health needs touch each case we serve and offers actionable suggestions for how Interprofessional Education (IPE) and Interprofessional Practice (IPP) can help us go beyond due diligence and realize better outcomes for those we serve. Tune in to explore which mental health professionals may be unexpected allies and obtain some simple strategies to help you manage these powerful relationships when scopes of practice overlap. Our clients and students are so complex, you may often feel that you “have a flashlight when you need a flood light” to recognize all of the facets that compose client and family needs. Beverly’s approach to interdisciplinary practice Illuminates the complexities of your toughest cases. If you find “other stuff” getting in the way of therapeutic progress for your clients or students, this is the episode for you.

Learning Outcomes

State the purpose(s) and benefit(s) of interprofessional collaboration

Define Interprofessional Education (IPE) and Interprofessional Practice (IPP)

Describe a decision-making process for when and how to make mental health referrals

Identify a variety of collaborative partners both within and outside their organization

References

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2010). Roles and responsibilities of speech-language pathologists in schools [Professional Issues Statement]. Available from www.asha.org/policy

Dobbs-Oates, J., & Wachter Morris, C. (2016). The case for interprofessional education in teacher education and beyond. Journal of Education for Teaching, 42(1), 50–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2015.1131363 

Elleseff, T. (2014). Creating Successful Team Collaboration: Behavior Management in the Schools. Perspectives on School-Based Issues, 15(1), 38–44.https://doi.org/10.1044/sbi15.1.38. Erickson, K. A. (2017). Comprehensive Literacy Instruction, Interprofessional Collaborative Practice, and Students with Severe Disabilities. Retrieved March 3, 2020, from https://doi.org/10.1044/2017_AJSLP15-0067 

Farber, J. G., & Klein, E. R. (1999). Classroom-based assessment of a collaborative intervention program with kindergarten and first-grade students. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 30, 83- 91. 

Kent-Walsh, J., & Light, J. (2003). General education teachers' experiences with inclusion of students who use augmentative and alternative communication. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 19, 104–124. 

Novak, J.M., & Kapolnek, K.M. (2001). Speech-language pathologists serving clients with mental illness: A collaborative treatment approach. Contemporary Issues in Communication Science and Disorders, 28, 111-122.

Pfeiffer, Danika L., Pavelko, S. L., Hahs-Vaughn, D. L., & Dudding, C. C. (2019). A National Survey of Speech-Language Pathologists Engagement in Interprofessional Collaborative Practice in Schools: Identifying Predictive Factors and Barriers to Implementation. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 50(4), 639–655. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_lshss-18-0100 

Roepke, E., Greenwell, T., & Brosseau-Lapré, F. (2019). Service delivery for children with speech sound disorders: Evidence for the Quick Articulation! model. EBP Briefs, 14(2), 1–9. Bloomington, MN: NCS Pearson, Inc. 

Throneberg, R. N., Calvert, L. K., Sturm, J. J., Paramboukas, A. A., & Paul, P. J. (2000). A Comparison of Service Delivery Models: Effects on Curricular Vocabulary Skills in the School Setting. Retrieved March 21, 2020, from https://doi.org/10.1044/1058-0360.0901.10

Online Resources

World Health Organization: Interprofessional Education & Practice

American Speech and Hearing Association: Interprofessional Education and Practice

Speaker Disclosures:

Beverly Montgomery financial disclosures: Beverly is the owner and operator of Lex Communicate. Beverly Montgomery non-financial disclosures: Beverly has family members with diagnoses discussed in the course and has a professional bias towards integrated, collaborative social communication treatment. 

Kate Grandbois financial disclosures: Kate is the owner / founder of Grandbois Therapy + Consulting, LLC and co-founder of SLP Nerdcast.  Kate Grandbois non-financial disclosures: Kate is a member of ASHA, SIG 12, and serves on the AAC Advisory Group for Massachusetts Advocates for Children. She is also a member of the Berkshire Association for Behavior Analysis and Therapy (BABAT), MassABA, the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) and the corresponding Speech Pathology and Applied Behavior Analysis SIG. 

Amy Wonkka financial disclosures:  Amy is an employee of a public school system and co-founder for SLP Nerdcast.   Amy Wonkka non-financial disclosures: Amy is a member of ASHA, SIG 12, and serves on the AAC Advisory Group for Massachusetts Advocates for Children.

Course Disclosure - Financial and In-Kind

Funding for this course was provided by one of our Corporate Sponsors, Vooks.

Time Ordered Agenda:

15 minutes: Introduction, Disclaimers and Disclosures

25 minutes: Descriptions of the purposes and benefits of interprofessional collaboration, interprofessional education, and interprofessional practice

15 minutes: Descriptions of the decision-making process for when and how to make mental health referrals

10 minutes: Descriptions of a variety of collaborative partners both within and outside their organization

5 minutes: Summary and Closing

Disclaimer

The contents of this episode are not meant to replace clinical advice.  SLP Nerdcast, its hosts and guests do not represent or endorse specific products or procedures mentioned during our episodes unless otherwise stated.  We are NOT PhDs, but we do research our material.  We do our best to provide a thorough review and fair representation of each topic that we tackle.  That being said, it is always likely that there is an article we’ve missed, or another perspective that isn’t shared.  If you have something to add to the conversation, please email us! Wed love to hear from you!

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