A Brave New World Awaits Us

Cultural Crisis…Seismic Societal Shift

It’s generally accepted that deaths of despair (suicide, overdose) and related issues are the result of a fundamental cultural crisis. Or perhaps the more optimistic view; that it’s a societal shift or transition. Not a crisis.

Either way, we know that everything is changing and many of the traditional institutions of society are proving inadequate.

This includes healthcare and certainly behavioral healthcare (counseling, therapy, treatment, mental health, substance use disorder).

The “institutions of behavioral health” are not immune to this upheaval.

Therapy & Coaching

In the future the fundamentals of therapy and coaching will be redefined.

The therapeutic hour will be delivered/distributed via “touches” that are shorter in duration and higher in frequency.

87% of people prefer asynchronous communication (text primarily) over face to face and/or phone.

Gen Z (born after 1996) will most certainly prefer this approach.

Actually, everyone will prefer this approach.

The Nature of Things

This new model will become the primary approach leading to the dismantling of traditional office based mental health and SUD services.

This new approach will be shown to be exponentially more effective than traditional office based/inpatient services.

This will be the beginning of massive shifts in the helping professions that will arise alongside the inevitable societal shifts on the horizon.

We know this to be the case as it is the nature of things.

It’s the cycle. It’s inevitable. The time is near.

A brave new world awaits.

I hope we don’t lose an entire generation in the meantime.