Brattleboro Retreat program geared toward helping mental health professionals

Mental health crises are at an all-time high as a result of the pandemic and because of that, a new conundrum presented itself – what do you do when healthcare providers are in need of the same services and treatment plans they themselves typically provide?

Brattleboro Retreat is a mental health focused center working to address this challenge through its Healthcare Professionals Program, which was formed last year. The program offers specialized treatment in group therapy format and recovery programs for those who need help, caregivers caring for other caregivers struggling with depression, anxiety, stress, and substance abuse disorders including addiction which is on the rise in the healthcare professionals sector.

“We saw directly and, in the news, information that healthcare workers were burned out and experiencing higher numbers of mental health and substance abuse disorders,” said James Benton, Ph.D., director of psychology training and manager of the Healthcare Professionals Program at Brattleboro Retreat.

The program runs parallel to their Uniform Service Program started in 2009 that offers services and treatment to firefighters, police, corrections officers, and more struggling with mental health and substance abuse. Benton, who has been at Brattleboro Retreat for 10 years, said they started admitting people to the Healthcare Professionals Program this past spring and that so far, about 15 people have gone through it.

“It is one of the few programs in New England geared towards helping healthcare professionals deal with the stresses and challenges found in their profession, especially when they start experiencing work related challenges themselves such as alcohol or substance abuse, anxiety, depression,” he said. “It has gotten very good reception. People really appreciate the opportunity to be with their peer group and share common issues.”

Benton said the program is geared towards health care professionals who experience “secondary trauma” such as compassion fatigue and seeing people injured and dying, common experiences throughout the pandemic.

“During the pandemic people were working many hours and weeks at a time caring for other people,” Benton said. “Because of that, you can experience feeling anxious and depressed and don’t want to work. We see anxiety and depression present as alcohol or substance abuse given that people often do not have any rest from it.”

He added, it is “gratifying…to be able to provide support to the professionals who devote themselves to helping others,” his peers.

“Their needs are often overlooked and there are few resources they can turn to,” Benton said. “It is my hope that the Healthcare Professionals Program supports the needs of mental health professionals so they can continue providing much needed services to the public.”

Brattleboro Retreat post-doctoral Fellow in Clinical Psychology Jessica Tamulonis, ME.d., echoed his sentiments and acknowledged that they are in a unique position to be able to provide services to their colleagues.

“It has been such an honor and a privilege to be a part of such meaningful work and an important reminder that self-care is not selfish, not even a little bit,” she said. “I often think about why we become helping professionals in the first place, and to put it simply, it’s because we want to help others.

She continued,”Unfortunately, while we are helping others, we often forget about helping ourselves. For a long time, there has been this assumption that because we are the professionals, we are superheroes and somehow immune to things like stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, traumatic experiences, or other challenges.  When, in reality, it is these struggles which not only make us just like everyone else, but actually make us great at our jobs. And sometimes it’s a lot to carry and we need help too.”