Steven Hopkins

Review of Frontier behavioral health

It was 2011 when the name was changed from Spokane...

It was 2011 when the name was changed from Spokane Mental Health to Frontier Behavioral Health. Not a single manager or clinician except myself objected despite the significant difference in psychology between behavior and cognition (the mental part). Mental (the cognitive) suggests that there is some interplay between the hard wiring of the brain and cognition (thinking). Behavioral strongly suggests that the problems (diagnoses) and choices one makes can be manipulated or changed. This is behaviorism which was the first major 20th century paradigm in psychology. The cognitive revolution, along with humanism, came later in the 60's when there were cultural revolutions in the USA and Europe. The cognitive revolution along with humanism heralded in a new, more sophisticated and kindly look at the human. Along with discoveries in neuroscience, cognitive psychology recognizes the higher level abstract ability (from grey matter) present in higher level mammals. Behaviorism reduced things to the level of rats. The USSR government also embraced behaviorism as a means of greater control over the masses. The US government in the form of the military and intelligence agencies also studied behaviorism for the same reasons. If you are following along here, the embrace over behaviorism is a less kind, father knows best level of state control. Cognitive and human psychology recognize the unique gifts humans can have. As a manager in 2010 and 2011, it was clear that SMH, now FBH, wanted nothing to do with the cognitive revolution. It was an anti-intellectual culture. The place was ran by a few HR personnel who knew nothing about mental health treatment and one power hungry clinician who didn't care. The place was largely a jobs program--HR, IT, maintenance jobs attached to an obviously strong "old boys network" to put it mildly or incestuous (more accurate) culture found throughout Spokane. As a graduate student, I was warned not to pursue SMH because of the aforementioned problems, still, I thought, "how bad could a bunch of social workers and mental health types be?" Surely they had heard of humanism and the cognitive revolution? It was not the case and much like kindergarten and primary teachers who can't stop treating everyone as a 6 year old, these folks thought that if behavior and ideas from another human being deviated from their own they must surely fit some type of diagnosis. What they needed then and what they likely still need (the behavioral health part of the name) is cognitive restructuring of their own from someone who actually possesses and uses grey matter. The world is whole lot bigger than Spokane, your church, and your job folks. Mostly what the organization sorely needs now is a complete overhaul to oust the HR personnel that know nothing of mental health treatment along with the rat loving behaviorist clinicians who don't choose to care.