Everything but the Kitchen Sink

AN ILLUSTRATED COLLECTION OF USABLE STUFF FOR MENTAL HEALTH PRACTICE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FROM THE SHOE BOX

A Dedication of the book to all those who help others, with special thanks for those who work in, supervise in, and teach in the field of Mental Health & recognition for those who courageously seek their help.

INTRODUCTION

Defines the goal of the Notebook. To help professionals in the first years of their career connect Ideas to Experience, moving from the Classroom to the Real World. The material conveys a Bottom Line view of what is important to know amidst changing paradigms in Mental Health practice. The Notebook keeps in mind four contexts – that of Biology interacting with the Environment; what we call our Human Nature/s; our Primate Behavioral Inheritance (patterned ways of responding to the world); and how this knowledge is used in the pragmatic realities of today’s Frontline Practice. The Notebook is NOT a traditional professional textbook, but a personal selection of material deemed helpful to beginning practitioners and their supervisors.
NOTE: Many professional Mental Health disciplines refer to a BIO-PSYCHO-SOCIAL model for practice. This Notebook includes the BIO for Masters Level practitioners. The INTRODUCTION ends with ----- Suggestions for Using This Notebook.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

Usable Stuff for Mental Health Practice

I asked an assortment of folks for feedback about this book -- for general comments, likes and dislikes, and a quote for a potential publisher if they chose. The following were typical of the responses I received including the following treasured review graciously offered by a therapist/writer colleague.

Laura Mette LCSW, BCD Family Therapist - Private Practice

!!!!! I LOVE THE BOOK !!!!! IT IS BEAUTIFUL and INVITING !!!!

Not since Joy of Cooking have I been introduced to such panoply of resource. The informal presentation of recent ideas layered with the sage refreshers of common sense and established wisdom, draws the reader to feel delightfully confused about whether she is a voyeur, enjoying an intimate personal journey or reading a testimonial to a profession that has come a long way. "Everything but the Kitchen Sink" introduces many ideas never considered in the fairly dark ages of mental health education. Interestingly, it is the newer data (evolution, biology, neuropsychiatry, genetics,. . . ) that serves as a bridge across all study of human behavior in a field broader than most, and an art form missing it's underpinning.