Dear Listeners,
Welcome to the ninth podcast in the series entitled Basic Attendance: Relationships That Invite Health. In this episode, we examine how all the roles on a team come together to demonstrate how a Windhorse team works.
Having been on many Windhorse teams over the years, and having served in various roles, I was particularly excited to be a part of this project. In addition to my clinical work, I recently joined the Admissions Team here at WCS. In talking with referral sources and potential clients and their family members, I often find myself describing what happens on a Windhorse team. What are the healing components? How is our approach unique in the field of Behavioral Health? Our teams explore all aspects of environment and relational medicine, holding both clinical awareness and contemplative understanding. We strive to help our clients reach their goals, acknowledging their accomplishments as their confidence builds, and they begin to live their own lives more fully and independently.
In this podcast, we tell a story about a real client’s journey through her recovery process. We have changed identifying details to preserve confidentiality and to assure anonymity. Each team member represented here is speaking from their perspective and real experience serving their particular role on a team, not necessarily that they were on the original team.
In this conversation, I speak from the role of the Intensive Psychotherapist. I am joined by Jack Gipple as the Team Supervisor, Beka Davis as Team Leader, Rebecca Diaz and Conner Hollingsworth as Team Counselors, and Lori Heintzelman as the Windhorse Therapeutic Housemate. An integral part of how a Windhorse team works is the partnership between the team and the private psychiatrist or medication prescriber. We are grateful to also be joined in this conversation by Dr. Earle Shugerman as the psychiatrist on the team. Chuck Knapp is our host and coordinator for this podcast.
With all of us talking together, I believe we have captured the essence of how a team works, from the beginning phases of our client finding her ground and stability all the way to her becoming more independent and needing less team contact. Hopefully, we have created a window into the healing capacity of a Windhorse team at work.
Enjoy!