December 23, 2019

Special Episode: Striking for the Future of Mental Healthcare

1 hour 14 minutes

Special Episode: Curt and Katie talk about the recent NUHW- Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Worker Strike. Katie interviews a National Union of Healthcare Workers representative, Dr. Kenneth Rogers. We then both reflect on the interview and a statement from Kaiser Permanente, especially related to the implications for the profession as a whole.

It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.

In this episode we talk about:

The implications of the strike for all mental healthcare workers

A statement from Kaiser Permanente

An interview with Dr. Kenneth Rogers, shop steward and member of the bargaining team for NUHW

The focus of the strike – looking at what the Union is requesting

What a shop steward is, how the union works, what the bargaining table looks like

The bureaucracy and distance that impacts the bargaining

The different perspectives of each side

The complexity of the decision making, the strategy of Kaiser Permanente

The possibilities that Katie sees related to state-of-the-art mental health services

The goal of transforming the model of care

The inefficiencies that lead to lower productivity, the focus needed to improve care

The positives in the current Kaiser proposal

The hope of coming together to work on the future of mental healthcare

The lack of parity in how mental healthcare workers are treated versus other professionals in Kaiser, looking at the perceived payment philosophy

NUHW goal for the mental health system of care – solely getting to the basic standard of care

The lack of trust between Kaiser and NUHW and the complexity of the decision-making

Rogers’ reflections on the survival guide tips and the impact of the strike on clinicians and patients, advice for the striking clinicians

The impact of Kaiser’s payment philosophy on other workplaces (Curt busting out some economic theory from Richard Thayler)

The importance of the union work on wages in other workplaces

Parity for mental health professionals and what that means for mental health parity

Call to action to stay informed, step up and advocacy

Resources mentioned:

We’ve pulled together resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links.

National Union of Healthcare Workers: NUHW

NUHW Facebook Page

Kaiser Don’t Deny

Union Representative Dr. Kenneth Rogers bio:

Kenneth Rogers, Psy.D. is a psychologist who has worked with the Kaiser Permanente Medical Group for the past 16 years. He has worked at the Fremont, Santa Clara, and Campbell Medical Centers in the past and currently works at the Elk Grove clinic near South Sacramento. He has been a shop steward for NUHW since its inception in 2009 and has been on the NUHW Executive Board since 2015. Dr. Rogers was a member of the 2010-2015 contract bargaining team and he remains a member of the current bargaining committee since July, 2018.

Los Angeles Times Article

The Kaiser Permanente ACE Study

Economic Theory: Nobel Prize Winning Economist Richard Thayler – Anomalies: Inter-industry Wage Differentials

Relevant Episodes:

Modern Therapists Strike Back

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The Fifty-Minute Hour

Credits:

Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/

Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano http://www.crystalmangano.com/

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By Curt Widhalm, LMFT and Katie Vernoy, LMFT

4.3

237237 ratings