Neither Profession, Coaching nor Mental Health, can offer each client all of the solutions, but by working together clients can be served, from a psych analysis to lab work, to ADD coaching to Personal and Career Development.
Dr. Eric Greenman MD, a practicing psychiatrist, has been building a company (iTel Companies, Inc.) to fulfill the needs that he saw crucial to the workflow of running a successful practice or clinic. When building this company he started with iTelepsych a mental health platform for therapists, from social workers, to psychiatrists. Since he started this endeavor, he realized the growing need to incorporate coaches into the mix. There are a few mental health practices in our area (including Dr. Greenman’s) that have coaches working along side of mental health professionals.

Secure Social Network for Open Communications

Coaches and Providers can further benefit Patients and Clients by working together, communicating together, creating a social open network together, to evaluate and discuss what helps people with their suffering and what improves their lives. Continuity of care is not a linear approach, but an ad hoc approach of a social network of professions working and coordinating together. iTel provides secure network with open communications for providers, coaches, hospitals, and other professionals to work together and be on the same page.
iTel is at the front of creating an open network of professionals working together to improve patient care. We are building a network to offer clients and patients the best care by offering the following advantages:

1. State of the Art Medical/Coaching Technology
2. Marketing Networking / Additional Client Streams
3. Referral System for practices and businesses

Clients deserve the best match. Being able to take advantage of each professional’s best attribute is beneficial for the professional and the client. Clients can be served best by getting the desired motivation and support, yet still need help and diagnoses from simple mental health assessments.

When identifying the difference between coaching and therapy, sometimes the two intervene, though in theory they are much different. iTel recognizes the difference and encourages professionals from coaching and mental health to work together, and help clients each step of the way.
How Mental Health Providers can help coaches & clients:

• Identify and correct hormonal, immune, neurotransmitter, and adrenal imbalances that directly drive pathology, accelerate aging, impair our functioning, impede progress in coaching, or just plain make us feel bad.
• Treatment recommendations: nutraceuticals, supplements, lifestyle, or nutrition.
• Recommend labs or supplements/lifestyle or preferably labs then supplements.
• Consultant both coach and client on mental health issues

HOW PATIENTS BENEFIT:

Extra help provided by mental health professionals, outside of regular coaching, for re-evaluation, testing and fine tuning of their supplement regimen, can be very beneficial to patients.
Patients who are looking for holistic approach, not desiring or in need of traditional medical/psychiatric treatment can improve their mental health. Steps to a healthier, more fulfilling life works best when someone is involved in the coaching process.

WHY PROVIDER BENEFITS:

• Don’t have time to coach
• Patients may not need therapy, but coaching
• Coaches can do things psychiatrists, psychologist and therapists cannot- better at their field than providers, different skill set
• Coaches help improve patient outcome
How coaches can help patients & mental health providers:
Not everyone needs a psychologist or psychiatrist- but everyone can use professional guidance at one time or another, whether that is for personal health, or personal or career development.
Qualified coaches are needed by mental health professionals for
• health building,
• anti-aging,
• ADD,
• mild depression,
• fatigue,
• burnout,
• weight management,
• stress management, etc.
• Executive Coaching
• Business coaching
• Etc.

Mental health professionals working with coaches, is this a new frontier? Would you like to see mental health professionals working with coaches (and vice versa)? What are your experiences?