http://www.sosoft.com/blog/2008/12/17/mental-health-practice-and-the-financial-crisis/ Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:51:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://www.sosoft.com/blog/2008/12/17/mental-health-practice-and-the-financial-crisis/comment-page-1/#comment-432 Ann Aukamp Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:45:56 +0000 http://www.sosoft.com/blog/?p=93#comment-432 My practice is solo, so there are no layoff or salary issues for me. Also I believe that the DC area, with all its government jobs, is less subject to the woes of a recession. We certainly do have foreclosures & job losses even so. Clinically, I am finding that more of my patients are focused on money issues and worries about next steps. Some worry that they will lose their jobs from major institutions like government contractors or even the World Bank. So some days, I can feel the load of depression dropping onto me. Since I am quite close to changing my practice drastically in June 2009 - semi-retirement, change to non insurance based work along with move from Maryland to Massachusetts, I have to remind myself of all the safeguards in place for me and my family. I think self care is more important than ever. My main computer is fairly new, but for retirement, I have replaced my desktop with a brand new 24" Apple desktop. I won't run SOS on it, but I am really excited about caataloguing music and photos with it, and also printing after adjustments in Photo Shop. So in the end, my trusty Lenovo laptop will certainly get relief . In terms of effects of the recession, it seems to me that my intakes are more likely not continue past one or two sessions, and that EAPS also do not go on after free sessions are exhausted. So it feels like I do more intakes to fill continuing hours. However, I sam still able to fill the time I wish to work. It would be interesting to be able to compare intake rates for years, similar to what we can do already for fees collected, etc (Monthly Summary). Hope all of you will have a happy and healthy new year - Warmly - Ann Aukamp My practice is solo, so there are no layoff or salary issues for me. Also I believe that the DC area, with all its government jobs, is less subject to the woes of a recession. We certainly do have foreclosures & job losses even so. Clinically, I am finding that more of my patients are focused on money issues and worries about next steps. Some worry that they will lose their jobs from major institutions like government contractors or even the World Bank. So some days, I can feel the load of depression dropping onto me. Since I am quite close to changing my practice drastically in June 2009 – semi-retirement, change to non insurance based work along with move from Maryland to Massachusetts, I have to remind myself of all the safeguards in place for me and my family. I think self care is more important than ever. My main computer is fairly new, but for retirement, I have replaced my desktop with a brand new 24″ Apple desktop. I won’t run SOS on it, but I am really excited about caataloguing music and photos with it, and also printing after adjustments in Photo Shop. So in the end, my trusty Lenovo laptop will certainly get relief .
In terms of effects of the recession, it seems to me that my intakes are more likely not continue past one or two sessions, and that EAPS also do not go on after free sessions are exhausted. So it feels like I do more intakes to fill continuing hours. However, I sam still able to fill the time I wish to work. It would be interesting to be able to compare intake rates for years, similar to what we can do already for fees collected, etc (Monthly Summary).
Hope all of you will have a happy and healthy new year – Warmly – Ann Aukamp

]]> http://www.sosoft.com/blog/2008/12/17/mental-health-practice-and-the-financial-crisis/comment-page-1/#comment-425 Spence Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:19:34 +0000 http://www.sosoft.com/blog/?p=93#comment-425 We are going ahead as aggressively as we can with automating processes. Bottom line is that we are in a vicious cycle of overwhelmed staff - money tight - potential layoffs - leads to more overwhelmed staff. The best way out that we see is to make as much of our process automated as possible, and to be able to use that automated infrastructure to manage a wider span of control. We are going ahead as aggressively as we can with automating processes. Bottom line is that we are in a vicious cycle of overwhelmed staff – money tight – potential layoffs – leads to more overwhelmed staff. The best way out that we see is to make as much of our process automated as possible, and to be able to use that automated infrastructure to manage a wider span of control.

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