Notes from the Field – 7 Questions with Director of Clinical Operations for Tava Health Dr. Tasha Jackson

“来自领域的笔记”是一项特别的新闻专题，突出了致力于改革医疗保健的行业专业人士。In this edition, we spoke with Director of Clinical Operations for Tava Health Tasha Jackson, PhD, LPC, CEAP

1. Tell us about your role Director of Clinical Operations for Tava Health?

I’ve been the Director of Clinical Operations at Tava Health for almost two years now. I oversee all of our clinical operations, including anything to do with our therapist network. This includes making sure we have enough therapists to meet demand, we have diversity in our network, that each therapist provides quality care and, most importantly, making sure clients and therapists are connecting.

I also help inform product development, making sure we’re incorporating the tools and features our therapists and clients need.

2. Unrelated to the pandemic, what is one thing you’ve learned over the past year?

I love this question. One of the important lessons I’ve learned is that I am responsible for myself.

不管我周围发生了什么，我总是有选择:我想如何花费我的精力和时间?我想要如何与人们互动和反应?我要对我的街道负责。我不知道另一边发生了什么，除了我;我就是我所能影响和控制的人。关注别人在做什么是很容易的。关注自己是很重要的一课。

3. Who is your mentor and why?

My mentor and I actually chatted this morning. Her name is Faye. Faye and I have known each other for almost eight years now. We started as colleagues, and she has become my mentor. We nudge each other. We nudge each other to be more reflective and help each other to manage ourselves in the midst of difficult or emotional situations. One thing that I really appreciate about Faye is that she helps me to see the potential of life and see the goodness so I can show up as my best and set the example for others. It doesn’t feel like one-sided interaction.

4. What inspired you to pursue a career in mental healthcare?

最初，我从事心理健康方面的工作是因为我渴望了解人们及其动机。I had the desire to share that understanding with clients to help them live better, more meaningful, and happier lives.

I started my career doing direct care, working with different clients throughout the week. I loved that work, but wanted to have a bigger impact, which prompted my move into administrative roles. Over time, I learned If I could see 20 clients in a week and work with five folks who were also seeing 20 clients per week, the potential impact became much greater. That helped me to think about, from a bigger system perspective, increasing accessibility for a wide range of people.

5. What do you see as the biggest opportunity to improve mental healthcare?

如果我们从多个角度考虑多样性，就有很大的机会改善精神保健。当然，就治疗提供者而言，以及治疗理念的多样性而言——不同的人的治疗是什么样的，我们可以通过不同的方式来实现。如果我们扩大这个定义，就有可能影响到更多人。

If we take anxiety for example, it doesn’t necessarily mean you need medication as is often what comes to mind for folks who are dealing with anxiety. A broader definition of healing allows for us consider incorporating body work, breathing exercises and incorporating yoga into the healing journey. We are learning more about the impact of trauma on the body and so many practitioners are bringing body work and yoga into their work with clients, which is different than the traditional approach of talk therapy.

6. What is the greatest challenge facing mental healthcare?

I think there are two challenges and that they are related. The first is that mental health in general feels really abstract for folks. I could be talking to someone about mental health and we could be thinking about really different things. We need to make it a little less abstract. For me, mental health includes your inner state of being, your thoughts, feelings, the physical state of your body, and your social world. Because of this abstract definition, there is a lot of stigma and lack of education, which I think is the other big challenge facing mental healthcare.

另一项挑战与污名化以及缺乏关于精神健康和精神健康的信息有关。对一些人来说，心理健康只意味着出了问题，人们认为只有在出现严重问题时才应该接受治疗。但为什么不从另一个方面考虑，然后说:“我现在过得很好。我该如何继续留在那里?”

7. What is one experience you have had in the last year that has supported or refueled your passion for your work?

I think about this a lot. At Tava Health, we have a Slack channel that captures feedback from clients and their experiences in therapy.

When there are hard days, when it feels like I’m not making any progress, I can revisit that channel and the feedback from our clients and see how we are making a difference for folks. The channel is filled with skills that clients have learned, ways that their lives have improved and how they can better engage with their relationships as a result. Those words really refuel me and give me energy to focus on the next project.