By Cinzia Gagliardi
Going Home
Working as a Psychologist within the compensable injury space is unique, and unlike much of the work that Psychologists do in general private practice.
In compensable injury, the goal of psychological treatment is to work towards pre-injury duties – or as close as we can get to those duties. From the outset, we work collaboratively towards this goal with the patient, other treatment providers, rehabilitation consultants, and insurers.
When all is said and done, there is no better place to be than the place the patient was in before their injury. If, metaphorically speaking, we consider this place to be home, then – even if they end up a street away, or perhaps the next suburb over – we will work tirelessly to get them as close to home as possible.
The Isolation Issue
However, all too often, treatment providers view their work in isolation. They see their goal as relieving all symptoms, advocating for no contact with the workplace or rehabilitation providers, and setting a scene that – until such time as no symptoms are present – ultimately means their patient cannot participate in any other meaningful activity.
This is not to say that there aren’t times in the recovery process where a period of exclusive psychological treatment is necessary – but unfortunately, Psychologists who only work sporadically in the compensable injury space can inadvertently send the message that unless their patient stays away from all previous work connections, they will sustain further damage.
A Balanced Baseline
None of us work 100% of the time.
None of us work without any psychological symptoms.
So, it makes me wonder why the treatment goal often advocated for in this space is for clients to be completely symptom-free? A much more empowering stance is to start from the point of understanding a patient’s baseline prior to the injury – including their normal ‘off days’ and idiosyncrasies.
Working towards a baseline of adequate functioning is a much more realistic and empowering position to start from; knowing that progress towards returning to some form of work will not be linear, but will ultimately restore hope in the midst of a challenging period in a person’s life.
