Your Whole Self

[Jaunty Guitar Music]

Mike: Welcome, everybody. This is Avoiding the Addiction Affliction, brought to you by Westwords Consulting and the Kenosha County Substance Use Disorder Coalition. I'm Mike McGowan.

Mike: When a person experiences a decline in their mental health, it doesn't just affect one part of their life. It affects everything.

Mike: It makes sense, then, that an integrated approach addressing a person's mental, emotional, and physical self is needed. And that's what our guest is going to talk about. Sydney Reese is the Vice President of Operations at Mind Body Optimization. Mind Body Optimization is based out of Greater Dallas Fort Worth, Texas area, but has numerous locations in Texas and Tennessee.

Mike: Welcome Sydney.

Sydney: Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Mike: Well, I'm so glad that you could join us. First, it always helps. Tell us a little bit about yourself and then tell us a little bit about, about MBO.

Sydney: Yeah. So I started my, I guess professional career with a bachelor's in biology at Stephen F Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas, the oldest town in Texas. Was all ready to do physical therapy as my career, the human body and how it heals itself is really fascinating to me.

Sydney: I guess February of my senior year was all ready to go and submitted my applications, all the things, and I just woke up one morning and was like, I don't actually think this is what I want to do.

Mike: Oh gosh.

Sydney: So I ended up applying to the program at UNT, University of North Texas, and I got my counseling master's from there, and everything's kind of been history since then, I guess they say.

Sydney: I've worked really hard and things have fallen into place where I am here. I'm really passionate about not only creating an environment for patients to get everything they need without having to go to this provider and that provider and then that one over there, but I'm also really passionate about creating a workplace where it's a collaborative environment.

Sydney: Where the team feels supported and where they can just come and do their jobs. They don't have to worry about the bureaucracy, all the paperwork you have to do. Let me take care of that. That's my responsibility. I don't want to put roadblocks in your way. I've worked at organizations before where if there was a bad outcome, they threw another piece of paper into the discharge planning or to the documentation that you had to do.

Sydney: We're not going to do that. We want our providers to be able to come in, see their clients, make those really hard decisions about their care with the client, and then be able to go home and have a good life with their families.

Mike: Oh, that's great. I'm nodding throughout that because I've had so many therapists on here.

Mike: What they complain about isn't the work, it's the bureaucracy. So that's interesting.

Sydney: Yeah. Yeah. And there are some things that we're going to have to deal with forever. You have to document your session, but I can maybe choose a system that makes it easier for you or with AI now I can choose an AI tool that helps you document your sessions.

Sydney: So we're all about assisting our team members in any way we can, because the less time you have to spend dealing with all of that bureaucracy, the more time you get to spend with your clients, the higher quality, the care and it just leads to better outcomes.

Mike: We'll take a tangent here. Talk about that for a minute. Talk about the AI. I've had a number of different therapists begin to use some of that. It saves them oodles of time if they don't have to recreate notes on every session.

Sydney: Absolutely. We just started doing a trial on a tool with a few of our providers just to see is the AI a quality product?

Sydney: Is it going to spit out something that is compliant with our state regs, our joint commission regulations, but also our payer contracts? So we've been sifting through several different companies, but yeah. What we're seeing is our providers, instead of spending hours and hours and into the early mornings for some of them completing their documentation, they click a button that says generate note.

Sydney: And in about 30 seconds, they've completed their documentation.

Mike: And it's not like somebody else is gonna then do it. They have to edit it. They have to look at it, see if it makes sense. Right.

Sydney: Right.

Mike: It's like saving your typing.

Sydney: It's just a tool in the tool belt. Yeah.

Mike: Yeah. Well, tell us that you've worked in several other places. What makes MBO different?

Sydney: I think the mission if we look at our healthcare system and I listened to the episode with Dr. Alice talking about the healthcare system, it is broken. If we are really true and honest mental health care is health care, and that segment of our health care system is not truly designed for people to be well.

Sydney: It's designed to, in a way, create a rotating door of people coming in, getting their medications, doing therapy, and staying in the system forever. What we want to do here is, yes, we will utilize medications some folks. Yes, therapy is always a good partner. Yes, some people just want to be in therapy to better themselves.

Sydney: They're not necessarily dealing with significant depression, anxiety. They just want to be a better person.

Sydney: And we're here for all of those clients, but we're also here for clients that want to do it a different way. We're going to run some basic hormone panels and we're going to see maybe your thyroid is off.

Sydney: Maybe you have really low testosterone as a male and that is is triggering some of these depression systems. And we have established trusted partnerships in the community where we know our specialties. We know treating depression and anxiety and bipolar disorder and all the mental health disorders.

Sydney: That's our specialty, but we're going to get you to a trusted partner. If there's something going on physiologically that is contributing to those systems. So we're really trying to look at the entire person instead of just what's going on in your brain.

Mike: Yeah. Well, let's talk about what's going on. We hear, read and see about the increasing decline in people's mental health.

Mike: And, you know, it seems like every day there's an article or a story about what are you all seeing?

Sydney: Yeah. So anecdotally I haven't done a study on this or anything, but what we saw after COVID and after the isolation is that, yes, there was a spike in people seeking mental health services, because I think, at the same time, we were having athletes and celebrities talk about their mental health struggles and that conversation started.

Sydney: So people were reaching out more during COVID. They were feeling isolated, no social support. So they were reaching out. What a lot of people around me have seen and what I saw in other organizations in this one is that it's almost a sense of I made it through COVID. I did okay and it was really hard, but I can handle this and folks are waiting longer to ask for help.

Sydney: People are coming to us sicker because they made it through COVID, which was a really hard time. And so by the time they make that phone call they're just a little bit more sick than prior to COVID. People might not wait so long because they hadn't been through a global trauma like that. So again, anecdotally, but that's a little bit of what we're seeing is folks are just waiting longer to call.

Sydney: Yes, the stigma always is going to play a part, but it's almost as if, made it through that, I can handle anything, and then we wait just a little longer.

Mike: I hear about this all the time, and I experienced it when I was doing this on a daily basis, that somebody finally does make the call, goes in, gets to a point, and then quits, or backs off.

Mike: And they may eventually come back, but there gets to be a point where people say, Yeah, I think I'm good enough. Is it the fear of what's coming next that gets people to quit, or is it fear of change? What do you think?

Sydney: I think it could be a combination of a hundred million things, right?

Sydney: But something that I see really commonly is, so when you decide to make a change, you force other people around you to also make a change. When you learn how to set boundaries and maintain boundaries, people that are in your life that are pushing those boundaries consistently don't like it, and so there may start to be a lot of tension in your life with other people, and sometimes that's a lot to handle.

Sydney: You're trying to make change, and your system is being forced to change. That system may not like it, and so sometimes it's easier, seemingly, to just maintain the status quo. And so I think that's a really big one. When you decide to change, you force everyone around you to change. You teach people how to treat you.

Mike: You know, I, okay you're just like leading me to the next question. I got my training as a family therapist and long ago, obviously, and I thought by now we'd be well, well into that. And we've seen a back off and we're doing a lot more individual, but you're right. Families put an unbelievable amount of pressure on the person to maintain the status quo.

Mike: So how do you all involve the families to make sure that the changes that the person is trying to make are supported.

Sydney: So we always encourage our clients to bring a family member, bring your partner into session so that we can talk about the progress that you're making. We have day treatment programs, so like partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient.

Sydney: That's that bridge between, I'm seeing a therapist weekly and maybe a psychiatrist monthly, and I need to go to an inpatient facility because I'm going to hurt myself. PHP and IOP are that bridge. So we do everything we can to keep our clients out of the hospital. So a huge part of that program. is including the family.

Sydney: Here are the things that I'm learning. Here are the things that I need from you to feel supported. Here are the changes I would like to implement. And we involve the family in a massive way during that process. And we also, like I said, encourage it when you're seeing your therapists on a weekly or every other week basis.

Sydney: Bring in your family. Let's talk about those dynamics and how they're changing and where we want to go in the future. Support is so important and sustained change cannot happen if the circumstances around you don't also change in some form or fashion.

Mike: Oh, that's so right. We see so much also, you have to be seeing this.

Mike: There's so much negativity out there right now. And social media is just full of it. Social media, everything you see is full of the stream of negativity. People handle traumatic events differently. How do you arrest things like the doom scrolling and getting out of that negative space so that all the messages they're receiving are negative?

Sydney: I think it's related to changing your circumstances. We have to really have those conversations, get to know your clients really well and talk with them about, you know, what you consume. Is going to become part of your life. They say, what is it like a minute on your lips a year on the hips or 10 years on the hips?

Sydney: Like there's a thing with food, right? But we also consume media. And if you're consistently watching I had to stop watching the news cause it's just, wow. (laugh) It just put me in a state of mind and you know, the news happens first thing in the morning, midday, and in the evening. So I'm waking up to bad news.

Sydney: I'm hearing it at lunch, and then I'm going to bed to bad news. So it's just, we have to be aware of what we're consuming. And as clinicians, we've got to have those conversations with our clients as well. Because, you know, sometimes our clients are just in a funk, but sometimes those things are really damaging, especially if some of that content is directed at the client.

Sydney: And we have to help them build strategies to manage that stress.

Mike: Because it's unavoidable. I had a three hour drive yesterday to Iowa from where I am at, and I passed dozens, if not a couple hundred signs that had curse words, and they were hate filled. And you can't avoid that, especially this time of the season or whatever we call it, right?

Mike: You're going to see it, so you need a coping mechanism or two.

Sydney: Yeah, and the more tools you have in your tool belt, the better off you'll be. A general contractor doesn't build a house with just a hammer. There has to be nails, there have to be saws, there have to be squares, there have to be pliers, you know, that person has probably more than a hundred different kinds of tools to build a house.

Sydney: You have to think of your body as a house. You have to have as many tools as possible. Medication can be a tool. Deep breathing is a tool in the same way. And so the more tools you have in your tool belt, the better off you'll be. And the more able you'll be to handle situations like that, that you just can't avoid conflict.

Mike: Yeah. I ended up just listening to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and singing out loud.

Sydney: A tool in your tool belt.

Mike: That's one of my main tools. You know, I was also struck that I was at the grocery store the other day and I've talked about this in the last week or so, And people stand in your way, which is, you know, happens.

Mike: But it seems that, and when I talk about this, people just nod their head. Nobody says, excuse me. There's less people saying, sorry, oh, let me get out of your way. We've become more isolated, I think, as maybe since COVID, and when it hasn't gone back, we need support in order to be able to maintain the mental health changes.

Sydney: Yeah. I mean, we have kids growing up that are just, you know, right here in their phones, there are, there's a diagnosis about your neck that's like gamer neck or some craziness where we're always like this people are having issues with their thumbs and their tendons because they're on their phone so much. We have the world at our fingertips, right? And we no longer know how to socialize. We aren't being intentional about the time we have with our people. I try to make a really big effort if I go to a friend's house or if I'm spending time with my family, I really don't pick up my phone. Because why would I drive 45 minutes to see someone if we're all going to sit there and scroll on our phone?

Mike: I don't get it.

Sydney: Right. (laugh)

Sydney: So we have to make the decision to be intentional about our time. And I think intentionality can start in the therapy room in that med management appointment. And we have to learn how to generalize that across every part of our life. But you're exactly right. We are always in our phones.

Sydney: We're not aware of our space. We're not aware of how much space we're taking up in the world. And we're just not social creatures like we were before we had the world at our fingertips.

Mike: Yeah, I'm convinced that if the aliens ever visit us, only about six of us will know because everybody's looking down.

Sydney: Right, right. (laugh)

Mike: When I worked in a mental health and substance use disorder inpatient facility, we used to have the folks get up early in the morning. Change their habits, walk, get outside, eat healthy. And to say that they weren't pleased with that is to really make it an understatement. They weren't happy with any of those changes, but all of that is important. Right?

Sydney: Uh huh.

Mike: And so talk about the integrated approach that you all use.

Sydney: Yeah. So we're going to try different modalities. We're going to try different techniques. And that the first step in that is really working to rewire your brain. That there's a saying fake it till you make it. So the messages that you say to yourself release certain chemicals in your brain.

Sydney: So if you have negative self talk, you're going to release cortisol into your brain, but into your entire system, you're going to dump huge amounts of cortisol. And so literally just saying something positive about yourself or even decreasing... making a negative statement neutral. One eliminates that cortisol that you're dumping in.

Sydney: But if you say something positive, it releases endorphins into your body. You may not believe it, but saying it to yourself still releases those chemicals. And exercise and being out and being active do the very same thing. It's hard. It's hard to stay committed in that, but making change for positive literally releases different chemicals into your body.

Sydney: And so that's what we're trying to do. We want to make sure that, again, everybody has as many tools in their toolbox as possible, so that their body starts changing along with their self talk. The way they respond to stressful events. You know, we're trying to build out the entire person to be able to make that sustained change.

Mike: Sustained change. That's the key word, right? Every time I see somebody in long term recovery from anything, it's they've made multiple changes in their life with food, exercise, sleep, work habits, meditation, taking care of themselves. And why is that so hard? Once you get it rolling, what I used to see in patients is once they would get it rolling, oh, they took to it like a duck to water.

Mike: But again, there's that little mound that they don't want to get up. And on the other side, it's an easier walk.

Sydney: Yeah, well I mean, how many clients did you see that were feeling great and they maybe had a new medication and they were feeling great. So I don't need this anymore.

Mike: Yeah.

Sydney: Okay. Maybe, but let's have a conversation about it.

Sydney: Let's do this in a medically appropriate way. So people start to feel good and then. Oh, well, I don't have to use that tool anymore. Or, oh, I'm just in a better spot. So maybe I don't have to do this thing every day. You're in a good place because you've made changes in your life and you've created patterns that are more healthy for you as an individual.

Sydney: So when you change those patterns there will also be change that may not be for the better. And so it's having those conversations with your clients to help them understand that yes, you don't learn habits in a day, but you also have to continue to sustain those habits, those new changes over time. Because if you don't, you will likely find yourself backsliding and not feeling as good as you did at one point.

Sydney: And then the negative self talk comes back in of you were doing great. And now look where you are. You're a fill in the blank negative name about yourself. And so when you make decisions to not continue the same patterns that are moving you in a more healthy direction, you also introduce the possibility of even more negative self talk.

Mike: You know, Sydney, we're a few weeks away from an election in this country, and it's going to result, I'll be gentle, in no matter how it turns out, half the country is going to be upset. That's gentle. It may also create a tremendous amount of trauma, as it did the last time. Is there a way that people can preload?

Mike: So that they're not as affected by the trauma or the downside or the depression that may come from the results of the election and regardless how they vote.

Sydney: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. So, I will try to not get too political here (laugh) but I think the media has done a good job to make us think that we're much more divided than we actually are.

Sydney: Right. On a lot of basic issues, very basic issues. We're much more aligned than we are. So I think, I think what we have to do as a society is to decide that no matter the outcome, we're going to fight for a better future. I'm going to fight for a better future for my nieces. I'm going to fight for a better future for my children that I'll have someday, grandchildren, great grandchildren. And fighting for a better future does not mean being the loudest, most obnoxious voice in the room.

Sydney: We have to be willing to listen to each other. We have to be willing to have conversations because again, I think we align a lot more closely than what we're being told. So to answer your question about how do we prepare and preload for that, I think it's just getting into a mindset where you're willing to have a conversation with someone that you disagree with. Because election year or not, you need to be able to have a conversation with someone that you disagree with, right?

Sydney: (laugh) You're not going to agree with everyone all the time in your life. So I think being willing to have those hard conversations, learning your boundaries and then maintaining those. If politics is something that is a really touchy subject in your family and you think differently than everyone in your family, have a conversation about how maybe at Christmas I would really love to not discuss politics and the election this year.

Sydney: Please let's not have this conversation because I love you all and I really want to be able to enjoy my holidays. I want to be able to enjoy time that I spend with you during birthdays Let's decide as a family that we're not going to have heated political conversations. And that if things do get heated, let's agree that as a unit, whether that be biological family or chosen family.

Sydney: We're going to allow each other to step away and not have our feelings hurt because we have to step away. So having those conversations leading up to something like a contentious election. And being willing to put yourself out there and say, Hey, I know that I think differently than you, but can we agree that we still love each other and that we believe that each other is valuable and important in our society, so that if things get heated, we can step away from the conversation, but still love each other.

Mike: I like that. That's really good advice. And I'll let you close with this. That leads to, you can't have those discussions unless you're maintaining your own mental health. So on a day that you, I wake up this morning and, and how can I do that?

Mike: How can I say today, I'm going to take care of my mental health.

Sydney: I think it's in all of the small decisions you make. I'm not a morning person and I have to fight every day to not be one of those people that says, don't talk to me until I've finished my coffee. Because some days it takes me all day to finish my coffee. (laugh)

Mike: (laugh)

Sydney: So. I think it's in the small decisions. I think it's being again, being intentional about what you expect out of the day, wake up every morning and you don't have to do the cheesy Today's going to be a good day! Because you may know that it's going to be a hard day, but maybe wake up with the intention of everything that comes my way today.

Sydney: I'm going to do my best to handle with grace, with confidence and with kindness. And I think if we start our day that way and we continue that mantra throughout the day, you won't necessarily be doomed to have the worst day of your life. So I think, I think just starting your day by saying, I'm going to handle everything today with grace, kindness, and confidence.

Sydney: You set yourself up to be in a better situation.

Mike: That's great. You know, I'm going to put a link to Mind Body Optimization on the blurb of the podcast, but if somebody is not looking at it, if they're just hearing us, how do people in Tennessee or Texas or nationwide get ahold of y'all?

Sydney: So you can go to our website, it's mindbodyo.com. We also have Facebook pages, Instagram pages, LinkedIn pages. Again, it's mindbodyo.com. I think Instagram might be Mind Body OP is our handle. Facebook would be MindBodyOptimization. So you can find us there. You can message us. You can go on our website. We have all of our clinicians listed on the website and a short little bio about all of them, so that you can choose the provider that you'd like to work with.

Sydney: So that's how they can reach us.

Mike: That's great. Sydney, thank you so much for sharing your expertise and your time with us. It's been really a fun way to start my day.

Sydney: Great. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Mike: And for those of you who are listening, you're always welcome to listen in anytime you're able.

Mike: And until you can listen in the next time, stay safe and take care of your whole self.