Evidence-Based Psychotherapy: Best practice, ethical practice

 The Military Health System Blog recently posted a podcast (see here) about the importance of evidence-based psychotherapy. I appreciate the attention to and encouragement for such work. I know of an individual who was regularly seeing a professional counselor for months regarding a very specific issue, only to have the counselor end the sessions by saying, “I got into more than I knew how to handle.” That’s not good for the client, nor is it good for the reputation of the profession. I believe it was the professional’s responsibility to acknowledge his/her lack of competence in that particular area during the first assessment or shortly thereafter, and immediately make an appropriate referral.

When I was actively and regularly counseling, I felt a keen awareness of my duty and obligation to provide best-practice services to my clients. As a supervisor for licensure as a clinical social worker, I continually encouraged new therapists to ask, “Why am I doing this particular intervention?” and to have a solid grounding in the theories behind their practice. If they could not give me a good answer, I would point them back to the theories, provide a little direction, and encourage them to learn more. Evidence-based practice combined with solid theory is not only best practice, but it is ethical practice, because it ensures that our clients get the professionalism they deserve.

Increasingly, evidence-based practices are not only best practice for clinicians and clients, but also for entire organizations. The ability to provide evidence based service—grounded in goal-setting and measuring outcomes—is one of the criteria that determines whether or not an organization gets funding. Health, human, and service organizations need to be able to answer the question of “Why are we doing this?” and “How do we know we’re really accomplishing our goals?” Measuring client progress by setting goals and evaluating the outcomes is critical for non-profits in the human service sector. ClientTrack, ClientTrack IDEA, and other ClientTrack products help social service organizations measure and report the evidence that shows the value of their services to their community, potential funders, and politicians who want to know more about the services provided to their constituents.