When we really get into our profession, we run the risk of tunnel vision. Therapists want to talk, surgeons want to cut and physiotherapists want to show you exercises you intend to do but probably won’t.
We put a lot of time and effort into learning our craft and carving out our niche where we feel we have something valuable to offer. We then get together with others from our profession and advocate for more money, resources and recognition to do the special thing we do. And good things have come from that.
It’s just as important to take a step back. Sometimes a really big step back. The randomised control trials of one field might say this particular treatment could be helpful. But so would a fair wage, job security or affordable housing.
And then take it even broader. What can we learn from historians? From philosophers, farmers, engineers, artists? From other cultures, sub cultures, First Nations cultures?
What patterns are leading to the symptoms we treat? What systemic pressures underlie the underlying conditions? We can value our specific contribution and talk about the importance of other perspectives as well. We don’t have to choose.
Just as it is unhelpful to think our mental health is unrelated to our physical health, it is just as short-sighted to treat individual wellbeing as unrelated to social, economic or environmental wellbeing. We’re not stepping out of our lane to talk about this, we’re inviting people in the other lanes into a conversation.
Helen Mentha 