Pro Bono Counseling (PBC) is grateful to our network of volunteer clinicians for the time and dedication you provide to Marylanders facing difficult circumstances. We recognize that the current environment may provide unique challenges for clients with marginalized status. Below are key considerations for you to keep in mind.

Clients

Therapy attrition may be higher, not necessarily due to a lack of commitment but because of various external factors:

  • Clients may fear requesting accommodations at work to attend therapy appointments or may be unable to refuse last-minute schedule changes imposed by their supervisors.
  • Concerns about safety may prevent clients from leaving their homes for “nonessential” activities, particularly if there are rumors or reports of enforcement activity in their communities.
  • Also, since stress and trauma can impair memory and executive functioning, it may be more difficult for clients to organize their schedules to attend therapy sessions.

We appreciate any extra outreach and flexibility that you can offer to maintain the therapeutic relationship.

Clinicians

Your role as a clinician may shift in response to these challenges. As we have learned from Maslow’s Hierarchy, physiological and safety needs may take priority over processing emotions or engaging in usual therapeutic exercises. If the client prefers, it may be more productive to focus some session time on working together on tasks that align more with casework than therapeutic treatment.

For example, a clinician who is fluent in English could call to see if a food bank requires documentation, or assist a client with completing a standby guardianship form for their children. While these tasks may seem outside the scope of your role, they may have a direct effect on a client’s symptoms, as they can address sources of anxiety and despair in a concrete way.

PBC is here to support clinicians through questions or concerns you may have as you navigate these situations.  If clients are more comfortable shifting to telehealth but face technological barriers, PBC may be able to assist.  We can also provide consultations for clinicians who would like practical guidance or to process vicarious impacts of this critical work.

We are here to help you — For support, please call 410.825.1001 or email PBC Clinical Director Sherri Bloom.

 

About Pro Bono Counseling

Since its founding in 1991, Pro Bono Counseling® (PBC), a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, has helped over 40,000 individuals and families throughout Maryland connect with volunteer counselors and obtain the mental health care they could not otherwise afford. Presently, PBC has over 900 volunteer clinicians all over the state of Maryland who give over 12,000 hours of their time each year.

If you’d like to support PBC, please click here to make an online, tax-deductible gift.