Read on for the relevance of this photograph.
Much inspiration comes via learning from other educators, therapists, and parents, from reading their books and blogs to attending or watching their lectures.
But there is a lot of inspirational information out there from people in various other fields that are applicable to anyone including those involved in providing therapeutic services. As in my last post, I am once again inspired by someone other than those working directly with children.
This post, while not addressing a particular method of therapy or education, is about a fundamental and vital characteristic all of us should strive for – to be the best therapists we can possibly be. A Linchpin therapist.
The Linchpin, Defined
Up until the beginning of 2010, I, for one, did not know what a linchpin was. Then, along came renowned marketing guru Seth Godin and with his book Linchpin rattled us with the importance of actually being one.
A linchpin is a simple piece of hardware. It is less recognized than the nail, and it is less acknowledged than the bolt. Yet, it serves an important role. It is responsible for holding a wheel on its rod. Without it the wheel will come rolling right off upon taking its second turn.
Within organizations and businesses, Seth writes, the linchpin is the person who holds everything together. The individual who makes a difference. The person who without him everything would fall apart. The person who sees problems before anyone else. The person who finds the best solutions. Subsequently, because of this person’s uniqueness and selfless contributions, he becomes indispensable – as the linchpin is to the wagon.
The Indispensable Therapist
Seth lays out in illustrative detail how our education system and society is set up to produce conforming and rule abiding adults. We need regulations and rules to have peace and organization. But the cost is obvious. We become risk averse, preferring to do the same thing everyone else does, regardless of its effectiveness or lack of ingenuity.
When we apply for a job we look how best to be the same like everyone else, and when we hire an employee we don’t interview those who are different and don’t seem to fit in. We are afraid of the creativity and the genius those who are unique might introduce.
The linchpin is the therapist who decides to take the risk and do something different. The Linchpins are those practitioners we all know who are indispensable.
We would rather be safe and similar than unique and different. This provides us with a sense of safety, but it reduces the growth of unique contributions to the fields we work in.
The linchpin is the therapist who decides to take the risk and do something different. The Linchpins are those practitioners we all know who are indispensable. Those who countless families rely on for steady help and support in trying times. Those who contribute freely and enthusiastically to the people they serve and to their colleagues, while not expecting anything in return.
This is not to say we should abandon the code of ethics grounding our various professions. Absolutely not. These are here to protect the clients, children, and their families we are serving. However, if you want to be the therapist who is essential and indispensable you must become a linchpin. You have to ask new questions, challenge the trodden path, and break new ground with new solutions.
You have to create your own map.
Linchpins Exemplified
Seth Godin is a marketing and business expert. Most of his examples are about successful entrepreneurs and business people. Yet sprinkled throughout the book are examples of the “little people” – the janitors, the waiters, the coffee shop managers. The point is, anybody in any field or situation can be a linchpin.
Here are examples of three individuals, two, who even after their death, remain indispensable to the way we treat children:
1) In the treatment of autism, strict behavioral approaches reign supreme. Dr. Stanley Greenspan was brave enough to go against the grain and develop a more child-centered approach known as DIR/Floortime. As a child, he had learning disabilities of his own. He overcame them, and he was inspired to develop an approach that takes into consideration the child’s unique individual differences.
As a psychiatrist he could have jumped on the band wagon of the status quo’s loud voices. Instead he cleared a new path, ultimately becoming one of the most renowned child and developmental psychiatrists in the world. He is a true linchpin – indispensable to the therapists who implement his methods and to the many families being able to engage their children who have autism.
2) Dr. Anna Jean Ayres, a developmental psychologist and occupational therapist, is another good example of a therapist who did not settle for what was known and accepted at the time. Rather, she began asking questions about certain children who came to see her. They were experiencing various discomforts and pain when experiencing different types of sensations. They were “different.” She ultimately identified these children to be experiencing sensory processing disorder, and she went on to develop sensory integration therapy.
While the therapeutic approach she developed remains somewhat controversial, she remains indispensable to thousands of children, parents and therapists, as she provided us with a framework to understand otherwise challenging behaviors and experiences of children. She heralded a new course for children to be cared for and understood to help them fit in.
3) Finally, the picture above is not of just another clown goofing off with some children (although that is perfectly alright). It is of a highly esteemed physician, Dr. Hunter Campbell, aka Dr. Patch Adams on one of his famous clown trips. His clowning around with children who are ill thus reducing their anxiety and pain is just one facet of his greatness.
Doctors are often taught to distance themselves from the emotional aspects of clinical situations and to separate themselves from the “touchy feely” needs of their patients. Patch tossed the old map and created a new one.
He also founded the Gesundheit! Institute, a small free hospital and medical clinic in West Virginia. His vision: “To model creative problem solving, and to spark each medical facility to design their own ideal rather than succumb to the garbage of managed care, or a resignation to the impossibility of humanistic care.”
This is certainly the rhetoric of a risk taker, but it is also that of an indispensable linchpin.
We do not have to change the world, but we do have to be more, much more, than just mere caregivers. There are several true and tested ways to being a linchpin therapist. Each step on its own is simple and basic, but collectively it will require us to shift the way we think about delivering services and the role we play as providers.
So stay tuned for a list, based on Seth Godin’s book, of the essential characteristics that make one a linchpin therapist.
Are you ready to become indispensable?
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I’m new to your blog and I really enjoyed this post! Patch Adams is such a great example.