5 Steps for advisors when making a mental health referral
Making a referral to another professional can be an important and necessary part of helping your clients improve their financial health. And while it may sound like an easy task, there are a few steps and considerations that can make a difference, especially in referring to a therapist for mental health or financial health. The reason why? The words “therapy” and “mental health” come with a stigma. Let’s just put it all out there, shall we? When someone says “Maybe you should talk to a therapist about that,” unfortunately, people tend to jump to the conclusion that you think something is “wrong” with them or that they are “crazy.” While the tides are turning…slowly, there is still the belief that therapy is for people who “are messed up,” or “had something really bad happen to them.” I put a lot of this in quotations because these are literally statements or thoughts that people have said to me. Maybe you’ve had those thoughts or heard them too?
As a financial advisor, if you are going to make a referral for therapy, you have to first believe in the value that it can bring to your clients. You have to believe that therapy is not for “crazy” people or only for people who have had bad things happen to them. You have to believe that therapy is for everyday people who may be stuck not knowing how to change something and need a little bit of extra support. Put another way; would you say clients reach out for financial planning because something is wrong with them? No, I feel confident that you would not. You would think that this client needs help navigating the financial aspect of their life. Therapy is no different. The prerequisite for taking any of the steps below is to know where you stand in your thoughts and beliefs around therapy or any service that you are referring to. The extent to which you feel confident in this belief will be felt by your clients, making the conversation feel easier and more natural.
Steps for Making a Referral
Make sure you have thoroughly assessed the client’s needs and have identified why a referral would be beneficial. While situational events such as loss of job, death of loved one, retirement can all necessitate a referral, sometimes there are slow evolutions of patterns that show up. Go back through your CRM or wherever you document notes for your clients. Review the history and data. Do you notice any patterns? Perhaps every market turn there is a heightened sense of emotion that impacts your client’s decision making and behaviors. Maybe during certain times of the year client spending is significantly higher accumulating high credit card debt? Or maybe everytime you ask them to make a change they avoid and put you off only to come around months later? Whatever your hunch is, take note of the patterns and reasons why a referral would be necessary.
Research potential providers to refer the client to and ensure that they are the best fit. Further down I go into more detail on how you can go about researching. Finding the right provider can be like trial and error sometimes. Which is why it’s important to have a few on hand.
Contact the provider’s office to confirm that the provider is accepting new clients. The last thing you want to do is give your clients a name only for them to find out this provider is not taking new clients. Do your due diligence and call the provider first, talk to them about why you are making the referral and be sure that they are able to take them on. Ask the provider how your client should reach out and if they should mention that they are working with you.
Communicate with the client about the referral process, explain why the referral is being made and how the client could benefit from it. Highlighting the benefit while validating any concerns the client expresses or that you think may be going on.
Follow up with the client to ensure that they contacted the provider and that they are comfortable with the referral process.
Researching Providers
While researching providers you will begin to notice a lot of different letters behind their names. Similar to the finance world, mental health providers carry different licenses and designations. Knowing these specialties will help you to know exactly who to refer to. Not all mental health professionals are the same. We vary in our education, specialties, and scope of practice. It’s important to learn the lingo when making a referral for your clients to help with your credibility and setting the clients at ease. For example, many folks confuse Psychologist and Psychiatrist. These are VERY different as one prescribes medication and the other does not. Below is a list of common mental health and allied professionals that an advisor such as yourself may refer to. Please know, these are common US practitioner titles and in other countries or territories they may refer to them a bit differently.
Types of Practitioners
Doctoral Level Clinician:
Psychologist: training and education at the doctoral level, you will usually see Ph.D. or Psy.D. behind their name. While they are trained in psychological testing, assessments, in an effort to provide diagnostic information. Psychologists are also trained in psychotherapy and can work clinically with clients like Master’s level therapists. Many psychologists work in research settings, academics, hospitals, private practice, school, etc. The distinction here is that they do NOT prescribe medication.
Psychiatrist: training and education is at the doctoral level, specifically in medicine as they obtain a medical degree. You will see the letters M.D. behind their name. The primary function of psychiatrists is to treat mental health conditions through medication. This is the only mental health provider on this list that can prescribe medications. While some psychiatrists also incorporate therapy, their primary function is that of medications. They can work in a variety of medical settings including inpatient and outpatient.
Master’s Level Clinician:
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT): All three of these professionals share more overlaps than they do differences. For sake of clarity, I’ve decided to lump them together, however please note that the differences in their training can and does inform how they conceptualize problems. When referring, you need to know that all three of these professions have at least a Master’s degree in their respective fields. They are all capable of assessing and diagnosing mental health issues and in general tend to work in clinical settings providing psychotherapy. These are typically the professionals most people think of and talk about when they say “therapist.”
Financial/Certificate Level:
Financial Therapist: training includes a certificate as a Certified Financial Therapist-Level I™ (CFT-I™) which is administered by the Financial Therapy Association. This certification is for mental health or financial professionals who have a desire to incorporate financial or therapeutic skills into their home discipline. Financial therapists work with clients incorporating therapeutic skills and financial therapy competences that draw from research. Their aim is helping clients shift their relationship with money.
Financial Counselor: training includes a certificate as an Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC®) which is governed by the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education (AFCPE®). Keep in mind that even though they have the world Counselor in their name, they are not a mental health counselor or therapist. (Note: some mental health professionals may have the AFC® credentials, however they will also have their mental health credentials listed as well). Their focus is primarily on cash flow, budget and debt management, and saving practices. They educate their clients and work with them to create financial goals and behaviors around these areas.
Finding the right one:
Before making the referral, you first need to know who you feel comfortable sending your clients to. My preference when making referrals is never to make them blind, if at all costs. Maybe you feel this way too? Would you send your clients to a CPA that you know nothing about other than they have a CPA credential? Likely not. You’d do a bit more digging about this person, their firm, and area of specialty. This is the same with making mental health referrals.
Begin to network with mental health and financial therapists in your area. Like many other professions, mental health providers also have specialties. While there are generalists out there, it’s important to find someone who identifies themself as having a specialty area. Here are a few areas that could be helpful for you to have a mental health specialist:
Anxiety
Depression
Trauma
Couples
Family (specifically parents & adult children)
Addiction (workaholism, gambling, hoarding)
It’s important that as you are connecting with these professionals that you ask about their comfortability working with the financial behavioral aspect of the mental health issue. For example, if a practitioner lists that they focus on anxiety, be sure to ask the mental health provider if they work or could work with someone who has financial anxiety. If the practitioner says “no, my focus is really around social anxiety,” then they would not be a good fit for your clients who struggle with financial anxiety.
Once you’ve identified several clinicians who could be a good fit, be sure to ask how they prefer to receive referrals. Some clinicians may just say “have the client contact me,” and nothing more. Some may prefer you call ahead and give a little bit of detail so they can assess whether they might be a good fit OR if they have the capacity to take on a new client. Because of the frequency at which clinicians see clients, it’s not uncommon for them to have full caseloads. This goes back to the importance of having more than one clinician to refer to.
How to broach your client:
When it comes to making a referral for therapy, this is probably the most difficult piece. I hear advisors express worry and ask “okay but how do I bring it up to my client without them feeling offended?”
While there are MANY different ways to broach the subject with clients, ultimately you cannot control their reaction. That’s the scary part, right? I do believe that if you broach the topic with sensitivity, compassion, and confidence, that your clients are more likely to feel this and not respond in a negative way. Remember, making the referral starts with you. If this is an area that brings up anxiety for you, do some deep breathing exercises prior to. Repeat affirmations to yourself such as “I work to act in the best interest of my client,” “I am an ethical advisor,” or “I am compassionate and confident.” The more centered, regulated, and calm you are will translate to your clients. If you’re a researcher, then look into how therapy can be helpful for the issue that your client is struggling with. Reading about the benefits may give you that confidence boost when it comes to speaking to your clients. Below is a script option you can pull from:
“Learning how to make changes can be really hard sometimes. As your planner, I have a good idea on what financial changes need to be made (adjusted), however I am not a specialist in helping you to make the changes on a behavior level. In times when I feel stuck and my client feels stuck, I like to bring in a specialist who can help us both. This person is ____________ (name) and they are _________________ (name profession). Some clients prefer for this person to come into our meeting and some clients prefer to see them without me present so they can speak more in depth. Would you be willing to think about or consider this as an option?”
Resources:
So you’re ready to get out there and start building your network! Here are a few listservs or spots you can consider when getting started. Psychology Today is one of the most robust listservs out there with international reach as well. So if you live outside of the US, Psychology Today would be a great place to start.
If you’re coming up short on clinicians, you can always call your local Primary Care Physician and ask if they have a list of mental health providers they refer to. There’s also good old fashioned Google searching “Therapists near me,” that may turn up some names for you. Where you start is not as important as whether you start. Create small networking goals for yourself over the course of the next quarter. Remember, we are more likely to achieve those goals when we break them down into smaller manageable chunks.
Learning any new industry can be a bit overwhelming. If you find yourself stuck, not understanding jargon, or just frustrated by the process of making referrals, you can always reach out or consider booking a consulting package to help get you off on your feet. Don’t see a package that fits what you need? Email me so we can put together a tailored package that helps you get to where you want to be.
Remember that making the referral starts with you. You’ve got this!
