Partnerships in mental health : effective referral and collaboration between financial professionals and psychologists

Abstract

xiii, 162 leaves ; 28 cm.Financial professionals are advocating a personal counselling framework to deal with financial issues. Many popular magazines are discussing this new persective on financial planning and services offered to clients. This new spin on financial advising finds financial personnel going beyond money and including personal counselling content. Articles from both academic and popular journals support the basis for this new awareness. They point to the fact that financial health and psychological health are connected and interrelated. The problem with traditional financial counselling is that financial personnel are trained to deal with numbers and money, and are not trained to counsel personal issues. Therefore, considering the potential ramifications, it is imperative that financial and psychological professionals work effectively together. The goal of addressing the issue, found within this study, is to increase service delivery to clients, both from financial as well as psychological perspectives. Ultimately, this research aims to determine how to improve, and thus increase the level of referral and collaboration between these two fields. Thirty interviews were conducted with financial personnel currently working in Western Canada. The interview population consisted of Chartered Accountants, and Certified Financial Planners and Advisors. The Financial Personnel Interview was used to collect data and explore the perceptions of the existing processes of referral and collaboration between themselves and psychologists. The interview covered an array of topics including eight parts: Demographic Information, Recognizing and Defining Personal and Psychological Issues, Addressing Personal and Psychological Issues, Roles of Financial Personnel, Referral, Collaboration, Concluding Thoughts and the Client Problem Table. Extreme viewpoints emerged from the data. One is that these worlds are too different, personal counselling is not their responsiblity and there is no need for referral and collaboration. However, the majority of financial personnel believe there is a lack of understanding between the professions, the two worlds overlap and there is a need for referral and collaboration. In order to make referral and collaboration happen, it will have to start with baby steps; it will also take willingness, time and education to move from an unknown territory to a place where clients benefit from both professions