Whenever someone calls in to Walk-In’s free, anonymous, no-appointment counseling service with an especially difficult problem during his clinic, Thomas L. is there to help. Thomas volunteers as a team consultant, an important role on each clinic team of volunteer counselors.
Thomas has over 30 years’ experience as a psychologist, including supervising other counselors. During his career he has worked in a variety of mental health settings helping people suffering from a broad range of issues including serious and persistent mental illness. He has volunteered as a team consultant at Walk-In since retiring in 2017.
Team consultation
Walk-In’s service model is unusual in multiple ways. For one, Walk-In is the only free, anonymous counseling clinic in the world where volunteer professionals provide all of the services. In addition, to insure quality and improve effectiveness, each two-hour clinic ends with a team consultation meeting which Thomas leads for his team. During these meetings members share ideas on resources and intervention strategies without sharing any identifying client information. In his role as team consultant, Thomas is available to help any counselor who requests it by consulting with the counselor or sometimes joining them in a session.
“Some of the most challenging situations involve clients who call in about a conflict, but it turns out the person also has serious and persistent mental illness, like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.” Thomas says. “These cases can be complicated, and these people often have few resources and little access to mainstream mental health services.”
To fill these mental health service gaps, Walk-In counselors need to be resourceful. In a case like this, Thomas says, “I can help the counselor formulate questions to identify the underlying problem, discover treatment history, extent of support system, financial resources, etc. Based on this type of information, appropriate first steps and referrals can be suggested.”
Thomas keeps coming back to Walk-In because free, no-appointment, easy access counseling is so important to the community, and because working within a group of caring professionals is so rewarding. Teams include people at all stages of their careers from students to new or current practitioners and retirees. Thomas enjoys being part of a process of in which professionals hone their skills and come up with effective interventions.
And sometimes he takes on a client himself. In one instance, he worked for several sessions with a client whose son had been murdered. Thomas was able to help her cope with trauma, grief and depression as she went through court proceedings. He also helped her with bureaucratic issues as she tried to get time off from work and deal with the loss of health insurance.
Thomas has also been there to support his team as they adapted to remote-only services during the pandemic. “I do miss in-person services,” Thomas says, “but I’ve been surprised and impressed with how well on-line counseling has worked.” Some counselors even find that counseling by phone or computer is preferable in that it can help maintain a healthy balance between objectivity and deep connection.
For his own part, Thomas keeps himself physically and mentally healthy by spending time with friends and family, getting exercise and pursuing his hobbies.
“I feel good about what we are doing at Walk-In,” Thomas says. “I’m so proud of the service we provide. We are filling a gap in services out there and making people’s lives better, and making the community better.”