When working in a mental health environment there are a lot of values that you have to take seriously if you want to perform your job well, and help your team to do the same - and the one which we're shining a spotlight on today is team transparency. This means that everybody should do their best to make the rest of the team aware of what they're doing, which clients they're seeing and what information they have - always within the confines of confidentiality, of course!
One of the best ways to foster transparency within a team is to encourage openness; whether somebody is struggling or enjoying a lot of successes in their work it's always best to let their colleagues know - either so that they can get the help they need, or so that the rest of the team can learn from them. Done right, this helps to promote a feeling of trust, something which is especially important when working in a high-pressure industry such as the mental health sector.
Transparency also means that everybody is always aware of what everyone else is supposed to be doing, which is always important for the smooth running of a practice, and becomes absolutely crucial if somebody has to be away from work for any reason!
All of these are great reasons for transparency within the workplace itself, however team transparency is also important with your patients, as they need to be aware of what you're doing to help them. In these days of instant information on Google, you can be sure that your clients will already be looking into any treatment you suggest or offer, so the best thing you can do is to simply be upfront with them.
Once again, this helps to build trust, as when your clients see that you trust them enough to be honest about how you work, they will be much more inclined to share intimate parts of their lives with you - which is exactly what you need if you're going to build up a good working relationship, which is productive and helps you to fulfil their needs.
It seems that transparency can help out everyone - your colleagues, your patients and ultimately the whole team, so it's definitely something that's worth championing!
