A week or so ago, I received an email from my friend, colleague, and mentor Joe Yeager.  He runs a small listserve that sends out interesting and often provocative information.  The email contained pictures from a new and, dare I say, ingenious advertising campaign for Colgate brand dental floss.  Before I give you any of further details, however, take a look at the images yourself:

All right.  So what caught your attention?  If you’re like most people–including me–you probably found yourself staring at the food stuck in the teeth of the men in all three images.  If so, the ad achieved its purpose.  Take a look at the pictures one more time.  In the first, the woman has one too many fingers on her left hand.  The second image has a “phamtom arm” around the man’s shoulder.  Can you see the issue in the third?

The anomalies in the photos are far from minor!  And yet, most of us, captured by the what initially catches our eye, miss them.

Looking beyond the obvious is what Feedback Informed Treatment (FIT) is all about.  Truth is, much of the time therapy works.  What we do pay attention to gets results–except when it doesn’t!  At those times, two things must happen: (1) we have to know when what we usually do isn’t working with a given person; and (2) look beyond the obvious and see a bigger picture.  Doing this takes effort and support.    What can you do?

1. Download two free, brief, simple to use tools for tracking outcome and engagement in care (the ORS and SRS) and begin using them in your work;

2. Join the International Center for Clinical Excellence, the world’s largest, free, online, non-denominational organization of behavioral health professionals;

3. Read the six cutting-edge treatment and training manuals on feedback-informed treatment–a series which helped earn FIT the highest ratings from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA);

4. Attend a training in Chicago or abroad.