Brief therapy for managed mental health companies: becoming a learning organization

Nearly all of the services offered through managed behavioral health care companies are brief or time effective in nature. It is often the view of these companies that many of their providers have insufficient backgrounds in doing such treatment and have been trained in longer, less efficient modes of service delivery. Although this is often the case, what is frequently not recognized is that most managed behavioral health care companies themselves lack knowledge and clarity about such therapies. We address the critical need for behavioral health care companies to become learning organizations focused on research and development and internal as well as external training in time-efficient therapies. Such activities will allow for creativity and enhancement of the substance abuse and mental health care areas.