The MKP Mental Health Resource Team: History, Process and Mission
by David Rose
One of the ongoing narratives of The ManKind Project has been the tension between keeping the New Warrior Training Adventure (NWTA) a fierce and powerful experiential training while at the same time keeping a consciousness around safety — whether physical, spiritual, cultural, or psychological.
There have been several major advances in our consciousness around safety. In the mid-1990’s, a new emphasis on pre-training medical screening emerged. A comprehensive Confidential Medical Questionnaire was created and put into use in 1997. In that same year, the Safety Committee was formed to bring men together who would give input into how to create “best practices” for physical safety on the training.
In 2002, the Process Safety Committee was formed to focus on the psychological impact of processes in the training. Soon thereafter, the need for assessing the psychological readiness of a man before his participating in the NWTA became clear. In August of 2008, a group of men began meeting by email and phone bridge, and from these meetings emerged the Mental Health Resource Team (MHRT).
There are two qualifications for being on the MHRT.
First, a man must be a qualified and licensed mental health professional (in nearly all cases a psychiatrist, psychologist, or psychiatric social worker), trained to assess such disorders and conditions as PTSD, Bi-Polar Disorder, Major Depression, homicidality/assaultiveness, suicidality, disorders of impulse, and substance abuse or dependence.
Second, each man must have a reasonable degree of experience in staffing the NWTA. This is defined as five or more NWTA staffings and the vouch of a certified leader or co-leader with whom the man has staffed. This ensures that the MHRT man can assess a potential initiate in the context of the experience he is signing up to do.
The MHRT is typically contacted by the local Reviewing Physician following his review of the Confidential Medical Questionnaire. The Psychosocial section, revised and expanded by the MHRT in 2008, alerts the Physician to the potential presence of one of the conditions mentioned above. The MHRT man reviews the form and — depending on what information emerges along the way — contacts the potential initiate or staff man, and (with permission) may contact the treating therapists and physicians, as well.
The main question addressed is whether there is sufficient concern to advise that the man not participate in the NWTA, given his situation and condition at the time of the referral. Secondary input may be made about what the man may need on the training for optimal benefit, cautions about possible traumatic triggers or impaired cognitive functioning, and such like. Regardless of the issue, the MHRT functions in an advisory capacity, making recommendations to the reviewing physician and to the training leader, who has the final call
Since the MHRT went operational in late 2009, more than a dozen referrals have been made. We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from Reviewing Physicians, leaders and co-leaders of the NWTA, and even from family members of men who we have (indirectly) served.
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David S. Rose is a Co-Leader in the Greater Washington MKP Community. He has been a practicing psychologist for more than 22 years with extensive training in diagnosing and treating early and recent trauma, disorders of mood, impulse, and process addiction, plus suicide intervention. For more information about the MHRT, please contact David at mhrt@mkp.org |
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