Welcome to our first blog!
But you shouldn’t read this.
This isn’t even really written for anyone to read. But we will get to that later.
If you are reading, let’s jump straight into Klennex and Coke and talk about what I call The Klennex Paradigm.
The Klennex Paradigm
The Kleenex Paradigm is a phrase I use to refer to the pattern of genericization – where we notice certain brands becoming synonymous with certain products. Kleenex is one of the best examples.
“Pass the Kleenex” = pass the tissues.
In a similar vein…“I’ll have a Coke” = I’ll have a cola.
The list goes on.
In fact, there are a tonne of quite interesting ones that are so common you may not even realise they aren’t the official names of the products. For example, Thermos is the brand name of a vacuum flask but is so commonly used to refer to a vacuum flask you could mistakenly think it is the product itself. Thermos wasn’t even the first brand to produce a vacuum flask.
Band-Aid is another obvious example, Rollerblades, Xerox, Velcro…and there are so many more.
The Psychologist Paradigm
So we have Klennex, Coke, Band-Aids and Thermoses…
And we have psychologists.
A psychologist has become synonymous with someone who provides psychological services. People don’t usually say “I need to see a mental health clinician”. Occasionally they will say “I need to see a counsellor” or “I need to see a therapist”. I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say, “I need to see an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker”. And I get that. It’s a mouthful.
So the easy go to for most people is to say “I need to see a psychologist” – without really thinking about what options are available to them. Sometimes they might end up seeing a psychologist and sometimes they might end up seeing a counsellor, a social worker, a mental health OT, a mental health nurse or nurse practitioner, an art therapist, a play therapist – or one of the many other different kinds of mental health practitioners available. But their first thought – or their first google search – is probably going to be for a psychologist.
Why do people generally seek out psychologists rather than assess which discipline would be the best fit for them? Possibly in many cases because of genericization or “The Kleenex Paradigm”.
So Who Does What and Why a Psychologist?
I won’t speak of the ins and outs of anyone else’s profession. Often when people speak about mine they get it wrong. So there’s a strong chance I would do them the same disservice. There are so many different professions who work in mental health, and so many variations of those professions that I don’t feel equipped to talk about what each of them does in specifics.
So without going into the specifics it’s probably fair to say broadly that a psychologist tends to provide psychological interventions. A counsellor tends to provide counselling.
Where does that leave the rest of us? If psychologists have a monopoly on providing psychological interventions, it makes it difficult to explain to people what on earth your job is! But that is exactly what we do as Accredited Mental Health Social Workers – we provide psychological interventions and mental health treatment, using the same psychological strategies and interventions as psychologists tend to use. Yes, our training, and scope are absolutely different. But providing psychological interventions is our bread and butter.
As well as having a monopoly, psychologists also have a protected title, which means you can’t call yourself a psychologist unless you are one. Makes sense right, but as a side note this isn’t the case for all professions, including Social Workers. So, while it might be morally questionable to call yourself a Social Worker or Mental Health Social Worker if you haven’t completed the 4-6 years of training required it isn’t against the law. Calling yourself a psychologist on the other hand when you aren’t one is a criminal offence.
Not that I would want to call myself a psychologist. But the combination of The Psychologist Paradigm and the protected title, does lead me to why you shouldn’t read this article
Why You Shouldn’t Read This Article
I’ve thought about writing a blog many times, but somehow never got started. And now I’m here starting it under somewhat false pretences. Because this blog isn’t written for anyone…. other than Google’s algorithms.
In trying to make our webpage visible and accessible within our community, amongst the searches for “psychologist” and the lack of Google category for Mental Health Social Worker, here we are writing an article with the search term “psychologist” so that google will notice us.
So here is why you shouldn’t read this: We are here to get Google’s attention, not yours.
Because Psychologist is a protected title, we can’t simply put ourselves in that category. Obviously, we wouldn’t want to purport to be anything other than what we are, but it makes it difficult when Google doesn’t cater for us and 99% of people are searching to find a psychologist.
So here we are name dropping Psychologists and wishing Google would be more open minded.
So if you have come this far – despite our warning, thanks for reading! And please do reach out to us if you have any questions about the different kind of mental health support out there.
Despite the motivations for getting started, we are genuinely excited to continue to share our journeys at GV Wellbeing with you through this blog moving into the future. 2025 is a big year for us to meet and support more of the individuals in our local community and we are looking forward to using this Blog to help you get to know us a little better (just don’t be surprised if we name drop, just a little!).
