What Is Personalized Care? with Dr. Titus Tucker

“Personalized care,” a bit of a buzzword, is a best practice in behavioral healthcare. In its more basic sense, it is treatment for the whole person and their specific needs. What does that mean, though, and what might it look like in practice? What is a personalized treatment plan, and what components should one look for when seeking personalized care?

For help answering these and other frequently asked questions about personalized care, we reached out to Dr. Titus Tucker, Ed.D., LCSW, SAP. As Director of Clinical Services at FHE Health, Dr. Tucker spends a lot of time working to ensure that our clinical services are effective in treating clients’ specific needs and that clients have the tools they need for success after treatment.

Dr. Tucker has more than 20 years’ experience as a clinician, program manager, and professor in higher education. Each of these roles and the unique insights that they bring were on display in our recent interview. What follow are highlights from that conversation.

Personalized Healthcare: A Clearer Definition

What is “personalized care,” as defined in the healthcare field? Dr. Tucker began by describing it as “collaboration”—specifically, “collaboration between the provider and client from start to finish.”

Collaboration Between Provider and Client

Where does that collaboration between provider and client begin? It starts “when a client calls the admissions department: their gateway to treatment,” Dr. Tucker said. Based on this initial “information regarding why they are seeking treatment, they are assigned to an appropriate program.” All programs are designed to address the client’s primary presenting problem, however, we have specific program tracks to address more effectively in a cohort, such as Shatterproof for First Responders, Restore Mental Health for clients with primary mental health conditions to be addressed, and our substance use disorder program that address both mental health and substance abuse.

“All Providers” Involved in Care

Another defining aspect of personalized care? “It encompasses all providers,” Dr. Tucker said. He went on to give the example of how clients at FHE Health receive care from psychiatrists, therapists, case managers, and clinicians in various disciplines such as neurotherapy and breathwork.

Personalized Care in Practice: What It Looks Like

Personalized care can look different in practice, depending on the provider. When asked what “personalized care” looks like at FHE Health, Dr. Tucker said that “it differs based on the way we collaborate with clients, structure the client experience, and integrate certain staff.” He also pointed out some key features: the milieu therapist and the integrated curricula.

The Milieu Therapist

What is the role of the milieu therapist? “Caring for the client,” Dr. Tucker said. “Their role is to engage with the client from the start of treatment to its finish. They have the opportunity and autonomy to work with the client and address their clinical needs. The milieu therapist also provides ongoing orientation with the client, which continues for the entire duration of the client’s experience.”

The milieu therapist is also there to gather client feedback about what may or may not be working in treatment and to share this input with the clinical team. This enables the team to increase programming or make changes to the client’s care plan more quickly.

The “sole role” of the milieu therapist is “being on the unit with clients and communicating with clients from the time they start to the time the end,” Dr. Tucker said. The milieu therapist does not carry a caseload like other clinicians, so they are able to devote themselves exclusively to educating and advocating for clients.

Having a milieu therapist has made “a huge difference for the client”:

• The milieu therapist “is not only going to speak with the clinical team but will speak with the mental health specialist, so the client can feel heard and understand the whole process.”
• Also, every client will “enter treatment impaired in some way and have specific treatment goals to address, so the personalized care model allows the client to receive information in real time, and that alone makes the personalized care plan here at FHE Health distinctive.”

Integrative Curricula

Another distinguishing feature of personalized care at FHE Health is its “new curricula that are integrative and address mental health and substance use disorders.” The curricula help to reinforce skills that the client is learning during treatment. (As background, clients receive “at least five clinical hours a day, seven days a week.” During this time, clients have “opportunities for breathwork therapy, group and individual therapies, neuro therapy … and to integrate all types of clinical services.”)

How do the curricula help to personalize care? Dr. Tucker answered this question by describing the curricula in greater detail. The curricula (namely, a workbook that clients receive):

• “give the client an opportunity to be educated on the disorder that they are being treated for”
• “teach clients skillsets like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or Dialectical Behavior Therapy (CBT) that are ‘evidence-based,’” meaning that clinical studies have found them effective for mental health and substance use disorders
• are “topic-related and skill-building,” so that a client can take one home to learn more about a subject that they found most interesting”
• are another way for the client to “give feedback on what’s working and what’s not working”

Care Components of a Customized Health Plan

What are the components of a customized plan of care? Dr. Tucker mentioned several:

• “An actual treatment plan” that is “integrative” and “a working document that changes throughout treatment”
• Treatment that addresses the client’s “core problem—what they’re being treated for”
• “Opportunity for clients to be part of the treatment plan and to understand their treatment objectives, such as working with medical, psychiatric, clinical therapy, or ancillary services like fitness”
• Personalized tools that set clients up for success as they leave treatment

Personalized Tools for Success After Treatment

These “personalized tools” are resources and supports for long-term recovery that the care management team suggests based on the client’s individual needs and concerns.

Near the time of a client’s discharge, the team meets to discuss the client “from different multidisciplinary perspectives” and “to talk about [the client’s] aftercare.” The team may then refer the client to specific counseling services or suggest some sober living options.

Dr. Tucker recalled one client who “was afraid to reside in a sober living residence and had never done so”:

We identified three sober living options that the client could visit and assess. We wanted him to have the opportunity to choose for himself, because this sets him up for more success.

When recommending counseling as part of an aftercare plan, Dr. Tucker continued, “we educate the client on what services they could benefit most from, like CBT, DBT, or psychotherapy … If you go to a medical doctor, you go to the right one. With counseling, it is important to be clear about why the client is going to a particular clinician.”

How Personalization of Healthcare Improves Outcomes

Does personalized treatment improve client outcomes? If so, how? At FHE Health, “we look at outcomes, pull data, and assess from a qualitative perspective,” Dr. Tucker said. “Clients write in and keep in touch and share about their experiences with our Alumni program.”

By “outcome,” Dr. Tucker was talking about “how the client’s coping skills will be implemented post treatment.” He said he “receives a lot of client feedback” in this area, regarding “what has been most helpful in getting sober and back to work or feeling more present in clients’ personal relationships.”

“When clients come to treatment, they don’t necessarily see their behavior as unhealthy, but we’re trying to teach clients a new way of coping,” Dr. Tucker said. “We’re teaching them to think differently.”

This is no small task. Still, what quickly becomes evident from talking with Dr. Tucker is that breakthroughs happen … every day.