Volume 23, No. 4 July 2025

Welcome to the July edition of Tips and Topics.

In SAVVY, a mother of five turns her focus from taking care of others to what it takes to find balance and purpose in The Free Me Life.

In SKILLS, some TIPS on skills to provide person-centered services inspired by the farewell speeches ending my 27 years of work with the National Center for Advocacy and Recovery (NCAAR).

In SOUL, cute stories on chance meetups and what it’s like to be in the honeymoon of retirement. There will be a time when my legacy will live on in the work of people who never knew me and would rightly say, “Dr. Who???”

One of the side benefits of retirement is that you get to be alive to actually hear the celebration of your life and career, rather than the speeches made at the memorial service when you are dead and gone.

On June 27, 2025, I gave my last professional training to a nonprofit organization I have consulted with since 1998 (last century).

The National Center for Advocacy and Recovery (NCAAR), Inc. serves as a center of excellence in addressing recovery and mental wellness, and serves as the premier advocacy organization with and on behalf of individuals, families, and communities within this continuum.

Recognizing the prevalence of substance use and mental health disorders and the impact on individuals receiving General Assistance (GA) or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), the New Jersey Department of Human Services – Division of Family Development (DFD) developed the Work First New Jersey–Substance Abuse Initiative and Behavioral Health Initiative (WFNJ SAI/BHI). This contract was awarded to NCAAR in 1998.

Care Coordinators conduct comprehensive assessments, make referrals for treatment, and coordinate care for this complex high-risk population. It was to this team that I consulted and trained for 27 years.

Along with many well-wishes to send me on my way, the CEO, Summer Brancaccio, and Clinical Director, Gina Wilkins, gave two send-off speeches that were so gratifying as they listed some of what they had learned from our work together. With their permission, I am sharing excerpts to underline TIPS that can serve anyone working in healthcare.

Tip 1

Supervision isn’t just for beginners.

• “With a steady hand, he defused many of my fever pitch moments, resulting in a calmer, more rational, more effective response than what I might have come up with on my own.”
• “He not only taught me the foundational work of being a clinician in this field, but also the foundational work of leadership.”
• “Remember the core values of this work: that acknowledging someone else’s humanity helps us access our own, and we are better clinicians and people for it.”
• “Guiding, teaching, and motivating us through this work.”

• As a “roadmap to navigate the most complicated terrain of the stories we hear and the people we meet.”

• “We pass along what we have learned from you.”
• “Carrying it forward.”

About Summer Brancaccio

Summer Brancaccio is the President and CEO of the National Center for Advocacy and Recovery (NCAAR). She has dedicated her career to serving individuals, families, and communities affected by behavioral health concerns as a clinician, supervisor, and advocate for equitable and accessible services. Summer obtained her BA in Psychology from Boston University and her Master of Education and Master of Arts in Psychological Counseling from Columbia University.

Tip 2

What Mission and Values drive the work you do?

Gina, Clinical Director, referenced the impact of our work together on the agency and on team members both personally and professionally. Her words of appreciation prompted these questions to do with the mission and values of the work you do:

• To what field do you have a deep commitment? — Mental health, addiction, co-occurring disorders? Prevention, treatment? Nonprofit, for-profit services?
• What are the foundation values of how you work, how you think, and how you provide care? — Work smarter, not harder? Early or late adopter of new models and approaches? Flexible continuums of care or structured, programmatic treatment?
• To what degree are you in alignment with evidence-based, patient-centered care? And if such care is not readily available, how do you advocate for your clients in a wider broken system?
• How do you use models and methods like The ASAM Criteria to transform lives?
• Is your true clinical work rooted in compassion, integrity, and deep respect for each person’s unique journey?

To what extent do your mission and values not only help people now, but help people to help themselves in the future?

Gina ended with reassurance that the impact of my work lives on:

• “Your legacy is one of mentorship, clinical excellence, and quiet but profound leadership.”
• “We are better because of you; your influence will remain with us every step of the way.”

About Gina Wilkins

Gina Wilkins is the Clinical Director for the Substance Abuse Initiative and Behavioral Health Initiative (SAI/BHI). As Clinical Director, she oversees a team of clinicians providing statewide comprehensive assessment and care management services to the Work First New Jersey population. Gina is passionate about providing an open and welcoming environment where people can learn from one another, grow in their personal and professional goals, and create change within themselves and their community. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor in the state of NJ.

SKILLS

Both Summer and Gina developed the skills to provide person-centered services.

Tip 1

Pay attention to your prejudices, conditioned reactions, and self-involved perspectives.

To be fully present in person-centered services, it starts with looking inwards. This is especially true when serving people who face poverty, stigma, scarce resources, and broken systems of care. Secondary trauma is an occupational hazard when in contact with such disadvantaged people every day.

• What prejudices do you harbor consciously? — Is this client just here to keep their welfare benefits and uninterested in working and changing?
• What unconscious prejudices might I harbor? — About race, gender, sexual orientation, work ethic, poverty?
• What are my conditioned reactions in assessments? — Daily use of any substance, legal or illegal, is addictive use. Diagnostic criteria for Substance Use Disorder do not reference frequency and quantity of use, but rather the process and effects of using on function and life consequences.
• How stable is your emotional and home life, finances, intimate partner relationships? — Are you so preoccupied that you have little reserve to be present for your clients?

As Summer says:

• “Distill the facts away from the prejudice, the conditioned reactions, and our own egoic inner monologues that might tell us that the person in front of us is just here to make our lives difficult, when really, if we look closer and hear your reminders, they are people in vulnerable positions showing us where they most need our help.”

Tip 2

How to see the forest, not just the trees.

The idiom “not seeing the forest for the trees” means someone is too focused on minor details and failing to grasp the larger, overall picture or situation. It’s like being so close to individual trees that you can’t see the entire forest.

Gina said, “I suspect there won’t be a day that goes by when we don’t find ourselves asking, ‘What would Dr. Mee-Lee say?’” Over the 25 years of full-time training and consulting, I have had other supervisors and clinical directors tell me that same thing.

While I would like to put that down to my exquisite knowledge and brilliance, I think it speaks more to the process of getting the team to focus more on the forest than on the trees. When faced with a challenging client situation, it is easy to get too close to the “trees” of:

• Client reluctance to change and poor follow-through
• Diagnostic ambivalence about marijuana use — is it medical, addictive, or recreational use?
• Self-medication of mental health problems or co-occurring disorder use?
• Lack of resources
• Complex service choices
  
  

A 500-foot view of the forest in “What would Dr. Mee-Lee say?” might focus on:

• What does the client want most? — Just to keep their welfare benefits? Mental health services but not addiction treatment or vice versa? To get on disability? To get a job or housing?
• Does the client meet criteria for Substance Use Disorder despite quantity and frequency of use?
• Is more history information needed to look at the time sequence of substance use in relation to mental health symptoms?
• Are their treatment providers skilled in assessing and treating co-occurring disorders?
• What systems changes are needed to meet the need for complexity-capable services?
  
  

SOUL

A few months ago I was having tea in a cute shop in San Francisco. A couple across the bench table were on their first date. The young lady leaned over and said: “Are you Dr. Mee-Lee?” I was surprised but felt good to be recognized when she went on to say, “I was at a training of yours years ago and really appreciated it.”

I thanked her and, as I sometimes say in such situations, “What was something you learned from the training?” She paused and said, “I don’t remember exactly, but I know I felt good in the training and when I left.”

Sometimes it’s the inspiration that’s important, if not the specific content.

Second story: I parked my car in the parking lot. From the car next to me, a passenger called out, “What’s your name?” “David Mee-Lee,” I said. “I thought so,” she said. “I have learned so much from your trainings and wanted to say thank you.” Pleased but a little taken aback, I didn’t follow up with my usual question about what she had learned.

In addition to gratifying stories like these chance meetups, I am still in the honeymoon of retirement:

• People don’t know I have retired and still invite me to train and consult.
• I receive emails asking me to join editorial or agency boards, or publish a paper.
• Colleagues call who still value my input to their book manuscript.
  
  

Do you remember who won the Oscar for Best Actor and Actress at the Academy Awards this year — and if so, what about last year? Or which city hosted the Summer Olympic Games the time before last?

Who remembers anyone in the public eye at my level after a few years? Maybe for now, some team members might hear “What would Dr. Mee-Lee say?” and understand how that could help to look at the bigger picture. But soon the response will be, “Who will say what?? Who’s that? Dr. Who???”

I don’t mind. I have no illusions or delusions of grandeur. My feet will be in the sand at the beach or walking the streets of some faraway culture.

UNTIL NEXT TIME

Thank you for joining us this month. See you in late August.

David