Clinician's Corner
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TMS Training for Psychiatrists: What the Certification Process Involves
Clinically reviewed by Hilary Tesch, DNP, RN, APNP, PMHNP-BC
Psychiatrists complete residency knowing how to diagnose and treat mental health disorders. However, many psychiatrists complete their training without receiving instruction on how to administer transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and that training gap is contributing to problems accessing care as patient demand for non-pharmacological options continues to grow. TMS is now FDA-cleared for major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and anxious depression, and it is increasingly becoming the treatment patients who have tried multiple medications want to discuss first. Psychiatrists who can offer it, or who are open to learning about it, are better positioned to lead that conversation.
What Is TMS and Why Are Psychiatrists Learning It Now
Transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, is a non-invasive brain stimulation therapy that uses focused magnetic pulses to...
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Sitting With Uncertainty: Holding the Infinite
In the day and age where the reliance on evidence-based approaches in the therapeutic space are widely utilized to treat those suffering with an array of struggles, we need to keep in mind that the structure and the formulation of care is only part of the key to providing well-rounded and empathic treatment for those in need.
A phenomenon I have noticed while working in the field with a diverse population of individuals is the human drive to have certainty. Certainty has a differing meaning from individual to individual. In other words, one can argue that there is no one certainty. Some might say that death is as certain as it gets—but even then, there are those who believe in some type of existence after we draw our last breath. So, when it comes to the human experience, is there anything truly certain? The answer is dependent on you and how you make meaning of your experiences.
As an active, practicing counselor, I cannot help but notice a common thread amongst those that I have worked with and am continuing to work with. That common thread being some level of discomfort with uncertainty. The manifestation of pain that derives from this discomfort reveals itself uniquely from individual to individual. At times it shows itself as anxiousness about the past, present, or future. Other times it shows itself a...
Read More
Sitting With Uncertainty: Holding the Infinite
In the day and age where the reliance on evidence-based approaches in the therapeutic space are widely utilized to treat those suffering with an array of struggles, we need to keep in mind that the structure and the formulation of care is only part of the key to providing well-rounded and empathic treatment for those in need.
A phenomenon I have noticed while working in the field with a diverse population of individuals is the human drive to have certainty. Certainty has a differing meaning from individual to individual. In other words, one can argue that there is no one certainty. Some might say that death is as certain as it gets—but even then, there are those who believe in some type of existence after we draw our last breath. So, when it comes to the human experience, is there anything truly certain? The answer is dependent on you and how you make meaning of your experiences.
As an active, practicing counselor, I cannot help but notice a common thread amongst those that I have worked with and am continuing to work with. That common thread being some level of discomfort with uncertainty. The manifestation of pain that derives from this discomfort reveals itself uniquely from individual to individual. At times it shows itself as anxiousness about the past, present, or future. Other times it shows itself a...
Read More
Share 
H-1B and J-1 Visa Eligibility for Psychiatrists: Addressing Mental Health Workforce Gaps
The United States faces a critical shortage of psychiatrists, a pressing issue significantly worsened by the lingering mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of November 2024, nearly 59 million Americans—almost a quarter of the population—had a mental illness, yet 46% received no treatment due to the shortage of available mental health professionals. According to the federal National Center for Health Workforce, by 2036, the U.S. is projected to be short 42,130 psychiatrists. Recognizing this urgent need, LifeStance Health proactively recruits top talent, offering sponsorships for H-1B and J-1 visas in specific high-need locations, enabling highly skilled psychiatrists to practice in the United States.
How Psychiatrists Qualify for H-1B and J-1 Visas
Psychiatrists interested in practicing in the U.S. via an H-1B or J-1 visa must meet specific criteria:
Medical Education and Residency: Completion of medical education (MD...
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H-1B and J-1 Visa Eligibility for Psychiatrists: Addressing Mental Health Workforce Gaps
The United States faces a critical shortage of psychiatrists, a pressing issue significantly worsened by the lingering mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of November 2024, nearly 59 million Americans—almost a quarter of the population—had a mental illness, yet 46% received no treatment due to the shortage of available mental health professionals. According to the federal National Center for Health Workforce, by 2036, the U.S. is projected to be short 42,130 psychiatrists. Recognizing this urgent need, LifeStance Health proactively recruits top talent, offering sponsorships for H-1B and J-1 visas in specific high-need locations, enabling highly skilled psychiatrists to practice in the United States.
How Psychiatrists Qualify for H-1B and J-1 Visas
Psychiatrists interested in practicing in the U.S. via an H-1B or J-1 visa must meet specific criteria:
Medical Education and Residency: Completion of medical education (MD...
Read More
Share
The Power of The Neuroplasticity-Therapy Synergy
We’ve moved far beyond the monoamine hypothesis. Modern neuroscience reframes depression as a disorder of impaired neuroplasticity and dysregulated network connectivity—particularly in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex (Campbell et al., 2004; Bora et al., 2012).
TMS and Spravato don’t just alter neurotransmitter levels; they catalyze neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity: The Real Therapeutic Target
Both treatments can rapidly elevate BDNF (Chen et al., 2001; Duman & Monteggia, 2006), enhancing synaptogenesis, dendritic branching, and functional connectivity. These effects are often particularly robust in circuits implicated in emotional regulation, memory encoding, and salience processing.
Per the REBUS model (Carhart-Harris & Friston, 2020), these interventions can relax high-level priors in the default mode network—loosening rigid self-referential patterns and maladaptive predictive coding. Cl...
Read More
The Power of The Neuroplasticity-Therapy Synergy
We’ve moved far beyond the monoamine hypothesis. Modern neuroscience reframes depression as a disorder of impaired neuroplasticity and dysregulated network connectivity—particularly in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex (Campbell et al., 2004; Bora et al., 2012).
TMS and Spravato don’t just alter neurotransmitter levels; they catalyze neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity: The Real Therapeutic Target
Both treatments can rapidly elevate BDNF (Chen et al., 2001; Duman & Monteggia, 2006), enhancing synaptogenesis, dendritic branching, and functional connectivity. These effects are often particularly robust in circuits implicated in emotional regulation, memory encoding, and salience processing.
Per the REBUS model (Carhart-Harris & Friston, 2020), these interventions can relax high-level priors in the default mode network—loosening rigid self-referential patterns and maladaptive predictive coding. Cl...
Read More
Share
Lifelong Education
The Best Continuing Education Opportunities for Mental Health Professionals
Mental health professionals are committed to lifelong learning. Staying informed about new research, treatment modalities, and evolving clinical practices is crucial to providing effective care. However, with demanding schedules and heavy caseloads, finding quality continuing education can be challenging. One significant advantage of working with a large mental and behavioral healthcare company like LifeStance is its simplified approach to offering accessible and broad continuing education tailored specifically for mental health professionals.
LifeStance prioritizes clinician professional growth by providing a wide array of live clinical education programming. These interactive, peer-to-peer learning sessions, each lasting approximately 60 minutes, are developed by the Clinical Leadership Team and facilitated by internal LifeStance clinicians. This peer-focused approach encourages meaningful interactions and collaborative discussions and offers Continuing Education (CE) credits for live participation.
LifeStance prioritizes clinician professional growth by providing a wide array of live clinical education programming.
LifeStance’s clinical education opportunities include three main formats:
Grand Rounds
Multidisciplinary presentations featuring some of the latest research, clinical insights, and innov...
Read More
The Best Continuing Education Opportunities for Mental Health Professionals
Mental health professionals are committed to lifelong learning. Staying informed about new research, treatment modalities, and evolving clinical practices is crucial to providing effective care. However, with demanding schedules and heavy caseloads, finding quality continuing education can be challenging. One significant advantage of working with a large mental and behavioral healthcare company like LifeStance is its simplified approach to offering accessible and broad continuing education tailored specifically for mental health professionals.
LifeStance prioritizes clinician professional growth by providing a wide array of live clinical education programming. These interactive, peer-to-peer learning sessions, each lasting approximately 60 minutes, are developed by the Clinical Leadership Team and facilitated by internal LifeStance clinicians. This peer-focused approach encourages meaningful interactions and collaborative discussions and offers Continuing Education (CE) credits for live participation.
LifeStance prioritizes clinician professional growth by providing a wide array of live clinical education programming.
LifeStance’s clinical education opportunities include three main formats:
Grand Rounds
Multidisciplinary presentations featuring some of the latest research, clinical insights, and innov...
Read More
Share
The Breakfast Club: 40 Years Later and Its Enduring Legacy
I recently attended Chicago’s Comic and Entertainment Expo C2E2 (2025) and had the fortune of attending the live panel where, for the first time in 40 years, all five main Breakfast Club cast members (Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy) were in attendance. Audience members’ ages ranged across the lifespan, which was indicative of the enduring legacy John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club (1985) has had in pop culture. Considered a genre defining movie and amongst the peak of teen comedy films, The Breakfast Club transcends generations and still remains highly relevant and impactful 40 years after its initial release.
The Breakfast Club is about five teenagers who received Saturday detention for various reasons. They all belong to different cliques (e.g. brain, athlete, rebel, princess, and the oddball) and the film illustrates that, despite belonging to different cliques and surface level differences, the main characters have more in common than what appears. Shared experiences and subsequent bonding provide a snapshot of what being one’s genuine and authentic self with others can lead to with regards to developing meaningful and complex relationships. What makes The Breakfast Club stand out the most is its fearlessness to go beyond being “just a comedy” and explore t...
Read More
The Breakfast Club: 40 Years Later and Its Enduring Legacy
I recently attended Chicago’s Comic and Entertainment Expo C2E2 (2025) and had the fortune of attending the live panel where, for the first time in 40 years, all five main Breakfast Club cast members (Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy) were in attendance. Audience members’ ages ranged across the lifespan, which was indicative of the enduring legacy John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club (1985) has had in pop culture. Considered a genre defining movie and amongst the peak of teen comedy films, The Breakfast Club transcends generations and still remains highly relevant and impactful 40 years after its initial release.
The Breakfast Club is about five teenagers who received Saturday detention for various reasons. They all belong to different cliques (e.g. brain, athlete, rebel, princess, and the oddball) and the film illustrates that, despite belonging to different cliques and surface level differences, the main characters have more in common than what appears. Shared experiences and subsequent bonding provide a snapshot of what being one’s genuine and authentic self with others can lead to with regards to developing meaningful and complex relationships. What makes The Breakfast Club stand out the most is its fearlessness to go beyond being “just a comedy” and explore t...
Read More
Share
Lifelong Education
How to Avoid Burnout as a Mental Health Professional
Mental health professionals dedicate their lives to helping others navigate emotional challenges, but who helps the helpers? Research paints a concerning picture: between 21-67% of mental health workers experience high levels of burnout. In some settings, more than half report high emotional exhaustion, with many also experiencing depersonalization and reduced feelings of personal accomplishment.
When Healers Need Healing
The irony isn’t lost on those in the field. The very professionals trained to recognize and treat mental health concerns in others often struggle to address their own wellbeing. Burnout doesn’t simply make work more difficult—it fundamentally undermines a practitioner’s health, leading to increased rates of depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and physical health problems.
More troubling still is how burnout ripples outward to affect patient care. When mental health professionals experience bur...
Read More
How to Avoid Burnout as a Mental Health Professional
Mental health professionals dedicate their lives to helping others navigate emotional challenges, but who helps the helpers? Research paints a concerning picture: between 21-67% of mental health workers experience high levels of burnout. In some settings, more than half report high emotional exhaustion, with many also experiencing depersonalization and reduced feelings of personal accomplishment.
When Healers Need Healing
The irony isn’t lost on those in the field. The very professionals trained to recognize and treat mental health concerns in others often struggle to address their own wellbeing. Burnout doesn’t simply make work more difficult—it fundamentally undermines a practitioner’s health, leading to increased rates of depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and physical health problems.
More troubling still is how burnout ripples outward to affect patient care. When mental health professionals experience bur...
Read More
Share
Career Advice
Mental Health Careers Are Booming: How to Make Your Resume Stand Out
The mental health field is booming, with employment growth for psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, counselors, psychiatric aides, and social workers expected to be three times the projection for a typical U.S. job, according to a CNN analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This rapid expansion makes mental health careers a strong investment in education and training.
However, even in a high-demand job market, landing a role with competitive benefits and a supportive work environment remains highly competitive. To stand out, psychotherapists and psychologists need more than credentials—they need a strategic, well-crafted resume that highlights their expertise, achievements, and unique contributions to the field.
Chuck Solomon, MSW, Director of Employer Brand & Recruitment Marketing for LifeStance Health, shares his insights on what recruiters prioritize when reviewing resumes, common mistakes to avoid, and actionable tips for presenting yourself as an exceptional candidate. By implementing these strategies, mental health professionals can confidently navigate the hiring process and secure their ideal roles in this growing industry.
1. Credentials Are Key: Make Them Easy to Find
The first thing recruiters look for is whether a candidate is properly credentialed. To make this informa...
Read More
Mental Health Careers Are Booming: How to Make Your Resume Stand Out
The mental health field is booming, with employment growth for psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, counselors, psychiatric aides, and social workers expected to be three times the projection for a typical U.S. job, according to a CNN analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This rapid expansion makes mental health careers a strong investment in education and training.
However, even in a high-demand job market, landing a role with competitive benefits and a supportive work environment remains highly competitive. To stand out, psychotherapists and psychologists need more than credentials—they need a strategic, well-crafted resume that highlights their expertise, achievements, and unique contributions to the field.
Chuck Solomon, MSW, Director of Employer Brand & Recruitment Marketing for LifeStance Health, shares his insights on what recruiters prioritize when reviewing resumes, common mistakes to avoid, and actionable tips for presenting yourself as an exceptional candidate. By implementing these strategies, mental health professionals can confidently navigate the hiring process and secure their ideal roles in this growing industry.
1. Credentials Are Key: Make Them Easy to Find
The first thing recruiters look for is whether a candidate is properly credentialed. To make this informa...
Read More
Share
