Evidence-Based Treatment at MCG

Our Policy on Evidence-Based Treatment

Evidence-based psychological practice is the integration of the best available research with clinical expertise in the context of patient characteristics, culture, and preferences, and clinical decisions should be made in collaboration with the patient.  The Mindfulness & Change Group is committed to providing state of the art, evidence-based psychological services. All of our clinicians are expected to begin treatment with a diagnostic evaluation to effectively identify each patient’s presenting problems. If scientifically validated treatments are available for a given patient’s presenting problems, our clinicians are expected to offer these as a first line of treatment and to prioritize providing treatments with the strongest possible evidence base. In cases where no such scientifically validated treatments exist, or these treatments have been tried with a given patient and have not been effective, clinicians are expected to draw on evidence-based treatments for similar conditions when possible. Division 12 of the American Psychological Association maintains a list of evidence-based psychological treatments, which can be found here: https://div12.org/treatments/. Clinicians are expected to use their clinical judgement and experience to guide them in the implementation of these treatments.

Our center is mindful of the fact that our patients are individuals with their own unique learning histories, values, and cultural backgrounds. Clinicians are expected to consider these factors and tailor evidence-based treatments accordingly for their patients.

The Mindfulness & Change Group is also committed to the ethical principle that clinicians do not practice beyond the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training, supervised experience, consultation, study, or professional experience. If a clinician does not have sufficient expertise providing evidence-based treatment for a patient’s presenting problem, the clinician is expected to refer the patient to a provider who has the requisite experience to provide evidence-based care or to seek the appropriate training, consultation, or supervision needed to provide evidence-based care.

Finally, measurement of symptoms, functioning, and progress is essential to providing evidence-based care tailored to each patient. The Mindfulness & Change Group is committed to empirical measurement regularly in treatment. We expect our clinicians to use standardized, scientifically validated outcome measures to assess symptom severity and assess patients’ progress over the course of treatment. This data enables our clinicians to establish a baseline against which to chart treatment progress, to reflect on the interventions delivered against the data collected, and to make changes to the treatment to ensure symptom amelioration and improved functioning. More importantly, our clinicians empower patients to use this data to systematically evaluate the treatment they are receiving and give us feedback too.