How to do measurement-based care with Russell DuBois
My interview guest this week is Dr. Russell DuBois. Russell is a psychologist from San Diego, CA with a joint background in clinical practice and data science.
He currently serves as the Head of Clinical and Customer Success at Blueprint, a mental health technology software company used by thousands of clinicians and healthcare organizations across the country.
Outside of work hours, he is an avid surfer and biker and loves to spend as much time as possible along the beautiful southern California coast.
I spoke to Russell about measurement-based care, his experience working in tech, and how clinicians can use Blueprint to improve their outcomes. Enjoy!
What is measurement-based care and why is it important?
Measurement-based care is the act of measuring client progress systematically throughout the course of care, communicating with clients about these observed trends, and using this information to inform your clinical interventions and treatment planning.
As therapists, we are extremely talented at using our clinical judgment to understand our clients’ lived experiences and progress in therapy, but we aren’t perfect. Measurement-based care helps us catch important events or changes in our clients’ lives that we should be aware of and might have missed otherwise.
What is Blueprint and what is your role?
At Blueprint, we build software that helps clinicians to run more effective therapy sessions and save time on documentation. We do this by making measurement-based care as easy as possible to learn and adopt regardless of your training and background, and make sure that everything that happens on Blueprint can easily be copied and pasted into a progress note.
As the clinical leader at the company, I’m involved in nearly all aspects of our business with a particular focus on helping us build a world class product that clinicians love and ensuring that the clinicians and clinics who we partner with feel supported and get the most value possible from our product.
What kinds of things does Blueprint measure?
In order for measurement-based care to be helpful in your clinical practice, you need to be able to measure things that are relevant to your work. For us at Blueprint, this meant that we needed to create a system that allows clinicians to track a wide range of things, from couples satisfaction, to specific diagnoses or symptoms, to the strength of the therapeutic alliance.
We have over 300 self-report assessments available on our platform at this time, most of which were requests coming from the clinicians who use Blueprint day in and day out.
How was the transition from clinical work to tech?
When I first made the transition a few years back it felt like I was the odd one out—there were no clear career pathways and not many of us were making the jump. In the past year or two alone, things have completely changed for the better.
It sounds a little cliché, but it’s extremely exciting and humbling to have the opportunity to make a relatively small impact at the individual level, but on such a large scale. It does come with its challenges, such as being able to balance clinical interests with what’s best for the business at a given time or working on tight and often stressful timelines, but that’s also what makes it fun!
What advice do you have for therapists who are interested in working in tech?
Companies are now realizing the value that mental health professionals can bring to tech, and not only in providing direct clinical services but also in user research, content and marketing, product and design, and a variety of other functions. Be flexible with how you use your knowledge and degree and don’t be afraid to pursue opportunities that sound exciting to you.
In the tech world, bringing to the table a unique opinion, a healthy curiosity, and an authentic passion to make a difference are just as important as your past experiences on your CV, which is much different than what some of us are used to when pursuing more traditional clinical roles.
Thank you to Russell for sharing with us. Follow him on LinkedIn. As a special offer for Therapy Marketer readers, save 20% off your first month of Blueprint when you use this link.