Interview with an Expert: Diana Clark
The latest installment of our Interview with an Expert Series features Diana Clark, CEO of O’Connor Professional Group. OPG is a concierge behavioral health firm, with the mission of helping families with occurring challenges through the lifespan, from parenting to substance abuse and mental health, to Dementia.
Please describe your current professional role as well as a short description of OPG:
I am fortunate to lead and work beside a team of extraordinary coaches and consultants focused on facilitating high-quality services designed to help individuals and families create sustainable paths to recovery and improved well-being. Each of our coaches has a particular gift and expertise they bring to their work.
The philosophy of OPG recognizes that if we focus solely on one family member's behavioral and mental health disorders, we are missing opportunities for the family to achieve wellness as a whole. O'Connor Professional Group was founded on the principle that not just one person is affected by a behavioral or mental health disorder; the family system is also affected. We developed services such as case management, therapeutic companions, therapeutic coaching, interventions, and consulting services to look at these issues from a systemic level.
What sparks your passion for helping families?
As the daughter of a very famous influential man, Dr. Leon Rosenberg, MD, who came out with bipolar disorder, I understood from an early age that my father was struggling with his mental health. I learned from the get-go that it's not only the person struggling with their mental health that is affected; the family is also often left to cope. In my work supporting other families, I have had the honor to witness families once fractured by misunderstanding and resentments reunified and find joy in each other's company. That fuels my work.
What are the biggest challenges facing families dealing with adolescent substance abuse and mental health issues? How can those of us in education best support these families?
We have to start by setting expectations with our children very young of what is acceptable and not acceptable in our families. We are ahead of the game if the messaging around substance use is clear and modeled. A frank and direct conversation about substance use and coping strategies may delay experimentation.
That's not to say that conversations alone prevent a disorder later, as behavioral health disorders are part genetics, part exposure to trauma, and part peer culture. If we can support going against the norm and promoting unique personalities and gifts, we are supporting somebody going against that culture of substance use. When I was raising my own son, I was very clear that weird was okay. I wasn't looking for him to be the average or the popular kid in high school because that kid was partying. I think we can support families to understand that there is more than one path to successful adulthood and that sometimes childhood hurdles propel us to success. As Desmond Tutu's once said: "Pain and struggle are the anvils upon which our children's characters are forged…where they learn empathy and compassion.” So as parents, it is incumbent on us to allow for struggle and love them well in the middle of it.
What makes you optimistic about the future of your field?
We are learning more about neuroscience and have more research available. We also have a broader acceptance of difference and individuality in today's culture. We have come to understand that there is more than one road to recovery and different wiring creates different perspectives. We are looking at people in much more multifaceted ways, which will create a better sense of self and less need to medicate difference.
You can reach Diana and O’Connor Professional Group through their website.