Consultation tips

CONSULTATION

The initial consultation may be the first time you’ve spoken with a new client, so it’s important to get it right. Here are our top tips…

CONSULTATIONS are not just about gathering information in order to provide appropriate treatment, they are also an opportunity to understand what your client needs from you, what their approach to health and wellbeing is and what their expectations are. It also gives you a chance to build rapport from the start. This is particularly important as US research suggests that, for talking therapies, half of new clients do not book a second session, because they don’t feel the therapist ‘gets them’. The figures are not quite so extreme for holistic therapists, but it would be worth going back through your diary to calculate what percentage of clients that only come once.

Build in extra time to the first appointment

One of the reasons that clients come to you is that they feel they need more time than a GP appointment offers. Given that many clients have chronic complaints, often with intermittent or varying symptoms, it’s not surprising that they often feel fobbed off or that their doctor can’t do much except offer pills. In order to gather information and get a feel for your new client, you need to add time to the initial consultation appointment for this. Longer appointments should cost more.

It’s important that the client should also experience some treatment during this first session, so factor that in too.

Really listen

Your client is almost certain to have tried other things before coming to you. These things will not have produced the results they were hoping for, so it’s important to really listen and get to the root of the problem and understand the main issues it causes to your client. Give them time to talk.

TIPS

Reassure and discuss outcome expectations

Use the consultation information as a baseline for treatment, so you and your client can evaluate subsequent progress. Reassure your new client that real and lasting positive change is possible, but be realistic. Change takes time and requires work.

Gather information quickly

Gathering information during a consultation is a balancing act. Too little and you won’t deliver the optimal tailored treatment plan, too much and your client may feel intimidated. Consider what you really need to know and gather this quickly using a form with check boxes. Print this out rather than recording it electronically as some clients find the lack of eye contact when their therapist is glued to their computer rather off-putting. Your focus should be on the client and building rapport.

Remember to ask for permission to send information and keep in touch by various methods as part of the process.

Ask open and qualitative questions

Although it’s tempting to ask a series of yes/no questions, this can be pretty dispiriting for your new client and also provides a less complete picture than qualitative information. Remember they want to be treated as a person and not a walking collection of symptoms. They are not simply a case. Rather than, ‘Does that hurt?’, ask questions like, ‘On a scale of 1-10, how painful is your shoulder?’, ‘How would you describe the pain?’, ‘Is the pain worse when you do certain things, or at certain times of the day?’ This open questioning may take a little longer, but will give you a much better idea about your client’s health and your best treatment options.

Even though you’re asking open questions, it’s still possible to record this information quickly using checkboxes and location diagrams. Continue asking questions during your treatment session, but also build in quiet periods.

A good consultation technique can improve client outcomes and your retention rates. n