When you are in a solo practice (without admin support) or in a group practice responsible for your own referrals there is one thing that is sure to clog up your time outside of sessions - request from new clients to start therapy.
And if you have openings this is an AMAZING thing.
In full transparency I have the support on my team of my amazing biller but I do not have an admin that handles intakes, paperwork, etc. And when I am jam packed in a week with clients and coordination for client issues - ie. needing to produce records, coordinate with a school, etc. I am looking for the easiest of easy ways to meet both my needs for time freedom AND potential clients.
So what does this mean? I think it is ethical to respond to client inquiries for potentially starting therapy in a timely manner. I have heard far too many horror stories both across the country and in my own community with clients stating they have called several clinics and nobody has returned their call. Yikes. This concerns me because it is sometimes the most courageous thing a person can do to call to get help - either for themselves or their child. If they have a negative experience, or just hear *crickets* they may be discouraged and no longer pursue the support they need. The solution? I wanted to give you my plug-and-play template that I use to respond to email inquiries for new clients. It is something I have waiting in the wings of my Google Drive to copy, paste, and customize. All of my templates have a specific list of referral clinics of where potential clients may call to see if there are any openings. My list changes depending on the age of the client and service requested. For example I have a separate list of clinicians who would work well with a three year old vs. a 16 year old. For clients specifically seeking Play Therapy there may be different clinicians on that list than clients coming to me for EMDR. BUT my pre-filled in template, get yours HERE, it takes less than 2 minutes to respond and help the client go on their journey to finding a good fit therapist! Once you have the template you can start filling in clinic contact information that fits your area - trust me these 10 minutes you will spend up front will save your HOURS in the long run! Loading...
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Hi, there!I'm Ann Meehan, an LPCC, Loading... Archives
October 2024
Categories
All
|