Reduce Client Ghosting by Lynn Grodzki, LCSW, MCC

We have a hidden crisis in therapy: Clients leave therapy and counseling too soon, before they see the results of treatment. They leave in large numbers, without warning, often abruptly. This is both a clinical issue and a business one, because it undermines the efficacy of your services and weakens your business. To learn what you can do to reduce client "ghosting” and improve client satisfaction, read more below.

Also, of note: I am excited to share that my newest book, Therapy with a Coaching Edge: Partnership, Action and Possibility in Every Session has just been published by W.W. Norton (May 2018). It’s the first time I have written about my work as a therapist, defining a new model that bridges the gap between coaching and therapy. See how to call clients into action and promote insight, as well as lasting change.

The Problem of Client Ghosting

Do you have clients who dropout or disappear before finishing treatment and don’t respond to your attempts to connect?

Having a client leave therapy prematurely can be upsetting and unsettling. You wonder: What happened? What might you have done differently? What was wrong with the client?

Like most therapists, you do your best to provide empathy, caring, and solid treatment methods. When a client ends treatment abruptly, without explanation or notice, it can feel like a bad breakup: You were dumped, with no real understanding as to why.

The rate of clients leaving treatment before getting the results they need is a bigger and broader problem for our profession then you may know. It’s a serious concern for all of us to consider.

Improving Client Retention

Since improving client retention is both a clinical and a business issue, we need solutions that address both aspects. Here is some data about the scope of the dilemma we face as a profession: Studies show that from twenty to fifty percent of all therapy and counseling clients leave therapy long before they see results of treatment.

Over fifty percent of clients never come back after the first session; a slightly smaller percentage leave within the first five sessions. We need to change something about our treatment process to stop this pattern. In any industry, this would be cause for alarm.

The Reason Clients Leave Too Soon

What are the reasons for this significant rate of dropout in the therapy professions?

Let's set the context: Few clients are happy to find themselves in a situation that determines a need for therapy. Clients usually seek therapy at a low point in their mental health and/or their lives. And they often are embarrassed or ashamed about their need for us.

In our culture, therapy is often viewed as a sign of personal weakness or failure. The act of coming to therapy can provoke discomfort by itself, given that the nature of therapy can be uncovering difficult feelings and thoughts.

Given this, its essential that we not compound the problem. Having made the significant effort to find a therapist and then come to a session, a client needs to leave feeling that it was absolutely worth the time, money, and effort. Clients need to know that they are making clear and noticeable gains. Even better is if the client feels compelled and motivated to return. Too often, the opposite is true.

Disappointment and Dissatisfaction

Surveys suggest that the number one cited reason clients stop treatment is a lack of satisfaction with the therapy process. Their dissatisfaction is a combination of ambivalence or negativity about their therapist and a lack of tangible results gleaned from one or several sessions.

We know that for most therapy to work, repeat visits are necessary. We have to be more proactive in helping engage clients to stay longer, to see treatment results. We must make an effort to help clients see clear and concrete measures of success.

What can you do to take responsibility to help a client stay in treatment? How can you increase a client’s understanding, sense of value and satisfaction about your services? Can you reduce client disappointment in the therapy process?

I suggest that a strategic model of client retention be part of every therapist's treatment plan.

A Strategic Model of Retention

I have been interested in resolving the problems of poor client satisfaction and low retention for a long time and written and given workshops on this topic.

I have a chapter on this topic in Building Your Ideal Private Practice: 2nd Edition titled “Retaining Today’s Clients” that explains why those coming for therapy now are often even more difficult to engage than those clients who sought therapy in earlier times.

My new book, Therapy with a Coaching Edge: Partnership, Action and Possibility in Every Session (W.W. Norton, 2018) takes this one step further. I offer a new model of psychotherapy that embeds a strategic model of retention and client satisfaction into the structure of each session. Its easy to apply and can help clients understand the value of a therapy session more clearly, in the moment. Here is how it starts:

First, stay alert for obvious and hidden signals of client confusion and disappointment, beginning with the first session. (Let me show you these signals and what to do to boost client retention. Please click through to read the rest of the article.)

Just click through HERE and read the full article or go to this link:

https://privatepracticesuccess.com/featured-articles/reduce-client-ghosting/

copyright 2018 by Lynn Grodzki, all rights reserverd.