TADAAAH!

Ok so you qualified but....

Do YOU Know Enough..?

So many of us have found ourselves attending more and more training to try and know as much as possible to help all of our clients to the best of our ability, right??

Yet we are still left feeling like we don't know enough or maybe we still don't have all the answers.

Maybe you're just fed up with taking course after course and you just want someone to talk to and maybe refer your clients to?

While more and more of us are starting to work together with other professionals, this style of practice should be how we are taught for the best duty of care we can offer. Here are 4 tips on how it could be done...

No 1. Attempt To Open Up Communication With Other Professionals.

This very simple concept may feel alien to some out there BUT we shouldn't feel that we should try and know everything to help our clients. We should get REALLY good at the skills we possess and feel confident to refer out to someone else when we do not find the answer or feel another opinion is required. 

THIS IS OUR DUTY OF CARE..

…and demonstrates our commitment to it. With the clients permission we should share our view on their physicality to best advise them on how to improve their movement ability. 

(Don't forget you will need their permission to swap and discuss their personal details with another professional).

So rather than simply suggesting they go see ‘a therapist’ or someone else, actually refer them to someone you know who has different, but complementary, skills to yours. Build a relationship with practitioners you trust, who are open minded and offer you their thoughts and opinion. Getting their ideas about the issue and discussing their thoughts and yours combined allows you both to come to a joint conclusion of best practice for this individual. This is SO powerful and just makes sense!

This way YOU learn, THEY learn, the client learns AND neither professional has to worry about doing it alone, while the client gets to experience truly outstanding service.

A blend of minds, experience and skills is surely better than one, right? 

Form a working relationship with this professional, and others, to obtain not only more information but referrals FROM them too!! Commercially this is better for you and it is a really confident professional who refers clients away!

This way each of you can focus on becoming the best you can be at YOUR skill set and service, accessing professional discussion with your ‘partners’ for added confidence in the service/s you provide.

How many practitioners do you think would turn you away if you approached them and said.. 

“I want to send my clients to you, are you interested?”

Obviously find someone who is willing and open to reciprocate and that you can build trust with. Maybe book yourself appointments with practitioners in your area, for your own interest and based upon how you feel about the way they manage you, approach those that you felt offered a quality, knowledgeable service. 

No 2. Get REALLY REALLY Good At Your Skill Set

Now you can focus on being the best at what YOU do. We are all turning into hybrids and this is a good thing to allow us to understand each style of practice;

ASSESS - MASSAGE- EXERCISE - TREAT

ASSESS - TREAT - EXERCISE - MASSAGE

ASSESS - EXERCISE - TREAT - MASSAGE 

ASSESS - MASSAGE - TREAT - EXERCISE 

ASSESS - TREAT - MASSAGE - EXERCISE 

ASSESS - EXERCISE - MASSAGE - TREAT

You get the idea....

BUT we can’t be great at everything and doing all of this during one session might be a push since the expected time slot is usually an hour.

By the way this doesn’t have to be how you work. Many assume the 1hr session protocol just because everyone else does but you might decide to work based on 90 min sessions. So long as this is clear up front and it could be your USP (unique selling point)

Anyway if you do cram all of this into one hour or session then you may well be pushed for doing each really well - I know I would in the 1hr time frame. This could be an issue if you know your client requires all of these. So create a ‘flow’ with your team where by one is the specialist for one area, ie assessment. They then refer to the trainer about which exercises would be good and which can then be based on the assessment results. The exercise professional then refers them to the manual therapist for the hands on part. Hey then refer on to the clinician should an injury or problem arise. The clinician then refers back to the assessment professional for the clients journey back into exercise. Maybe they need a foot specialist or a sports specific coach!? 

Having massage skills doesn’t mean you have to use them, knowing about foot function and orthotics doesn't mean you prescribe them but this knowledge allows you to understand when to refer for this service AND how to communicate with the other professional. 

Now you may decide you want to offer 2 or even 3 of these services, but decide which part of the services you are able to offer within your practice appropriately in your scheduling and then refer the rest. BUT do communicate where possible or build a team around you. 

No 3. Stay Open Minded - Things Change!!

The idea that you qualify and TADAAAAH!…you’re done with training is of course out of date. Hence the plethora of CPD’s we are consistently being informed about. 

THINGS CHANGE!

New ideas or research develops and new ways of doing things become available. So we need to decide when we re-train, sample the new idea and refer or amend our commercial offering. Either way remember you can only do so much really well and also we should find professionals willing to stay up to date too. We should challenge each other AND what we are taught by education providers ALL of the time! Professional open discussion should be inclusive and positive even where challenges might be made about a certain method. To have technical discussions about what is right for the individual, based in the data or evidence available and all thoughts laid out is really quite exciting and fascinating aside for it being BEST DUTY OF CARE for the client.

Keep asking WHY until you understand at depth WHY that idea is better or a great addition or something to consider for that particular client for example. 

No 4. Find Trusted Organisations Who Offer Networking Opportunities. 

There are some fantastic organisations out there that have set up as a support and networking system for professionals.

The Intrinsic Biomechanics Association (IBA) which has a monthly subscription fee offers at present 4 free workshops a year, branded clothing, ￡150 credit for education with the academy, discounted events, mentoring and networking opportunities for fitness professionals interested in both the study of human movement/exercise and also looking for professionals to work alongside.

The Sports Therapy Association (STA) founded by Gary Benson is a superbly run resource for manual therapists. Gary is really passionate about offering genuine support. For a very small annual fee he works very hard to give his members access to information and CPD's through various mediums along with his regional ambassador team.

We delivered a session at the STA annual conference this year inside the Therapy Expo at the NEC and the line up Gary had organised was fantastic (of course lol).

Gary and I are both very passionate about supporting YOUR success and confidence. We are enabling our members to meet each other and cross refer to each other allowing us all to offer great DUTY OF CARE to our clients across these 2 amazing and merging industries.

To find out more or to join the IBA CLICK HERE 

To find out more or to join the STA CLICK HERE