Tips on making a referral:
Getting patients/clients to call a therapist can be challenging. Here are some tips for enhancing your success:
- Be sure your patient/client feels they have been correctly understood by you. This often can be done by summarizing for them what you have heard them say and/or what you have observed in them in their recent appointments and asking them if you have understood them correctly. Ask them if there is anything you have missed and then repeat that back to them. Continue this dialogue until the patient/client agrees that you have understood them completely.
- Communicate to them that you care about them and are concerned that they get the best care possible, as quickly as possible. Let them know that others you have spoken with about these issues have greatly benefited from working with a therapist and that you and their therapist can work as a team.
- For physicians: If the patient is asking for medication, explain to him/her that you would like him/her to see a specialist to confirm and/or clarify your diagnosis so that you can make the best choice regarding medication. Often patients will then meet with the therapist and enter into therapy, never beginning medication, or will continue with therapy while beginning medication.
- For lawyers: Many clients involved in legal issues are also coping with emotional stresses. For example, grief, fear,hurt, anger, and resentment can prevent divorcing spouses from creating solid parenting plans that are really in the best interest of the children or from settling financial issues as quickly as they could be. Fighting only furthers the stress or trauma that created the legal issue, creating more headaches for you and hindering legal resolution. You can explain to your client that adding a counselor to their team will only improve their ability to get resolution and will often save them money in the long run because they can spend less time with the lawyer.
