Get More Referrals by Training Physicians on These Topics

A great way to get more referrals from local physicians to your psychotherapy practice is to provide trainings for them. Our founder, Jim Jonas, LICSW, LMFT, recommended this strategy when he was interviewed on Selling the Couch.

But the question is: what would a physician want to receive training on? What would convince a physician to get more referrals to you?

We asked Jim what he would choose for training topics. He answered with three good ideas, along with jumping-off points for developing your content.

Topic 1: Anxiety Disorder

18% of adults in the United States suffer from anxiety, but only one third of them receive treatment. That makes it very important that physicians recognize the symptoms of this disorder and understand what is required to treat it.

When training a physician, Jim recommends that you provide a summary of the most well-known symptoms of anxiety, such as physical agitation, excessive worries or fears, hand-wringing, rushed speech and sleep disruption

Physicians should also be aware of symptoms that are less obvious. For example, Jim has noticed  that clients who are overly controlling tend to be very anxious.

After you’ve talked to the physician about symptoms, it would be a good idea to follow-up with interventions they can recommend to their patient. You might want to provide the physician with specific resources for cognitive behavioral therapy or other treatments.

If you have created written resources on anxiety, this would be a great time to hand out some copies.

Topic 2: Depression

Being another very prevalent condition, depression is also a prime topic on which to provide a training.

The good thing about this topic is that most physicians are already using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 form, so you will not need to spend as much time on the commonly-known symptoms of depression.

Instead you can inform the physician about common treatments. As with anxiety, you could provide  them with resources on cognitive behavioral therapy or your style of working with clients with depression. Along with that, Jim recommends that you educate the physician on the benefits of recommending less intrusive treatments, such as  psychotherapy, before prescribing antidepressant medications.

Another area you could cover is how to react when a patient indicates a plan or intent to commit suicide. This is a situation the physician hopefully will not have to face often. But if they are not prepared, the results could be disastrous.

Based on his experience, Jim’s main advice for a physician is to “follow their gut” when they are in the presence of someone talking about suicide. Do they fear for their patient’s safety? If so, they should check to see if the patient feels the same way (how to ask that question is another area in which you could train the physician). If the patient feels the same way, the physician needs to intervene.

Convey your stories of having a client express intent to commit suicide. How did you react? What was the outcome? Like with your practice, your training must be unique to you.

Topic 3: Abuse

Being mandated reporters, physicians have  been trained on the basics of how to identify and react to ongoing abuse. However, domestic violence and verbal/emotional abuse is more subtle and takes more time to assess. Certainly, all abuse affects a person’s health and well-being.

Caring for Patients Who Are Experiencing Ongoing Abuse

First, make sure to educate the physician on the different forms abuse can take: verbal, physical, sexual and more.

Ongoing abuse, such as chronic domestic violence, is an area where it would be important to educate a physician about the dynamics of domestic violence and the need for the victim to obtain psychotherapy. This allows the time needed to change the victim’s thinking and support them in healthy decision making.

What that physician is less likely to be trained on is the impact of past abuse on their patients.

Caring for Patients Who Experienced Abuse in the Past

When educating the physician on past abuse, Jim feels the most important point to make is that past abuse, if left untreated, can have major effects on their patient for years, possibly decades, after the abuse ceased.

Emphasize that when a person has lived through an abusive experience, their entire worldview can change. At that time, they were hurt, objectified, humilated and made to feel that they didn’t matter. If there is no effective healing, the patient will continue to have these feelings.

Tell the physician that when they learn that their patient experienced abuse in the past, the physician should determine if the patient received any therapy. The physician should also attempt to discuss the effects of the abuse and determine if they are experiencing the toxic worldview described above.

Jim would recommend telling the physician that many things need to happen for that patient to heal. Most importantly, the patient needs to begin changing their negative world view and beliefs (learned as a result of the abuse) and form a healing relationship. Most often, that means referring that patient to a qualified mental health professional.

As we stated before, these are meant to be ideas and starting points that will inspire you to create your own training curriculum. If you want to get more referrals from these physicians, your trainings need to be unique to you and be effective for them. If you use your knowledge and experience well, that should be no problem.

Do you have other ideas for trainings that will help you get more referrals from physicians? Post them to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+ so we can share them with other mental health professionals.