Clinical Governance. Evidence Based Treatment. Earning enough money. Therapeutic Alliance. 24 hours in a day. 7 Days in a Week. Family. Friends. Career. Client notes. Client education. Self - Care. Medicare Compliance. GP letters. First Session Engagement.
What comes across your mind when someone says 'what pressures do you have when working in private practice?' This article should help minimise some of the pressure around the first session.
Recognise that in order to build the relationship with the client you need more time.
Perhaps you change your session allocation time for 1.5 hours instead of 1 for the first session. By providing more time in the first session, you can cover the administration and clinical aspects as well as provide the space for the client to feel as though they have covered some of the long list of things they came to talk about. Another tip, give yourself permission to spend time on the administration tasks. Tell the client upfront that you need 20 minutes to cover the administration aspects of the foundation setting for the client's journey. You should also inform the client that the journey takes time. Thus, administration and clinical tasks will be touched upon during the first several sessions.
Manage your diary.
Do you feel you've taken a bit more than you can handle? Write a list of the tasks that you have to complete and their due dates. Then set out mini deadlines. Block out associated time in your diary to manage the tasks required to complete the deadline. By putting some boundaries up, you should feel a bit more in control.
Stop booking your clients in one session at a time.
Regardless of the frequency you see your clients, you can still give yourself peace of mind if you provide yourself some consistency in your diary. Every Wed at 2:00 pm you've scheduled your client who comes in a little bit late, all the time. Every second Monday at 10:00 am you booked your client who is self aware. By having consistency in your diary, you provide yourself some certainty. This helps when there are so many uncertain things in your life.
We can't control everything, but we can set ourselves up for a better pathway to success.
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