Hi, i am a moblie therapist and i had a new client today, she wanted reflexology, so went to her house and she was a little odd kept me waiting while she spent ages getting a drink, while doing her consultation she started cleaning up, when i started doing her treatment she told me about medical problems she did not mention before, she also started telling loads of stuff she seemed to have a lot of problems especially with diets and food etc. ui advised her to see someone who can give advise on ealthy eating etc, but she made me feel uneasy and like she needed help that i am not trained to do.
what i would like to know as reflexologists when we have clients that need help do we have the right to refer somone for help or do we just shut the door and forget about it till we see them next that is if they rebook?
I believe we have a duty of care to each of our clients and if we are unable to deal with any issues that come up during a treatment we should offer other avenues, including referring on to other professionals. On a positive note froggy she trusted you with her worries and problems and so you could safely assume that she's asking for help. So I'd be inclined to offer guidance and referrals at this stage.
I think it is quite within the scope of practice of a Reflexologist to refer clients out to others. I kept hearing the saying "if in doubt, refer out!" over and over when I was in school seven years ago...it has stuck!
Not having a full idea of what kind of food or diet problems your client shared with you, you could possibly refer her to any number of these types of services, and more:
- Holistic Health Counselor - here in the U.S. this is someone who is like a health coach and can steer folks to more whole foods diets.
- Nutritionist - someone who has taken advanced university-level training and is board certified on a national level.
- Local women's support/encouragement groups - maybe specific to dieting or weight loss.
- Books, magazines or a website.
If appropriate, you might even give the name of a good mental health therapist that works with yoyo dieters, emotional eaters, etc. You don't want to bombard her with so many recommendations that she ends up feeling like you regard her as a charity case or something, but I did want to throw some ideas out there to get the creative juices flowing!
I get questions *all* the time that I am neither qualified, capable or legally permitted to answer. But instead of going "sorry, I can't help you" and ending it there I can say "ya' know, I'm not trained in nutrition/herbal medicine/homeopathy/chiropractic/surgery/whatever but let's see if we can't find someone who does have an answer to that!" I keep a little binder in my waiting room with business cards of all kinds of services ranging from the local cloth diapering depot to the best knee surgeon in the area. Sometimes clients go through it and take a card while waiting on a loved one, or before their session starts. I'd say get out there and network with some folks who could help this client further than the Reflexology aspect and maybe you'll develop a nice little referral community. 🙂