Dr. Andrew Arnold talks about catching up with an old friend and colleague Matt Clarke from SwitchedOn Global who said to me, ‘More is not necessarily better…better is better!’
This got me thinking…
Working with many wellness practitioners I’ve noticed there is an urge to do more, be more, treat more…whilst simultaneously a fear to schedule more!
We want to be all things to every patient. We want to achieve that life-changing result in one visit even though we know, is usually unrealistic.
More is not necessarily more, or better. Less is more!
When we realize it is our insecurities that drive this outmoded way of thinking, we then understand our focus is not on the patient or the outcome but on ourselves. Don’t misunderstand me. Initial care needs to be practitioner-centric to some degree, after all, you are directing the process at the start with a view to moving to a ‘patient-centered’ model later on.
What I’m referring to is the negative side of this equation. More is more model suggests implies a position of fear, lack, scarcity, and high need and these feelings and emotions are low vibrations. It is virtually impossible to manifest all the ingredients necessary to help your patient reach there and your desired destination. Referring back to the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza, Bob Proctor, Dr. Linda Wilson…it is not surprising our patient’s unconsciously or otherwise, expect exceptional results in little to no time.
Don’t be seduced! This is a blind alley. Establish the ground rules right from the outset. Present your over-arching Bridge to Wellness (B2W – more on this below), your patient flight plan at the first visit. This is the big picture irrespective of whether the patient follows thru or not.
Healing takes time particularly after years of abuse, trauma, and injury. Whilst it may take a few weeks (Initial care) to bring the ship around, it takes weeks to months to facilitate deeper corrective change. There is no endpoint, just degrees of management!
Honor the body’s healing capacity. Respect the sensitivity of our amazing biological machine. Respect the bodies innate healing and regenerative ability. These means DO NOT OVER-TREAT during any one session. More in not more or better! If you’re not following this model then the process is more about you than the patient and you are kidding yourself if you believe any other way. Your patients are paying you to make concise, critical healthcare decisions for your years of experience, expertise, and the best current evidence-based research. That doesn’t mean you pull everything out of your hat at every visit. This may create uncomfortable healing reactions or even a crisis and that’s an insult to the human body.
Scheduling is an art form where your mission is about becoming a master. Mastering scheduling means understanding exactly where you want your patient to be at every visit. Trusting your head and Gut and knowing the difference. Knowing when your patient is behind or ahead of schedule irrespective of their subjective signs and symptoms. Knowing when to treat and when not to. (It’s more about when not to, by the way, the gaps between visits, between techniques).
Give the body an opportunity to integrate and assimilate your treatment. You are merely an instrument conveying and directing a treatment approach. The body does the healing. Let it do just that!
The Wellness practitioner master has absolute confidence, faith and belief in who are they, what they do and how they do it and this are conveyed to the patient as an absolute vote of confidence, right from the first visit.
‘This is all we need to do today Mrs. Jones, you’re doing great, don’t forget the 3 exercises and I’ll see on Friday.’
That’s it!
Trust, Trust, Trust.
About the Author:
Dr. Andrew Arnold is a Chiropractor and Founder of Million Dollar Wellness.