MHM#04 Network your way to more clients

Networking often brings a sense of discomfort, evoking images of cringy, awkward conversations and forced interactions. 

However, networking—or, more aptly, building intentional professional relationships—is a crucial component of growing a private therapy practice.

The benefits of professional relationships:

• Referrals
• Creating a trusted network of health professionals to further support your clients
• Opportunities to bounce clinical and nonclinical ideas off each other
• Support - if you're a solo practice owner, the only person who will truly get your challenges is a fellow solo practice owner 
• Content collaboration - blog articles, videos, podcasts

There are different types of referrer relationships and activities, including:

• Mental health professionals who specialise in other areas
• Busy established mental health professionals who specialise in the same area
• Health professionals who see your ideal client
• Join established peer support groups
• Create a case study peer group

Below, I explain these in more detail. 

Mental health professionals who specialise in different areas

Set yourself a goal of developing long-term trusted relationships with 10 therapists in your local community who specialise in different areas. 

Developing these relationships will enable you to refer to them when you receive an inquiry from someone outside your niche/speciality and vice versa.

Search for therapists in your local area using Google, Psychology Today, or other referral platforms. Ideally, these therapists will be solo or in a small practice - large practices tend to refer to each other within the Practice. If you offer online therapy to a wide geographic area, initially aim to connect with therapists in your local community - living locally helps relate to each other and provides an opportunity to meet in person.

Send them an email: 

Hi firstname

I hope you're well. A few sentences describing who you are, what you specialise in, and who you help. 

I'm reaching out to see if you would be interested in meeting to discuss opportunities to work together and cross refer.

You can learn more about my Practice here: add website URL

I look forward to hearing from you.

Remember, the initial meeting is just seeing if they're the right fit and if the relationship is worth nurturing. Only some people will be, which is expected - you only know once you meet someone. 

If they are, then proactively nurture the relationship, making a note to connect with them every 2 months. This could be sharing an article/research, inviting them out for coffee, or asking if you could get their thoughts about a clinical presentation or Practice management-related challenge you're having. 

Busy established mental health professionals who specialise in the same area

Busy established therapists often have demand they can't keep up with, with clients ending up on wait lists or turned away. Developing relationships with these therapists provides them with a trusted therapist they can refer to.

Set yourself a goal of building relationships with 1-2 busy therapists in your local community. 

Like above, search for busy, established therapists who look after a similar niche/specialty in your local community, and reach out to them, inviting them to meet and discuss working together.

Health professionals who see your ideal client

What health professionals see your ideal client?

Some examples include:

• GPs/PCPs
• Paediatricians if you see children/teens
• Gynaecologists - if you see women
• Naturopaths
• Nutritionists

When thinking of these health professionals, it's important to consider the likelihood of a conversation about a client's/patient's mental health occurring. Busy chiros/physios often manage a number of patients at once with short 10-minute appointments, making it less likely they'll have time to check in with the patient's emotional health or have a more extended conversation, providing an opportunity to recommend a therapist. 

Also, think about the best way to access these health professionals - GPs/PCPs can be difficult, if not impossible, to email directly, so it might be best to pop into the Practice with a letter and flyers the Practice Manager can hand on to the doctors. You can also offer to provide training sessions for their doctors. 

Already established peer support groups

Established peer support groups can be a great way to meet other therapists and connect to a group referring to each other. A good place to start is with your state/national association. I've seen some USA state counselling / social work associations promote local peer support groups on their websites. There are also therapist Facebook Groups where you could ask if a local group exists or if anyone is interested in creating one.

Create a case study group

A case study group creates a multidisciplinary group of health professionals who support each other, learn from each other, and cross-refer.

For example, if you specialise in working with children and teens, you could create a group of…

two solo therapists who work with children/teens

one or two paediatricians

two GPs/PCPs from different busy practices

a nutritionist who specialises in children/teens

Regularly, you're all coming together as a group, discussing different case studies, issues, and presentations, learning from each other, and building knowledge and understanding of how these issues would be addressed through different expertise and lenses. 

Over time, you're building solid and trustworthy relationships, with referrals starting to flow back and forth between group members. 

Investing time in referrer relationships and activities will pay off, but it must also be realistic and sustainable. If you can't do all of them, start with mental health professionals and join established peer support groups.