Referrals come from various sources – from generic online marketing sites like Psychology Today; from more specialized ones, like ZenCare or Manhattan Alternative; from former patients; from colleagues; from friends. I follow one rule with respect to handling all referrals when they come: I treat them like a precious resource, and I respond as soon as I possibly can.
I make several assumptions about referrals:
- A person reaching out to me may well have reached out to one, two, or ten other clinicians at about the same time. If so, the first to respond enjoys a substantially greater likelihood of “landing” the patient.
- Patients begin to form a transference to me long before we meet. Every interaction we have – whether by e-mail, text, phone, on video, or in person – contributes to that transference. People who know me know, or will learn, that I respond promptly. Communicating this to prospective patients contributes to the transference they form.
- Whatever it was that led someone to reach out to me when they did might well shift quite soon thereafter. Maybe they waited months, worked up the courage, and, having pressed “send” or left a voicemail, they now regret it, or are feeling anxious. Maybe they called in urgency. Maybe they are deeply ambivalent. I can’t know. What I do know is that the sooner I respond, the more likely I am to have my response be received in a mental state similar to that in which their message was sent.
- Everyone is not just a potential patient, but a potential contributor to my reputation. I can’t tell you how many times patients have told me of phone calls or e-mails to (specific) therapists that went unresponded to. Not to mention, times that my calls or e-mails to therapists with referrals have gone unresponded to. Suffice it to say: if a clinician doesn’t respond to a referral I send their way, that makes the next referral less likely. Similarly: if a clinician does respond but does so in a way that’s problematic, that too makes it less referral I’ll refer to them again. I always assume others are doing the same reputational math all the time.
I think of a referral not just as a prospective patient, but as an opportunity to burnish my reputation – regardless of whether I end up working with the person.
A.I. note: the image accompanying this post was generated by ChatGPT, in response to the prompt, “An image of a phone sitting next to a clock.”
