This article is relative to all the therapists and trainers who take time to read this. In our opinion, client confidence and trust is something hard to gain but so much easier to lose. Especially when the person in front of you has received poor health care previously. In this article we will discuss how the clients feel after a poor relationship with a trainer or therapist, what issues they may have and how you should try to address them.
So let's take a personal case study, of course with patient confidentiality and the following legal issues of the case, no names or places shall be given. A client once came to visit NRG after seeing a different personal trainer. They had been training with the trainer for 3 months twice a week, but would still call themselves fairly novice when it came to gym training. The client was squatting underneath a bar with weight they had trained with before, however the trainer was filming the client as oppose to spotting the client. As the client reached failure, they attempted one more repetition, with the legs now exhausted they collapsed under the barbell. The trainer was filming rather than spotting so the client, as a result the client injured themselves.
The following week the client came to see NRG for treatment of the injury. As you can imagine, the client was pretty unhappy with the whole situation and their trust for trainers was immediately dashed. This made our job pretty difficult, as the client was clearly very tentative. Some trainers and therapists don't appreciate the level of trust and respect a client puts in them, so to let any client down can have a drastic effect on them. However it also puts the person picking up from them, in a tricky position too.
So from a therapist's point of few, here is our recommendations on how to win over a client's trust after they have had an incident like the one above!:
Be Empathetic:
This is a skill not everyone has, as it often gets confused with sympathy. This isn't about feeling sorry for the client and wrapping them in cotton wool. This is about putting yourself in their shoes, how would you feel if your trainer let you down like that? You would be angry, you would be disappointed, you wouldn't be a happy bunny! So respect how they feel, imagine it was you and appreciate how angry it might have made them!
Find Out Their Internal Goal:
Another skill that not enough therapists can tap into. They will often ask the client how they can help, the client will say their knee hurts so that is what they address. In our opinion, that isn't enough. Find what their INTERNAL goal is. Why do you want your knee pain to go? Do you have any up coming events? Is this effecting your everyday life? How can I really hope? Believe me if your 35 year old single mother client says, I want my knee pain to leave as it hurts to hold my child for too long, then you two are going to work a hell of a lot harder to fix this than her just saying her knee hurts. Trust being built already by targeting intrinsic goals.
Ooze Confidence:
The last thing a client needs is their therapist to be low on confidence, low on energy and low on ability. They want someone who knows what is wrong with them, how to handle it properly and give them a clear guideline on how they can help! Even a simple, "we had a case like this recently, I know how to deal with this", is enough to help ease a client's mind and help build their trust for you. Warning… Don’t urge on arrogance, this can be just as off putting as lack of confidence.
Be Personable:
This is probably the most crucial when trying to gain trust. When you get a chance talk about them, ask them about their lives. What do they do at weekends? Do they have kids? Do they work locally? The little things that really help, they show you aren't just some treatment giving robot who will show them a couple of exercises. If they seem interested, tell them a little about yourself, they may even ask you a couple of questions. This small pitter-patter is enough to earn trust back quicker than you can imagine.
Be There For Them:
If you really want to help your client, build their trust and get them the best results, then you have to be their first port of call. If they have questions or issues about their injury, or how they can recover better at home then be the person they turn to. Give them your number and email, message them the day after a session, ask how it is at the weekend, go the extra mile to show you care!
So there are five of NRG's tips to help build a trust relationship with client who has received poor healthcare before. Today we specified from a training back ground, but keep your eyes out for our a future article where we look at patients who have received poor health care from a therapist. As always any questions or issues, please feel free to send us a message via rob@nrgsportstherapy.com or leave a comment!
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