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Creating Your Healthcare Team
If you are looking to improve your health, performance or simply wish to explore who you are it is imperative that you have a good team on your side.
For optimal effectiveness I advise people to be their own general and recruit their army of helpers carefully. It is imperative that you trust your doctor or practitioner even if at times you may feel uncomfortable as difficult issues arise. This trust will allow you to get the most out of any therapeutic relationship. Doctors and practitioners are people just like you. Use your own judgment on whether someone is going to work for you or not.
The best place
to start is with your GP. A relationship based on trust
with open and supportive communication works best. If
you do not have this with your current GP consult another.
There is no harm in trying out doctors in a practice to
find which one works best for you. Indeed a minority of
my clients have changed practice in order to find the
doctor best for them.
At the moment GP’s do not need to train in any aspect
of complementary medicine so it is very hard for them
to give an opinion on any therapy or practitioner. However
a surprising amount of GP’s are choosing to investigate
or learn complementary approaches or are at least open
to them. Indeed this is one of the reasons Medicalternative
(the center where I used to work) was born.
Even if you don’t visit, or like visiting your GP,
they are the only people who can officially diagnose,
seek to cure medical conditions and decide whether
you are officially fit and healthy or not. This means
that at some stage you are going to need one. Having one
that works with you and for you always pays in the long
term.
If you visit
or, or wish to visit, a complementary practitioner, make
sure you are comfortable and feel able to trust them personally.
There are so many therapies available right now some of
which you are likely to never have heard of. Whilst you
may not know if the therapy may work for you, you will
know by the end of a first session whether a practitioner
will. It is important to remember that the role of any
practitioner is not to cure (this may be your aim) but
to help alleviate symptoms or help the system heal. This
makes the field of complementary medicine philosophically
different from orthodox medicine.
As some complementary concepts may be difficult for you
to initially absorb (for example many people I see had
no idea they had an energy field until they were referred
to me to have it re balanced) having trust in your practitioner
may help you to stick with the therapy and adopt any advice
given.
Your practitioner will advise you as to how many sessions
you may initially require. Be aware that this can increase
and decrease depending on how your system reacts to the
form of intervention. Therefore having an open and trustworthy
relationship with any practitioner you visit is necessary
if you are to establish who and what will work for you
as well as how often.
As symptoms alleviate and you start to heal, being able
to communicate easily and comfortably is crucial as you
may feel you out grow or know that it is time to consult
your practitioner less. Most practitioners are very pleased
to be able to help get you to this stage and may even
initiate this conversation themselves. Make sure you are
comfortable during these discussions. Sometimes you may
wish to continue visiting a practitioner on a regular
basis or for ad hoc top ups. Equally sometimes people
have enough and want a break from therapy or wish to try
something new. Everyone is different and it is important
you honor yourself at all times.
Achieving health, well being or self development may require you to create an army of specialists around you. One of the qualities of a great practitioner is to know when to refer you to someone else for added or different input. Experienced practitioners will be happy to discuss other approaches or suggest names of others who might help you. Do not be afraid to initiate this conversation yourself.
You may want to have an official health advocate. This can be a friend or family member. This must be a person who knows you well and one your trust implicitly. Taking your health advocate to appointments with you can take the pressure of you as there will be someone there who can ask questions you don't think of, remember the parts you may forget and generally provide support and help when you may be at your most vulnerable. A steady, caring and loving advocate can be a welcome part of your healthcare army.
Once you have your army in place have the confidence to
regularly audit it, making changes where and as necessary.
Most people become doctors or practitioners to help others. Creating an open and trustworthy relationship with your doctor or practitioner is paramount to getting the best therapeutic relationship from them. Remembering that you are the General and that people like me are your recruited army will help you create a healthcare team that you are comfortable with and confident in. After all, you recruit us to help with the big issues in life such as your health and well being.
