In this podcast episode of Holistic Health Radio, host Sarah Liz King addresses a listener question about her approach to clients. Sarah explains that she has never given up on a client, but there are times when she realises that the current treatment is not effective for the client’s goals. She emphasises the importance of finding the right treatment team and modalities, and suggests bringing in additional health professionals or exploring different approaches. Sarah also discusses the possibility of inpatient or intensive outpatient care, and encourages listeners to prioritise self-care.
Episode Transcript
Sarah Liz King (00:00:00) – Hi everyone. Welcome back to Holistic Health Radio. I’m your host, Sarah Liz King. I’m an exercise physiologist and health coach, empowering you to find your healthy balance with food, fitness and your body Through my 1 to 1 and group coaching programs, both myself and my team help women regain their periods, find food freedom, and have a healthier relationship with exercise, all while gaining body confidence. Now, today is another listener question, and this question comes in from Rachel. Now, Rachel’s question is, have you ever given up on a client? And if so, why now? Thought this was such a good question, Because as we know, recovery can take a really long time. And also it can take lots of different treatment modalities for you to find the one that works best for you. Have I personally ever given up on a client? No, I have not. However, what I would say is there comes a point in time where, as a health professional, you realize that the treatment that is being provided to your client is no longer effective for what they are hoping to achieve.
Sarah Liz King (00:01:13) – And by that I normally mean a lot of times there comes a point where both myself and the client recognize that there is a higher level of care required for them to achieve the goals in the outcomes that they desire. Now, this doesn’t mean that I ever, quote unquote, give up on a client, but I will put clear boundaries into place where I say for treatment to continue on, we need to bring on board X, Y, or Z additional health professional. Because in my own experience, having one person provide all your care and support for such an intricate mental health condition usually isn’t effective enough. Sometimes we need to engage in a wider treatment team. Or a different kind of treatment altogether to get to the end goal. Now, for some clients, this looks like putting a pause on our coaching sessions, them engaging in inpatient care or maybe an intensive outpatient program, and then us kick starting our sessions back once they have decided that that has been effective for them. So they might go and do an inpatient treatment for six, eight plus weeks.
Sarah Liz King (00:02:32) – Same with that outpatient program and then reengage in sessions again. Or it might look like continuing our sessions, but engaging with them on a more frequent basis and bringing in another health professionals such as a psychologist or a dietitian who have more specialized treatment modalities that that person can focus on when they’re seeing that health professional. Because as a coach, we are often kind of dividing our time between your relationship with food, your relationship with exercise and body image so much more as well, because we’re looking at the emotional side of things. You’re coping strategies and there isn’t enough time often to cover off everything that is required for you to get that really effective care and move forward in your recovery. So sometimes, although I’ve never given up on a client, there does come a point in time where you go, I can sense that the client is frustrated. They’re not getting as much out of it as they hope to because there’s not enough time to cover off everything. And then from my point of view, I can really tell when the client needs a higher level of care.
Sarah Liz King (00:03:42) – So it’s in my best interest to tell them that and go like, Hey, I think we need a more kind of intensive treatment. Whether that we do that in an outpatient setting or in an inpatient setting to get you to where you want to be faster in a more supportive way. So I hope that answers your question. You should always be engaging with a treatment team and treatment modalities that you feel you’re really getting the most out of. But a lot of times that means not just working with one health care provider. It means working with a few to, number one, find what works best for you, and number two, be able to go to all of those different practitioners for different reasons so that you can cover off everything that you need to and learn all of the different skills and changes that you need to that you need to do to recover from either an eating disorder, disordered eating or hypothalamic amenorrhea. So I hope that answers your question. If you do want your question answered on the podcast, look out for the Q&A box that I will be putting up on my Instagram from time to time and then click and pop your question in and I’ll be sure to answer it.
Sarah Liz King (00:04:51) – Otherwise, keep looking after yourself and I’ll be back next week with a fresh new episode you can wrap your ears around.
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