The Practice of Therapy

Gordon Brewer:
Well. Hello everyone and welcome again to the podcast and I'm happy to have with me somebody that's been on the podcast before James Marland and he's actually got his better half within here. Is that, yeah, well, Lorinda James' wife is here with us as well and we're going to be talking some more just about using virtual assistants during these strange times that we find ourselves in. And hopefully by the time this comes out we'll be when this episode comes out. We'll be kind of on the tail end of this hopefully. But James Lorenda so glad you're here.
James Marland:
Thanks Gordon. Really happy to be here. I really appreciate the work you and the other podcasters and community leaders have been doing during this time. I know I've listened to some really awesome podcasts that have helped me. The one on John Clark, right just recently was amazing. I think I've listened to it like three times just to just to reenergize myself. But wow, what a, what a couple weeks we've been going through where everything sort of changed. And in, in our business here, we do virtual assistants and Lorenda is a virtual assistant. And for several weeks we were wondering what are we going to do? Because people weren't calling, everybody was switching to virtual healthcare. So there wasn't a virtual therapies, therapy sessions. So we were kind of scrambling, Whoa, where does a virtual assistant fit in this role? Or even you could apply these ideas for anybody who has some extra time, not necessarily a virtual system, but we were thinking about it in the virtual assistant role. What do we do during this time to help our our clients and reach out to their communities and help with them. So that's where this sort of idea was born from. I've listened to a lot of podcasts and gotten some ideas and this is the angle of how do you apply some of that extra time. Your staff has to help you generate
Gordon Brewer:
Some revenue. Right? Right. Yeah. And I think it's you know, I think the theme that is certainly been here all along is that we've had to just change horses in the middle of the stream, so to speak, and just really having to be flexible and creative. And I think that there's a lot of creativity that is coming out with all of this. So, yeah. So what, maybe a, maybe a place to start for those that don't know James and know about his company. Talk, tell us a little bit about what you all do and just for those that maybe didn't get to hear you before, but, and we'll have links to the other, other episodes. Yeah. So, yeah.
James Marland:
So yeah, we're a virtual assistant company only for mental health practice practitioner. So it's therapist, psychologist, some nurse practitioners and some other specialty therapy sites. We've been in business for a little more than a year and a half now. And we love what we do. We help private practice owners achieve more like worry lasts, avoid the burnout stuff, and then just focus on what they do best. Focus on what either earns the money or grow in their business, and we take away some of those tasks, you delegate them to us and our superstar virtual assistants take, take care of, take care of that end so you can do what you do best.
Gordon Brewer:
Right, right. And it's interesting because yesterday in my focus group, my mastermind group at switch back and forth between the names, but anyway, I like the focus group better. That just sends maybe a little little softer. I digress. Anyway, yesterday in our focus group, we were talking about the importance of beginning to outsource a lot of the things that we we do. I know in my particular, in the particular group I had yesterday, I had one therapist that was really at that place where she was just do it, trying to do it all right. And she was really feeling burned out and she's got a thriving practice, but her, her practice was suffering because she didn't really outsource the things, outsource the things that she needed to outsource. So yeah, so one of the things that I think you and I were talking about James and Lorenda before we, before we started recording, was just being able to stay connected with your clients. And I think one of the things that is a fear for a lot of people when they hire a virtual assistant is that they're afraid that they're gonna somehow or another change the dynamic they have with their clients. But probably quite the opposite is true,
Lorinda Marland:
I would say. So I think a lot of like, my job is just connecting the clients with the therapists and it's, you know, passing along messages or just getting them in contact one-on-one with their therapist. So,
James Marland:
And you can do that normally a little quicker or maybe much quicker than the therapist themselves because if they're in session all the time or they, they get out of a session and then make a phone call in between, Oh, I got a voicemail, I've got to run off the session or get lunch or whatever, then then they come back and then they miss the call. You're able to capture those.
Lorinda Marland:
Well, I think a lot of the clients too, like sometimes if it's a new client and they're calling in, they're like, Oh wow, I actually got a live person. Like they appreciate that fact.
Gordon Brewer:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So maybe tell a little bit about kinda your, and, and maybe some of the, for lack of a better term some of the stories about the differences it's made for some of the therapists that you guys work with.
Lorinda Marland:
Well, I mean, I think I had one therapist when I started, like the practice was, it was a thriving practice, but then it was like in the first week that I started, it was like, she ended up growing like in having like her busiest week ever, like 16 calls. And you know, like out of those, there was probably about four or five that we scheduled that were new clients to her practice. Whereas if I hadn't been there, I don't know if she would have gotten all of those.
James Marland:
Yeah, I like that. I like getting that email. Oh, we had our busiest week ever. Let's do it again. And I've had other, other similar stories where people, they, they you know, they're, they're, they, they know what they're doing. They know how to do the therapy. They're, they're growing. But there is a point where you either have to make a decision, am I going to work till seven o'clock at night? Am I going to rush around making these phone calls or am I going to ignore some of these phone calls you got? Once you get to a point, you're going to have to make a decision. What do you do? And we've gotten some some good if I, if I, if I knew you were going to do this, I'd go to my testimonial page on our page and just pull up, pull up.
James Marland:
The most recent one, testimonials. We were matched with the best VA Kaitlin and she schedules clients into his phone calls, responds to emails, organizes and keeps track of the intake log, keeps our therapist seeing clients and has the practice running smoothly. Our VA is always on our a game in order that we can stay in sessions. I'm so grateful for having found this wonderful VA through move forward virtual assistants. If we didn't have our VA on our team, we wouldn't be half the practice we are today. That is amazing. That is love reading that that's traveling light counseling one of our clients. It's just a, this makes my heart glad when I hear those things and how we're helping other people be successful. Right,
Gordon Brewer:
Right. Yeah. So one of the things I know that you had been thinking about James through, through this whole kind of weird time we're in. You know, I think most of us, as I said on an earlier podcast I think we're kind of past the adrenaline rush of it all. And really just kinda settling in and maybe getting a little weary of it and we're trying to figure out how to best use our time and how the, the role that virtual assistants play
James Marland:
In that in terms of staying connected with clients and other things. You want to talk some more about that in terms of the things that you're thinking about? Sure. So just to set it up. Do you do you play chess at all, Gordon, or do you know of the game chess? Chess, right. Yeah. And there's these when I was younger I used to like reading these books and now you can do it online. There were chess puzzles where, you know, the pieces have not changed, their moves haven't changed. It's just where they are on the board have changed and then they say, Hey, you need to win in three moves or you need to do this action with the situation that you're given. And right now we've all been given a situation, right? Like we've all been given a puzzle to figure out the pieces might be different for you on your board, but we still, the lot is still the same in the game.
James Marland:
You know, the piece is still moved the same all in our, in, in our current where we're living and our situation, we still have clients to see, like things haven't changed. We still have clients to see. We still have phone calls to make. We still have insurance issues to figure out a marketing, to do podcasts, to do social media, to do webpage, things like just the pieces have moved around. Actually I think they got thrown up in the air and they landed on the board somewhere and you're just kind of trying to figure out how do we, how do we play this game now that everything has been moved around on us. And I think it's good to remember that a lot has, even though a lot has changed, a lot hasn't changed. You're still a therapist, you're still running a business. It's just how, how you do it now has changed.
James Marland:
We got to figure out that puzzle. Right? So one of the things we've kind of figured out, and a lot of this is I've learned through listening to the virtual assistants as they've come to me and say, Hey, we're doing this in our practice. We've listened to podcasts. These are some of the things that have been working for other practices. And one was connecting with their current clients, many of them. When when we first started switching over to teletherapy, lots of work was done to make sure that the current clients stayed coming to their sessions because the new clients were not coming in. There was just a lot of, nobody knew what to do, so it dropped off. So the VA is, have spent a lot of time connecting with their current clients, sending letters, checking emails, calling them, making sure they got it. Or even just calling them and saying, you know, you missed your session. Do you need to talk to like all those types of connection things to keep the current clients coming in because new clients, while they're starting to come back, they, they're not, we're not back to where we were before.
Gordon Brewer:
Yes, yes. And I think too, people are having clients especially you know, that maybe aren't as familiar with the technology and district you're doing. All of this online stuff is just new to them and they feel kind of intimidated by it and that, that sort of thing. And so I think there's a great opportunity to kind of reassure people that that they can do it and that it's really not that difficult.
James Marland:
What are some of the things you've done Lorenda to help out, to keep people connected?
Lorinda Marland:
Well, I think, like you said, like sending out emails you know, like there's making phone calls to different referral places or just, you know, just reminding them of their appointments or if they did miss it. You know, I've called to reschedule clients and touch base with them.
James Marland:
People have called you like right before their session too, right?
Lorinda Marland:
Well, yeah, because of the technology, like you mentioned Gordon, some of the clients aren't as technology savvy. And so like, I've had clients call while their sessions going on saying, I can't get into this link, you know, how do I get into this Lake? And then connecting to the therapist and, you know, whether that's texting the therapist and saying, Hey, they're there. They're just having trouble getting in. It's kind of like playing the middle person for them.
Gordon Brewer:
Right, right. And I think that's one of the things that one of the big things that I think a virtual assistant or any assistant can do in your practice is that they can be the kind of the behind the scenes troubleshooter with, you know, you know, just help with like in my practice for example, is just making sure that we're the benefits are checked for insurance and that sort of thing. And all of those things are things that somebody else can do besides the therapist. That's really not a great use of our time, especially as we get, get busy and get full. Absolutely. Yeah. So what were some of the other things that you had been on your mind during this time?
James Marland:
One of the things that's worked for several practices and most of the ones in our group tried it and have had success with it is continue to build relationships with referral sources. Letting them know that they do teletherapy and how, what the platform they use or how to get connected with it. Giving them their, their therapist lists, their provider lists, their specialties. They were connecting contacting hospitals, of course PCP offices, but even places you might not think of, like schools or churches or colleges, things where you might get referrals once in a while. But now with everything kind of shut down, they were developing relationships with these referral sources and then getting some, some referrals back in. So it, it does take time. Lorinda has during his talk was talking, well maybe I should let her but tell her, but you were saying how it was hard in the beginning, but the more you call the more,
Lorinda Marland:
Well, yeah, I mean it's always hard to call places and you don't want to sound like a salesperson, but you do want to offer, you know, you want to make a connection and let them know that you're available for services. Just to help as a resource. So once we got, once I was able to get past, you know, finding out who I needed to talk to was like the hospitals were the hardest part was getting, you know, figuring out which departments, and that's usually like the social social worker, social workers or their outsourced referral outside referrals or resources. Doctor's offices were a little bit easier to talk to cause they're smaller and there's only like one or two people that would,
James Marland:
No, there was, yeah. Yeah,
Gordon Brewer:
Yeah, yeah. Well, it's yeah, it's the, I think the big thing is, is that one, one way in which I think virtual assistants always pay off for people is that they don't lose potential clients because the sooner you can get back with somebody, the sooner you can make that contact. That's who people are usually going to go with. And just also just making sure you're, you're creating a good fit for your, for you and your practice in terms of of being the, the client being a good fit for the therapist and the therapist being a good fit for the client.
James Marland:
Yeah. What I know I've talked about this before, but if you're the owner and you answer the phones all the time, they're always going to want you, right? And so if if you have somebody sort of in between, they can direct, you know, direct them to the, to the right person. And also, I, I've, I've heard of this several times where the, the owner says I'm full, but then they'll answer the phone and take that one more client. And the virtual assistant does get them to the right person and the owner doesn't even know. So, I mean, they know that they're scheduled, but they don't have that right. Heartstrings pulled. Another idea was providing value for your community and offering some connection groups for teachers, business owners, and the frontline staff. I mean, I know that's been out there before, but the virtual assistant can help organize those things, promote them, keep a tracking list. You've, you've had people learn the youth and the podcast that can't see me point right? But you've had people do that, right?
Lorinda Marland:
Yeah. One of my practices really ran with this idea and really wanted to help the community. And so they developed a whole program devoted just for this type of just for COBIT 19 for the frontline people. And that was part of like me calling and getting the word out. So I kinda was able to partner like your virtual assistant, can partner with the therapist and help you know, get the word out that they're available for the the community.
Gordon Brewer:
Right, right. We did something similar in my practice. And probably maybe, maybe we still can communicate it a little bit more, but my sense is, is that as we kind of have gotten more towards the middle of all of this, the, as we said earlier, kind of the adrenaline of it all is kind of into wax and so yeah. So we're not feeling it as much, but yeah. So, yeah. So what are you, what other things are you saying that people are doing? Kind of in the downtime and, and maybe getting their support staffs to help with during this time?
James Marland:
So, yeah, just some wrap, like wrapping up ideas, I guess one sell your content. I mean, many people have been trying to repackage their maybe their workshops or their classes or their paperwork package or some sort of online class or tool. Normally, you know, that's a lot of investment of time to get that going, but once it's out there, you have it forever for marketing, for value add for selling. So virtual assistant, I mean, I rely on ours for our social media and our they're helping create teachable courses. They have been doing blog posts, you know, writing blog posts to post on the webpage. Or you could, I suppose they could also sell them if you knew, if you had like a, a place to sell them. But they've been doing a lot of content creating fixing or strengthening our teaching and onboarding process.
James Marland:
That has also been something that's good because we know, I mean, I really do believe people, the services that therapist provide, people still need that. It's not going away. So when people do get adjusted to the new normal, there's either going to be an influx of, for me I'm going to probably need to hire more virtual assistants and train the, the our customers how to use them. So how do I develop those resources now to help things in the future? And that's the same thing for all practices. You might have an HR policy that's out of date or you have to review your paperwork and it's not really clear they can help you do those types of things to, to make when when business people adjust that your adjustment, you're going to just be able to move that much faster.
Gordon Brewer:
Right, right. Yeah. And I love that idea because one of the things that as people get busier in their practices one of the things that's so important to do is to have systems and processes in place to where things are more automated to where you're, you're really just sick as a, as they say, everything runs like a well oiled machine. And that is the one piece that you really have to have in order to do that, is as an assistant virtual assistant that can, can help you bridge that gap. Because when we're first starting out in private practice, we've got a lot of time on our hands, but once you get busy and your practice starts getting full that's really the time to start outsourcing and getting those things off your plate.
James Marland:
Right? Yeah. And I guess the last thing I would say is if you have to, if you do have to cut hours, don't stop because you're going to don't stop completely because there's a lot of momentum lost when you go from Z, you know, go from a hundred to zero and then go from zero back up. It's really hard to regenerate that momentum. So maybe you cut back a little bit, but, but keep doing your process, keep the routine, try to keep your current clients keep, you know, paying pay in the running those insurance reports and verifying benefits. Keep doing those things that have kept your business successful. Because if you have to start over again, and this would happen. How, how I, how this would happen in a normal world is a, we sell hours to our clients and if they would run out like in the middle of the month or the last week of the month, they would be like, Oh, don't do anything for a week. But when the virtual assistant came back, they had like, like half a month's worth of work piled up in that one week somehow. And it took, it took even more hours to dig out from starting over again. Just refiguring out emails. You, you're shaking your head Brenda.
Lorinda Marland:
Well, I just know like even over the weekend, like when I'm off and I come back, there's like, you know, there's lots of messages, there's lots of emails you gotta go through. And that's one thing that virtual assistant can do too, is like feed through those junk mails and junk phone calls that you get from salespeople, but like filter it for you to, to, you know, cause your time is valuable. So, but yeah, I definitely have noticed that
James Marland:
Completely. It's much harder to, to restart. So keep some of the momentum going.
Gordon Brewer:
Right, right. Yeah. It's you know, you know, the thing about it is, is that like it or not, the administrative side of running a practice is, is constant in that we've always got documentation to do. There's going to be intakes that we need to do or just all of those things. And really for therapists that are in private practice, their time is spent best spent in the therapy room with clients because that's what, that's what brings in the income. And so any time that they're spending, you know, having to chase down an insurance claim or trying to play phone tag with somebody to schedule an appointment, those kinds of things, that is just it's money lost really when you could be paying someone to do those things and it keep it, keep moving. And I like that that point that you make just about don't let it drop off. You've got to keep that momentum going, especially if it's, you know, even if it's slower, a slower momentum. So well James and Lorenda, what other parting thoughts do you guys have? And just thinking about all of those things that you're, you've been noticing on your end with helping people.
James Marland:
Do you want me to go first? Alright. I guess just don't forget. Even though things are have changed, we're still doing pretty much the same thing. It's just the pieces on the board are rearranged and we have to figure out the puzzle and you know, I feel blessed that I still have work. I know our assistants do and a lot of therapists while things are harder, you know, are different. I guess it's different that they are, they feel like they're doing good work and they're blessed to have this work to do. I think just remember that people, you know, people will come back, people are going to need therapy work there. You're going to need somebody to decompress after the situation. And while it looks different, where you're still doing the good work of helping people and healing people, right.
Lorinda Marland:
I like that idea. So we're still helping people. And I've also looked at it like being a virtual assistant, like you're partnering. Like I look at it as a partnership with my therapist that I work with and you know, we're, I'm part of a team and you know, if you look at it that way, then I think it keeps even when you're slow, then you can kind of work through those, those slow times and figure it out together. To keep your business growing. The therapist's business growing. Yeah.
Gordon Brewer:
Yeah. And that right now for those people that are, when things are slowing down, that is like we've just been doing in our homes, we rearranged the closets. We,
James Marland:
Yeah, we painted a bathroom. That's what we painted the bathroom. Yeah.
Gordon Brewer:
So, yeah, and so I think we do the same thing with our businesses and practices is then we, we really kinda rearrange things and get them running smoothly. So, well, James and Lorinda, I know that you guys also have I think are a resource for people and we're going to have the links to that in our show summary. Tell folks a little bit about that.
James Marland:
Sure. So I tried to provide a lot of things for your listeners. The teachable course on generating revenue is up there for free. There's a Facebook group that we're starting for a leading your superstar virtual assistant, so that's going to be there. If you have questions or you want to hire a virtual assistant or you are working with a virtual assistant, you can join that group and talk with other like minded people. We have if you wanted to subscribe to our virtual assistant services, there's no setup fee. Normally there's $100 and $99 fee for the setup that's going to be waived for this this month or for the listeners just mentioned Gordon when you sign up. And there's probably a few other things there on the resource page. But those were the highlights.
Gordon Brewer:
Okay, that's great. And again, we'll have all these links in the show notes and that sort of thing. So well Lorenda and James, I'm so glad that you rejoined the podcast and I'm sure I'll be having other conversations in the future, but I think yeah, one of, one of the things that I've learned over and over again is the importance of, of outsourcing and being able to delegate things that really are not necessarily a great use of my time, but end up eating up a lot of my time. I think a lot of times the mistake that we make, just a mindset thing is that we think we can only, we can do it best. But what we've learned, what I've learned is, is that handing it off to somebody else take so much pressure off of me and my to do list is much shorter and I don't feel like I'm having to think about things that somebody else can handle for us.
Lorinda Marland:
Yeah.
Gordon Brewer:
So, absolutely. Okay, so thank you guys. It's great to talk to you again. Okay,
Lorinda Marland:
Thanks Gordon. Oh.