When someone doesn’t know you (yet)
Have you ever counted how many feelings of discomfort can show up the first time you needed to introduce yourself to someone whose help you needed?
That is why I am a big believer in starting out my meetings with new clients by asking seemingly mundane questions like where they live, what year they were born and the names of their family members. Some practitioners have their patients fill out forms with this information so they can ‘save time’, but I think it is good for both me and my clients to do it when we see each other for the first time. For me, because they are easy questions to ask, for my clients because they are easy questions to answer, and for both of us because having started our conversation it feels more uncomplicated to share more personal stories later on. We all start out feeling good.
Once it is time to move on to the nitty gritty, I will ask people to “tell me everything that is important for you I will know about you so I really get to know who you are and what makes you tick and bothers you.” I ask that because I believe that when I get to know what is unique and different about each client I can help them best. And I am really very interested in getting to know my clients. It is an honor to get to hear what people choose to share and fascinating to see from what point in their lives they start telling their stories.
Children usually need a bit more help, and no matter what their age, I will address them personally and orient them about what will happen. This week, I saw a 9 month old who was mesmerized when I explained to her that her mom and I were going to talk about her and how she often gets sick so that we can help her get better (and then mad when I stopped talking only to her, ha ha!).
For school-aged kids I have a great list of questions (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/25-ways-to-ask-your-kids-so-how-was-school-today-without-asking-them-so-how-was-school-today_b_5738338) with my all time favorite: “Which child in your class would you like to put on a space ship and send to another planet because they annoy you so much?” And asking them where and with whom they play during the breaks is a great way to understand more about their social and day-to-day interactions.
Questions (and their answers) give context and in a homeopathy practice, everything that is shared will be used for your benefit. What would you like to ask me?