How can you get referrals from doctors or other healthcare practitioners for Yoga therapy clients?
Here at the Yoga Therapy Institute, we often speak to Yoga therapists who would love to approach doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists and other health professionals to ask them to refer their patients for Yoga therapy.
It can be daunting as it’s not easy to approach busy healthcare professionals, let alone explain what Yoga therapy is, what its benefits could be for their patients and then also ask them for referrals their patients to you!
Yoga Therapy Referrals
This article from the International Association of Yoga Therapists may just be the help you need. In this article, it explains:
• What Yoga therapy is
• How a healthcare professional should write referrals for Yoga therapy
• What clinicians should be aware of regarding the effect of Yoga practice on their clients’ medication
• Contraindications and cautions in Yoga therapy
• It even asks the referring health professional to encourage their patient to practice regularly!!
“Yoga therapy is often done through individual consultations. In this way, it is similar to other healthcare modalities. However, yoga therapy can also be provided in group settings in which participants have a similar condition and/or seek similar therapeutic outcomes. In one-on-one settings, the level of assessment can be detailed, allowing for a tailored treatment plan to suit the client”
T. McCall et al (2016)
You can download the full article here –
ARTICLE AUTHORS
The article has been written by some of our colleagues in the Yoga therapy community including Timothy McCall MD, John Kepner, former Executive Director of the IAYT and Loren Fishman MD. I hope it helps you build a bridge between the medical/health profession and the Yoga therapy community.
If you have been considering Yoga therapy training, enrolments are now open in our highly acclaimed Yoga therapy training courses in Sydney, Melbourne and Online. Contact us for a detailed prospectus.
Reference: Yoga Therapy Today. | Winter 2016