For those who've seen a therapist/psychiatrist, what would make follow-ups easier for you?
disclaimer: this and reddit in general are not for providing any professional mental health advice. please don't DM, I do not want to advertise myself/reveal my identity, etc., so please don't ask
hi all, I'm a psychiatrist trying to make my practice work better for my patients, specifically women/afab persons. this is admittedly a bit of an informal survey. would really appreciate your honest answers/experiences:
- if you've stopped going for follow-ups, what was the main reason? (cost, assuming you were fine, waiting for the doctor to reach out, life got busy, felt guilty for dropping off?)
- would a reminder message and a confirmation message 24 hr before appointments feel helpful or would that be too intrusive? i've had experiences - moreso in the beginning than now - where people have had issue with me not reaching out to/booking an appointment for them, which is different from my experiences working at hospitals: there people just book an appointment and confirm on the day they were asked to follow-up, but i'm wondering if people prefer being reminded actively, and if there's something in the system that would make it easier for everyone involved?
- If you haven't booked a follow-up in a while, would you want your doctor's clinic to send a "checking in, feel free to reach out" message? this feels a bit too much personally to take up but I've had therapist colleagues tell me they do that, and I'm wondering if that does feel helpful (or too intrusive/boundary crossing).
hope it's ok to post this here. please feel free to chip in if you have any insight/advice etc!