07 Jul How To Effectively Manage Your Time While Working As A Mobile Therapist

As a mobile therapist, you help families and individuals struggling with behavioral and mental health issues. You juggle many responsibilities — and sometimes that can lead to your own struggles with time, stress, and mental health. However, you can effectively manage your time to avoid the stress and mental health side effects with careful planning and a little self-care.

With a career as a mobile therapist, you are an instrumental part of ensuring the mental wellbeing of your patients. You are a keystone to their future, whether it’s providing services at home, school or in the community. Don’t let time management keep you from making an impact.

#1: Know Your Goal

Your time and your patient’s time are valuable. You can only meet for so long in a session. Before starting any task, know what goal you want to achieve. When you know your goal, it’s easier to keep on task and set smaller achievements along the path to success. Additionally, you won’t be wasting time on resources and plans that don’t add up to your final goal.

When you set achievable goals and smaller accomplishments, you are also setting your patient up for success. They know your expectations for them, they know the next steps, and they can see the plan in action.

#2: Focus

When you get distracted, you lose valuable time. Stay focused on the task at hand, the immediate and long-term goals you have set, and your patient’s overall hopes for seeking treatment. When you lose time to distractions (and possibly procrastination), you end up creating more stress for yourself later when you struggle to meet your goals.

That being said, building rapport with patients and their families is never a waste of time — you just need to anticipate spending that time and adapting your schedule. It’s of the utmost importance to build trust and security with your patients and their families, so they feel comfortable disclosing their stories and concerns without judgment. Your patients and families are at their most vulnerable, and they need to know you’re objectively listening.

#3: Know Yourself and Your Weaknesses

You can know your patients and your families all you want, but if you don’t know yourself and your skills, you won’t be able to set a schedule or keep a goal. Strengths and weaknesses aren’t bad things — they just make you human. You don’t need to stress and try to hide your imperfections. You just need to face them head on. If you know that building relationships takes you longer than average, then build additional time into your schedule. If you are fantastic at helping families cope with their child’s mental or behavioral challenges, use your strengths effectively.

As a mobile therapist, you are the conductor on this behavioral and mental health journey. When you’re at your best, you can better help your patients to successfully reach their destination and achieve their goals.

Pathways is one of the largest national providers of accessible, outcome-based behavioral and mental health services. Pathways of Pennsylvania has been serving communities in Pennsylvania since 1981, and is comprised of four companies: Children’s Behavioral Health, Inc., Pathways Community Services, LLC, Raystown Developmental Services, Inc., and The ReDCo Group, Inc. We believe every individual has a right to lead a meaningful and positive life, and we are changing lives one day at a time.