I wanna do it!

At one point in his private practice in NY, Dr. Donald Epstein no longer found the term “patient” to be an appropriate or accurate description of the members of his wellness practice. He decided to hold a contest in his office to see who could come up with the best word to describe his clientele. In case you are wondering, the winning term was “practice member,” and from that point on Epstein began to call his patients “practice members.”

This was an important shift, since the word patient is defined in the dictionary as “someone who is under medical care or treatment,” and medical care is, of course, the diagnosis and treatment of symptoms or conditions. In the wellness model, a person may seek care without any need or desire for medical treatment. S/he may even be without symptoms, since many people seek wellness care purely for the life enhancing benefits that go along with that type of care. These benefits might include:

Better adaptation to stress

* Increased positive feelings
* Decreased moodiness
* Less depression
* More interest in life
* Fewer concerns about small things
* Improved ability to think and concentrate
* Less anxiety

As I struggled to find an accurate descriptive term for the people who participate in my wellness practice, I wasn't completely comfortable using the term “practice member”; something about it seemed a bit strange to me.

Clearly, “patient” won't do, and whenever someone says anything to me about “my patients,” my standard answer is, “I have no patients”. While it may be a marginal attempt at a humorous pun, it is also very true. I had begun using the term “client,” but even that doesn't sound quite right either.

I recently met a couple of chiropractors who had just opened an office nearby. Apparently, they are practicing in the wellness model because they came up with what I think is the best term yet — “participant.” They don't have patients, they have participants. I like it so much that I'm going to use it for my practice.

Participation is one of the most important aspects of a person seeking care in the wellness model. Normally, when someone sees their medical practitioner, they take more of a passive role in the process. I know I've mentioned before how many times I've heard someone say, “My doctor put me on this” or “My doctor gave me permission to do this.”

Do you remember being a kid and saying, “I wanna do it!”? As children we strived for the ability of and the right to self empowerment. We wanted to do it, whatever it was, for ourselves, and if for no other reason, then to prove we could.

In the wellness model, people are empowered in their own process. They are the decision makers. Instead of having a procedure done to them, the practitioner acts as more of a facilitator, guiding them through the process of healing. They begin to develop a trust and understanding of their own body and a deeper connection to their motivations and joy in life.

They are true participants in their process and in life... and from now on that is what I shall call them.