A short monologue by Mary Kostka (owner/founder of Ohana OT) emphasizing the importance of greeting people by name to create connection and add value in therapy sessions. She advises making eye contact, using clients’ and family members’ names, greeting colleagues each morning, and notes that reception interactions can determine whether clients stay with a practice. The message ties personal greeting to feelings of belonging and the healing process.
Aloha. Mary Koska here, owner and founder of Ohana OT. Today, we're talking about one of the 11 points of value. Things that add value to our session make it worth more than they are paying for. And this one has to do with greeting people by name. It's one of the most important things that we can do. So the second somebody walks through our door, we want to make eye contact with them and say hi and say their name. And so you would walk in and, hi, Mary, so nice to see you. When we go in and we pick up our kid, we want to greet both the parent and the child. We have the parent's name on the front of our chart to make it easier for us to take a look and remember. It's just so important to make that deep connection. It really makes them. We just really want to acknowledge their existence. It's so important, and it's important that we do that for each other as staff. It's so easy for us to just have our nose to the grindstone thinking about work, but the first time we see each other in the morning, we need to make sure we look right at each other and smile and say hi. And also when we leave, just to have that connection at the beginning and the end of the day, it's so important. And it's also really important to do this with your family. So when I go home, the first thing I do is go around and make sure that I say hi to everybody in my family and my dogs too, and they won't let me not do it. So it's just really important. It's easy to kind of get. Start talking to one person and get sidetracked, but I always say, I'll be right back with you. I'm just gonna go around and say hi to everybody. Super important. These are the people that you love. We love our clients. We just really want to make sure that they feel. Feel loved and cared about. Just like in Cheers when you walk in and Norm, we just really want to make sure people feel like they belong and that we love them and we're so happy to see them. And that adds a lot to the healing power and helping our families thrive. So remember, always connect, make eye contact and say their name. One of them. A lot of people don't realize this, but one of the number one reason that the phone rang so it cut off my video. So the number one reason that people leave their physician, their doctor, is the receptionist. They're just so often overburdened, and they don't look up, they don't say hello, they don't feel welcome. And so that just gives a good example of why it's so important to be sure to greet by name, make sure they feel really welcome and cared about and loved. Doha.
