Ralph Havens, runs Mission Hills Physical Therapy, a successful clinic with four physical therapist, bringing together the best of traditional physical therapy and Integrative Manual Therapy. The clinic fills an average of 130 treatment hours per week. They are growing and becoming well known in Southern California.

Ralph often consults with other clinicians on how to improve their delivery of services and better educate their clients and potential clients. He answers questions and shares some of his advice in this article.

How do most clients find you?

Most of our clients find us through our past clients. Some find us through doctors and others groups for whom, we've done "helping you help yourself" seminars.

What is the best way to educate clients about the work that you do?

Actually, coming to one of our "helping you help yourself" seminars is a great way. We explain why someone may have pain or why a problem doesn't respond to other treatments, just taking time off or just resting. Then we do a demonstration on an audience member who has a pain. After that we break up into small groups and our therapists do mini-assessments and make recommendations for participants. It is a great way to help people while showing them how we work.

Give some more details about your approach.

Our approach is that we view and work with the individual as a whole. We look at the underlying causes that hold physical conditions in place. We use Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT), a method developed by Sharon Weiselfish Giammatteo, PT, PhD. Integrative Manual Therapy consists of locating the underlying causes and then treating the problems so that the person's condition is cleared and their health improved.

What is the best way to encourage "word of mouth" advertising?

There are a few ways I have found useful. One is to ask clients for success stories. We do this when they have made significant gains or when they have "graduated" from therapy. Then we send the information to their referring doctor or put it on our website with their ok. We have accumulated quite a few great ones and it shows prospective clients what is possible. It can give people hope.

What advise would you give to a Complementary and Alternative Medicine practitioner who wants to open a large clinic?

I would recommend, our consultants, Survival Strategies. They have helped us to get the word out about our clinic and shown us how to take control of our own success. Other than that, I would say, when thinking of doing a seminar or talk or any new program, first survey your potential clients or existing clients to see what they really want and need. If their response includes something you can help with, then what you need to do to grow your practice becomes obvious.

Also learn about the tone scale which helps you determine who to hire, fire and who would be invaluable to you. This has turned out to be the number one thing that has helped me. It has helped me find enthusiastic employees that will help with our mission. All of us are working toward common goals.

Say more about your therapists.

We are a group of like minded physical therapists dedicated to helping our clients achieve true healing. We have advanced training in Integrative Manual Therapy, and other healing modalities which enables us to help our patients achieve their goals. The number one goal of each practitioner is to help our clients.

Each of our therapists have dedicated their professional lives to self-directed study in the healing arts and have taken their own personal path to learning and growth. As a result we have a team of professionals who utilize the latest in scientific and hands-on methods to help our clients.

What are your clients like?

We have wonderful clients who are frustrated with injuries or painful conditions that have been un-helped by doctors and other therapists. They are looking for the reason their body is having a hard time healing. They want to learn how to turn on their own body's self healing mechanisms and get back to living their lives and doing what makes them happy. These are the people we help.

Ralph Havens

Ralph Havens founded Mission Hills Physical Therapy in 1992. He is a board certified clinical specialist in orthopaedic physical therapy. Ralph was awarded a Masters of Science Degree in Physical Therapy from Texas Woman's University - Houston in 1985. He earned an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University in 1981.

Ralph's advanced training has included extensive study in Integrative Manual Therapy, joint and soft tissue mobilization, CranioSacral Therapy, Visceral Manipulation, Mechanical Link, and Strain Counterstrain.

In addition, Ralph is an avid marathon runner, with a personal best time of 2 hr 28 min 15 sec in 1990. He enjoys helping runners, of all abilities, improve their biomechanics, prevent injury, and return to the sport after an injury.