I’m a dietitian writing this a little over three years after the start of the pandemic, which changed my life in too many ways to count — including the way I work. Many can relate to this, whether you’re a work-from-home or hybrid employee, started another job or even career path, founded a company, or actually finally had some time to really think about and redesign your work-life balance.

I entered 2020 with four and a half years of being an RD under my belt and had always really considered private practice — but funding and finding office space, marketing, and everything that it entails seemed overwhelming. 

Once the pandemic hit, I actually had time to research private practice more as telehealth and Zoom were becoming much more normalized. Much of the health field shifted to telehealth for obvious reasons. For me, this lifted a lot of barriers, including finding office space, while making it much easier for the client/patient to see me.

Then, it seemed like a win/win — and it still does in many ways. There truly is potential to keep telehealth as a core mode of service, especially for those working with behavior change, including dietitians, therapists, and personal trainers. 

Finding a health professional online

With the influx of health professionals going online, there’s also an influx of online marketing. With anything, there’s good and bad — but overall you’ll be able to look for a health professional through their own personal websites, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, *insert any new form of social media that I may be forgetting,* and websites like HealthProfs, ZocDoc, and Thumbtack.

Health professionals can market in their own way to find aligned clients/patients from specific niches, from marketing their unique values and viewpoints to showcasing their professionalism to even providing some insights into their day-to-day personal lives or own journeys. 

“Sure, it comes with more competition, but it also makes it a lot easier to connect professionals with their ideal clientele and vice versa,” says Alexa Zuber, RDN, LD, owner of The Rooted RD.

After all, you’ll inevitably spend a lot of time with the health professional helping you work on a major life change (whether that’s a dietitian, therapist, or trainer), so it’s important to ensure you connect on a personal level and that they can confidently help you with your goals. 

How telehealth works

When I first started doing telehealth, I was fascinated with the many different resources to a point that I actually had to back off the technology. Some include Practice Better, a very user-friendly practice management platform, Kajabi, which is really helpful for group programs, and even meal planning software, EatLove. We also, of course, can’t forget Zoom (ever heard of it?).

“The biggest problem is, my clients are sometimes limited by the amount of equipment they have in their homes,” notes Ethan Rubarts, certified personal trainer and owner of Future in Fitness. “I have become a lot more creative, so it’s not too much of an issue.” 

From a dietitian standpoint, it generally is similar and more convenient than what I was previously doing in-office. We do have some Wi-Fi connection issues from time to time, but the education piece of my practice has actually improved with the ability to share my screen and use visuals. 

Is telehealth for everyone?

I think it’s safe to say we all had our own learning curve with moving everything online during the pandemic. That said, now that it’s more than three years after the start of the pandemic, I feel like more people have been able to adapt — but it still ranges based on age and socioeconomic status. 

“I would say anyone Gen-Z and under has opted into telehealth services,” says Estrellita Sosa, a Chicago-based therapist with a certification in substance abuse counseling. “I work at a community mental health center, so people sometimes don’t have access to the technology to do telehealth services. My clientele 50s and over always opt out of virtual services.”

She continues to discuss that some insurance simply won’t cover telehealth services. As a provider who also takes insurance, I can say the same (although it’s rare). 

“I have a few clients who may not have reliable transportation to in-person appointments or who may struggle with having enough energy to commit to a round trip office visit — but being able to meet with them using telehealth services has allowed them to get the support they need that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to access,” adds Zuber.

So, is telehealth here to stay?

With a few years of trial and error and growing pains under our belt, we’re in a good place to really see if this is actually sustainable.

“The growing market in telehealth scares me as much as it excites me,” says Estrellita. “My hope is that the quality of care that telehealth companies are offering are both coming from a holistic and multicultural lens. But I’m excited to see how many more people we do reach.”

Rubarts shares the same optimism, expressing that “virtual training is here to stay. I don’t see virtual training going anywhere due to how convenient it is.”

The pandemic has undoubtedly taught us the importance of prevention, behavior change, and really focusing on all aspects of well-being. I can wholeheartedly say that I too am both curious and excited to see how much each of our fields can grow with the use of telehealth.