December 2005

End the silence ‑‑ find your voice

by Dr. CJ Mertz

For 110 years, chiropractors have largely turned the other cheek. Perhaps we have all hoped and wished our national associations would solve the practice battles we face, but this is not the case.

When a pediatrician convinces a mom to pull her child away from your practice out of fear you may cause her child harm, no one is there to help you. When a patient is confused and winds up at a pharmacy rather than getting advice to stay strong with their chiropractic care, they get a prescription (and join the other three thousand prescriptions that week in that one pharmacy!).

Another patient has a spouse who desperately needs your care, but who won't even step through your front door because of an article he or she read on the dangers of chiropractic. Meanwhile, they're scheduled for a second back surgery because the first one not only failed, but has caused additional challenges. A little boy is told that his ears are inflamed and filled with fluid, which is why he'll need tubes surgically implanted in them for the third time, yet no one is questioning the validity of that doctor's case management.

Hundreds of women every month are being told they'll never be able to have children naturally, then are being sent to fertility specialists for an incredibly expensive process as their first and only recourse. Classrooms of school‑aged children are being frightfully labeled with ADHD and parents given no other recourse than starting their children on addictive class II narcotics.

I'm not suggesting you educate your patients or ask for referrals, because those actions don't begin to answer the enormity of the desperation in your community. Why convince people you can help them with their pain when you're capable of transforming their healing paradigm for life? It's time for you to end the silence of the seemingly inescapable, incongruent, inexcusable death march of your neighbors and their loved ones by finding your voice.

One voice changed the fate of India. One voice changed a segregated country from the seat of a bus. One voice banned smoking on airplanes. One voice built the largest drugless health profession in the world. One voice began a million man march. One voice saved Africa from a prison cell. One voice freed Russia from Communism. One voice took down the Berlin wall. One voice can surely change the fate of well being inside a community.

Your voice does not refer to simply the sound or quality of your speech, rather the depth of belief and conviction beneath it. Your voice is the perfect reflection of the size of your purpose and the certainty of every step you take along your mission. Your voice is the culmination of well‑studied philosophy, pent‑up anger and disdain for the condition of humanity and unyielding passion to want to make a difference.

The big picture is never bigger than when witnessed in ordinary moments‑turned‑extraordinary through the boldness and compassion you express as you serve. Just because patients are receiving care doesn't mean they'll continue with care, nor does it mean they understand the principle. If they understand the principle it doesn't mean they "buy" the principle or promote the principle to friends and loved ones. The big picture is achieved, the silence is ended and your voice is found in each moment that one individual buys the principle and joins your growing army of those who believe, promote, learn and grow with you.

It's not enough to dream your work. Your voice is found through the working of your dream. As your practice grows, your voice should become clearer, stronger and ever more influential. Your fate is not merely to achieve a goal and financial status, but to be a voice that leaves a legacy and makes a difference in your town.

The next generation is in need of someone just like you who will stand and be heard and lead them to the truth and principles that govern all healing. Pursuing your true mission is like David and Goliath, and we already know how that battle turned out! It's time to pick up your slingshot and take aim at that which you intend to conquer ‑‑ namely, the needless suffering going on in the lives of countless thousands of men, women and children in your community.

Find a coach who can bring out your voice, organize your actions, and strengthen your leadership skills. Resistance is futile. Your time is very valuable, so you must learn how to make the best of it if you're going to serve the many.

(Dr. CJ Mertz is executive director of ChiroUSA, and founder and head coach of the prestigious Waiting List Practice [WLP] chiropractic training organization. See the WLP 300 patient per week opportunity on the back page of this issue. For information on WLP coaching services, call Tony Shinn at 877‑TEAM‑WLP.)