My associate Thom Walker and I are just completing Rolfing ten clients who paid slightly less than half the usual Rolfing fee as part of a Rolfing scholarship program we established in our community. Because this program worked well and produced some good outcomes, I offer it for anyone’s use and/or modification. If others have experimented with similar programs, we would appreciate hearing about them.

RATIONALE FOR THE PROGRAM. We are often asked, as many of you are, if we give reduced rates for students, the elderly and low-income people. As do all Rolfers, we have a mandate, as part of our Code of Ethics, to “consider carefully the ability of the client to meet the financial burden….We are willing to contribute a portion of our services to work for which we receive little or no financial return.?

In practice, it is hard to know how and where to offer reduced fees in an equitable and manageable fashion. The scholarship program seemed like a good solution to meet the mandate and be of service to a low-income population we wanted to serve. In addition, by organizing a coherent program, we created a good public relations opportunity and spread good vibes about the work.

TARGET POPULATION. The scholarship program was targeted for people who met two criteria: they have low or moderately low income and they are experiencing long-standing muscular-skeletal pain or tension that had not responded to conventional health care treatment and that might respond to Rolfing’s influence on structural integration. It was clear in the announcement of the program that this was a one-time offer, for a limited number of people who met these criteria.

PUBLICITY. We publicized the program in several ways, including a mailing to several hundred health care providers, a mailing to all of our previous clients in the area as a part of a Fall newsletter, nicely printed announcement flyers (copies available if you send me a SASE) posted in appropriate places, and a press release to local newspapers, T.V. and radio stations. The press release did make it into our daily paper, although it required a follow-up phone call. We were not overwhelmed with requests, but we did not have any problem filling our ten slots. All publicity made the selection criterion clear and made clear Rolfing’s approach to problems of chronic pain through aligning structure.

APPLICATION PROCESS. When applicants contacted us, they were sent an application form which had space for them to respond to these questions: Name, address, telephone(s), age, conditions for which they were seeking Rolfing, other treatments or approaches they had tried, and the financial circumstances that were leading them to request a scholarship. The application form also contained specifics on the criteria for selection and information on the fee for each session for which they would be responsible.

Our decision was not to go overboard with the rigor of screening financial need on the theory that it would be better to make an error in the direction of taking in someone who might have fudged their degree of need than to get into a heavy-duty assessment of income and expenses of applicants. A deadline date for applications was announced, and notifications were made within a week of the deadline. Those accepted were then scheduled for rust hours by Thom and myself, in the usual fashion for new clients.

EVALUATION. The program worked well, and we feel good about it. Most important to us, we worked with a group of people who might not otherwise have been Rolfed, who have lived with a lot of pain for a long time, and who were helped, for the most part, either some or a lot. Because of the screening procedure, we were able to select people who we thought would benefit from Rolfing, and we chose well. They are pleased–in some cases they are thrilled—and we feel useful and satisfied. In addition, the many people our clients are in contact with, including the other helping professionals with whom they have worked, are hearing good things about our work. Because of the powerful impression Rolfing makes on people who have found no other lasting relief from long-standing p un, these clients have also been a good referral source.

On the down side, neither Thom nor I were consistently thrilled with the economic impact of weeks in which all five of the scholarship clients with whom we were both working were scheduled. Over the five months in which we worked with this group, we made, between us, a $4,000 contribution in this way. However, the further away we get from those particular weeks, the less the financial sting is with us and the more a sense of contribution is present.

NEXT STEPS. Several possibilities are in our minds. One is a repeat of this program in a year or so. Another is to do fund raising for the program, possibly among previous clients, so that future funding for the program can be shared between us and others.

In several months we will send a follow-up questionnaire to the people in the program and ask them to evaluate the effectiveness of their Rolfing process on both the initial condition which brought them to us and in other areas of their physical and psychological well being. The results of this questionnaire will be tabulated and included in our next client newsletter and in a press release to the same outlets to which our initial announcement was sent. We have not planned beyond this, although next steps may emerge.

If you do use some of these ideas, we would appreciate knowing how it goes for you.A Scholarship Program for Rolfing Clients