Author: Christopher Peck

This article covers:

• The challenges if supporting remote and rural clients
• The rise of digital platforms
• Solutions and tools

The Challenges of Supporting Remote and Rural Clients

Living in a remote or rural area presents unique challenges - which often mean limited access to consistent health, fitness, and rehabilitation services. People living remotely who require rehabilitation or therapy services may face long travel times, scarce specialist availability, and higher costs just to attend a single appointment. This not only reduces the frequency of care but also disrupts continuity; making it harder to stay on track with therapy or training plans. For many, the isolation can also reduce motivation, as they lack the community and accountability that come naturally in urban settings with gyms, clinics, and peer networks.

Where available, remote services invaluable, but they also present unique challenges that must be addressed to ensure effective outcomes.

• Engagement and Accountability - Without in-person contact, many clients struggle to stay on track between sessions. Research shows that up to 80% of therapeutic gains can be lost without consistent follow-up (NCBI).
• Communication Gaps - Misunderstandings are more likely online, particularly when instructions are complex or rely heavily on memory (APA).
• Isolation - Clients can feel unsupported when distance creates emotional as well as physical gaps, reducing motivation (WHO).

The rise of digital platforms

Digital platforms have transformed the way professionals in health, coaching, and education support their clients. Digital platforms help bridge the distance by putting professional guidance into the client’s hands, no matter where they live. Video consultations, telehealth, and app-based programs allow practitioners to deliver personalised instructions, track progress, and maintain regular contact without the need for travel.

Solutions and Tools

Platforms such as telehealth portals and engagement tools like Taskey give clients structure, reminders, and multimedia resources that make it easier to follow through independently. By combining professional expertise with accessible digital tools, practitioners can extend their reach, reduce the barriers of distance, and ensure clients in remote areas are not left behind in achieving their health and fitness goals. offering quality services to remote clients could include:

• Clear Structures and Routines - Setting measurable goals, sending regular reminders, and breaking down tasks into small steps can increase follow-through.
• Digital Accountability Tools - Apps such as Taskey.io allow coaches, therapists, and carers to assign multimedia tasks—video, audio, PDFs, or links—directly to a client’s phone with push notifications. This supports daily progress even when practitioners are not present.
• Blended Communication - Combining synchronous (live video sessions) with asynchronous methods (tasks, messaging, or recorded instructions) strengthens consistency and helps bridge the gap.
• Feedback Loops - Encouraging clients to share updates, photos, or quick recordings helps practitioners adjust support in real time (Harvard Business Review).

Final Thought

Supporting remote clients is about more than technology—it’s about creating systems of connection, accountability, and empowerment. By combining clear structures with tools like Taskey, professionals can reduce drop-off, reinforce progress, and ensure clients feel supported, no matter where they are.

Taskey is a revolutionary app that helps practitioners, teachers and coaches deliver their unique approach and services to clients when meeting face-to-face is not easy. Taskey makes the “distance factor" much less relevant in remote service delivery. Taskey delivers your personalised home activity tasks direct from the Taskey app on the practitioner phone to the Taskey app on the client phone - so home exercises, study and activities will always be findable in one place. 

Each task can include:

• Video
• Photos/images
• Audio
• PDFs
• Instructions and links

The task screen is super versatile, allowing the practitioner or coach to select a combination of elements as a task, then assemble tasks into sets (taskeys) and send to individuals or groups with a completion schedule. Remote clients can then practise the skill at home, using the content created for them as visual and informational guidance and setting up Taskey push notifications so they can keep to your practice schedule. In this way, Taskey helps practitioners deliver real value to clients by helping them stay on track when travel for sessions is not feasible or affordable. 

With a tool like Taskey, the possibilities are endless! Taskey-based support can provide these three broad outcomes:

1. Bridge the gap between sessions -The practitioner captures the ‘teachable moments’ in a face-to-face session to provide tangible (often video-based) instructions for the client; any reported progress in-between times could trigger an updated or new task/taskey to help the client make real progress without face-to-face contact. With anytime access to the advice and techniques covered in the sessions, plus push notifications, client progress won’t stall between sessions. 

2. Reduce reliance on face-to-face service delivery - by creating a real, tangible ‘bridge’ between sessions, Taskey allows a practitioners to offer a ‘hybrid’ service that delivers optimal value to the client; this might mean one contact hour plus two virtual meetings or phone calls and a taskey after each to provide real and accessible instruction. In this way, clients can make real progress, even when the time between sessions is longer than ideal. 

3. Deliver services remotely - where clients are geographically distant or difficult to reach physically, Taskey can help deliver services entirely remotely. By combining virtual meetings with Taskey, many practitioner services can still be successfully delivered as ‘no contact’ services.  

Starting with Taskey is free with your first two clients - no credit card required. If you would like to learn more about how Taskey can help, contact us today.