I asked a provider that I have seen about serving as a reference. She said she would and requested that she be contacted at a private email address.
I contacted a provider I wanted to see through a PM on this website and included my reference and her email address. The response was have my reference send her a PM on this website.
My initial impulse was that if you are going to make seeing you this difficult, I'll go elsewhere. I did forward her request but did not hear back from either her or my reference so, I did just move on.
I am curious as to whether others in the community, especially the ladies, think it is unrealistic to expect someone who is providing a reference to be the one to make the initial contact.