My Story
Most of my education, credentials, and work history are on my LinkedIn, and the purpose of this bio is to share my experiences as they relate to my why for creating Therapy Practice Leaders (TPL) so that anyone thinking about joining one of the TPL cohorts gets a sense of who I am for credibility in what I am offering. It’s also for you to get a sense of my energy and if it aligns with what you need in your leadership journey.
Here is the short of my experience that allows me to offer unique leadership education and guidance to therapy practice leaders:
Pediatric occupational therapist since 2005
Owner, clinical director, and leader of Young & Well, a pediatric private practice since 2008
As of 2023, Young & Well employs 15 providers and five administrators across five settings: clinic, schools, nature, pools, and classes.
I lead the relationships between Young & Well and 18 Public Charter School Campuses in Washington, DC, and I have maintained most of these partnerships for over ten years.
Developed the Leadership curriculum and taught post-doctoral students in Leadership. The course consistently ranked as the most favored by graduates of the program.
I led teams as large as 50, and I feel most sure of my content for leaders of 1-50 employees because that is my experience; however all of my personal study, doctoral work, and methods are for organizations of any size, and some of the best led, largest organizations in the world also follow them.
My Why
I’ve been in the trenches with many private practice owners, going to conferences, sharing consultants, and scrolling or searching Facebook groups for solutions to my day-to-day problems related to insurance billing, school-based contracts, leases, and company management.
Over time, while listening to other practice owners speak, I realized how many of the problems they were facing were due to a lack of solid practices in leadership, most of which I was not facing due to employing leadership principles from my doctorate and my own dedication to self-awareness and growth. Meanwhile, in all of these groups and conferences and consults (whew!) none of the consultants or leaders in business coaching were addressing them. I also found that most consultants were men in the business, while therapy professions range from 80-95% women.
Women leading women requires a different set of skills than men leading women. And only women leaders “get” that!
Leadership is used to describe a lot of functions a person might have, but most of them aren’t actually leadership. After supporting some colleagues with leadership-specific guidance, and receiving feedback that it was a game changer, I realized how much I not only enjoy this topic, but my experiences and knowledge have formed a wisdom that is very helpful to those leading other people in this industry. I experience flow when discussing leadership and coaching my staff on their leadership skills, and as an Enneagram 8 passion (tied with a 6!) is what drives me!
I am starting with bite-sized small offerings for a quick change in your leadership skills as I build more extensive coursework around our crash course topics. Starting with micro-cohorts will allow for a collective without being lost in numbers. Plus, our Slack channel will keep us connected daily.