Fresh PT Podcast

Listen up y'all. There are so many helpful nuggets of gold in this one...

Fresh PT Podcast brings you TaVona Boggs, who is on a mission to save as many physical therapists as she can from burnout, boredom, and glass ceilings.

As a physical therapist, certified life and wellness coach, TaVona has developed a unique perspective when it comes to burnout. Her background as a clinician, assistant clinic director, and contractor in multiple settings over the past 17 years allows her to relate to a variety of clinicians experiencing burnout and seeking relief.

She uses her background in healthcare and the past 10 years studying and engaging in non-traditional business models to help rehab professionals leverage their expertise to create wellness businesses.

Tavona relates our physical therapy careers to relationships. We got into the profession because we love seeing people improve before our eyes, but if we go on auto pilot, down the road all we think of is the negative. 

She gives her top 3 tips for new grads

1. Find a mentor that's not a cranky pants
2. You're a person first and a therapist second
3. Balance your skills; you're not just a collection of CEU's

She started out in a work comp clinic and initially focused all her efforts on getting better clinically and trying to get as many CEU's as possible. She explains that we need to balance ourselves with soft and interpersonal skills, and those benefits will carry over to managing our personal relationships as well as ourselves. Tavona shows us some incredible examples of how the mind creates our reality. 

She shares how she became a life and wellness coach. Most coaches focus on the external goal and what you need to do, but she's had more profound and longer lasting success by directing people's thoughts about their desired results.  This thought model has helped clients as well as "unmotivated patients".

Tavona has been in almost every role in physical therapy- treating in various settings, management, telehelath, concierge, but she wanted to go beyond treating one to one. She discovered wellness was a more enjoyable and efficient means of making money and serving many people.  "If you get to where you don't have to go to work to make money, it makes going to work so much easier. Stop trading your precious life force which is your hours for dollars."

Increase your value, and you will have more money and flexibility.

She has helped many therapists find their passion and create the life they desire. Just head on over to her websites to check it out. loveptagain.com and wellnesspts.com. 

Stay Fresh!

Do you ever think that sometimes you are a psychologist acting as a PT?

Do patient's ever open up to you and get emotional in the clinic?

Have you ever used positive reinforcement in order to help someone get better results?

If you have, well we have a treat for you!  On this episode of the Fresh PT Podcast with speak with Dr. Gabrielle Whisler aka Mind Health PT. She is a PT who specializes in the psychological aspect of PT.  Her mission is to show others how to strengthen their mind and body through movement, breathing and personal development.  She chose the name Mind Health PT because of the negative stigmatism Mental health carries.

Dr. Whisler shares with us her personal journey through anxiety and other mental health struggles with traditional treatments including counseling and medications and why she realized that traditional treatments don't work for everyone.

Now she coaches and trains people who struggle with anxiety in her own unique way through her business.

"If you don't take care of yourself and work on yourself, you won't be able to give your all to your patients"

She also shares with us how to keep your patient's motivated throughout their plan of care!

"Make sure you always incorporate what it important to them in their treatment plan"

Dr. Whisler also discusses the RAS (Reticular Activating System) and how you can change you negative emotions into positive thoughts with ease and be successful with it with your clients!

If you want to be a part of her FB group Healthcare(s) we will put the link in the comments as well as a link to listen to this episode!

As always, thanks for listening and stay fresh!

Hello Fresh PT family!

The boys had the pleasure of having on F Scott Feil at SSPT LIVE 2019, the Coachella of healthcare conferences.

F Scott is a man of many talents and experiences in healthcare and education. He is the founder of The PT Educator, co-host of the Healthcare Education Transformation podcast, and he has his own physical therapy and consulting businesses. He dropped some serious knowledge bombs on the show!

F Scott offers lessons from travel PT and home health, and the thing about home health or any setting where you feel lost is that there are so many online resources available to us that we're never truly on our own.

With an extensive background in education, F Scott shares a simple philosophy on CEU's. You already have to get them anyway. Might as well learn things you're interested in or feel deficient in. If your company pays for them, score!

He talks about starting a blog and how he's used his experiences in physical therapy to help other groups of people. For example, F Scott treated a lot of wrist and typing injuries at a Worker's Comp clinic. He recognized the same set of overuse problems exist in the gaming world so he created a course for gamers! He's got a course for fantasy football injuries (watch out Stephania Bell), and he's also coming out with ways for physical therapy academicians to have alternative revenue streams on his website pteducator.com

You can't do any of this without a solid foundation and belief system. It starts with you valuing yourself more than the average therapist. "It just takes a little imagination." 

That's how you stay fresh folks.

Episode 66 of the Fresh PT Podcast features special guest Brenda Bryson, who was kind enough to sit down and chat with us at SSPT LIVE 2019, the Coachella of healthcare conferences!

Brenda has 20+ years of experience in the PT profession and offers great advice for many stages of your career.

She talks about what to do when you're starting out and if you have a specific interest (hint hint, go for it).

What to do when you're stumped clinically, and being self aware and knowing what type of environment you should be in.

She then talks about the powerful bond with patients and how she wanted to create that environment for her employees.

How to avoid being the best kept secret in physical therapy.

SSPT got Brenda to think ahead and realize she can't put her hands on patients forever. "I can't visit people's homes and help them practice transfers every weekend." So she decided to create a course and Facebook group (Safe and Healthy Caregivers) designed to educate folks on safe transfer techniques. We always talk about filling a need and if there are grainy videos from the 80's on your topic, THEN THERE'S A NEED!

Matt breaks down his experience from SSPT Live 2019 AKA the Coachella of Healthcare conferences. 

He shares his two biggest takeaways that you can focus on to get better.

Thanks for listening and stay fresh!

Hey what's going on guys! Thank you for tuning into another episode!

On this episode Matt and I discuss and give a recap of the SSPT live event including our biggest takeways and things that we learned this weekend! 

It was an event full of amazing speakers, relationships, connections and good times and we want to share it all with you. 

If you are a Pre-PT, SPT or New Grad or heck even a 20 year therapist who is unhappy in your current job to attend this event next year! If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us on our FB page Fresh PT Podcast and we would love to help you out!

Thanks for tuning in! 

Welcome to another episode of the Fresh PT Podcast! 

On this episode we welcome Dr. Brandon Smith who is a New Grad PT out of Miami, FL who currently earns over 6 figures as a home health PT. 

Brandon shares with us on this episode how to earn 6 figures in Home Health as a new grad, and how he created an online business to help increase his earning potential while earning money while he sleeps!

Brandon has also created a course and a FB group for other PT's who are interested in home health and want to increase their earning potential as a New Grad. 

Make sure to mention Fresh PT Podcast to earn a 40% discount on his course that has lifetime access! 

As always, 

Stay Fresh yall!

Are you a PT student or New grad with student loan debt (yes thats 95% of you)

Are you worried about how your student loan debt will impact your future ?

Do you have a solid plan in place for your loan situation?

Well you are in luck because on this episode of the Fresh PT Podcast we are honored to bring on Joseph Reinke who is a chartered financial analyst  who has helped over 6,000 PT's tackle 700 million dollars in student loans!!!

Joe shares with us the top mistakes New Grad PT's make when paying off their student loans and share this tips on how to pay off your student loans quicker.

"You have sit down and come up with a plan based on your current financial situation and goals for the future, and make your payments based off that"

Joe also shares with the listeners additional financial advice for those who have just graduated PT school!

"If your company offers a match for your 401k, you need to at least contribute the amount your company matches"

"If you focus on helping people the money will take care of itself. You did not go to PT school to pay off student loans, you went to PT school to help people!"

Thank you so much for listening and we hope you enjoyed this episode!

Check the comments for the link to Joe's FB group and website as well as where to download the podcast!

As always stay fresh!

We have such an amazing episode packed FULL of great advice. Our guest, Dr. Kaylee Garrett Simmerman, creator of FEMMEmpowerment and Advocacy, touches on a number of important topics such as:

Improving patient interactions and outcomes

Managing the athlete that's dying to get back to their sport

How to reduce patient drop off

Her personal story and realizing the traditional setting was not for her

The importance of mentors in breaking through walls

Making a smooth transition from being an employee to a business owner

How to have the career without losing your loved ones

We can learn a lot about better patient interactions by listening to pelvic health therapists like Kaylee. Listening and being a good decision maker with patients was something she struggled with early on but is now a strength of hers. "I appreciate the fails and the things I've learned more than the success."

Kaylee gives some incredible advice for managing high level patients who are returning from an injury. "You have to sell them on the plan of care, and you do that by standing firm and being confident in what you preach." She explains what will happen if they follow the plan or not, so no matter the outcome, she's positioned herself as the expert. You have to be confident and set up your plan of care exactly for what that person needs. Since Kaylee has started doing that, she has not had anyone drop off their plan of care.

This advice was so good it made one of our co hosts check themselves on the spot!

Kaylee shares her 10 year journey of dealing with pelvic pain and how she became obsessed with helping others with their pain. She was frustrated in the traditional setting  due to time limits, insurance companies denying claims, and she was burning herself out trying to serve everyone she saw. She now spends 90 minutes with patients which has improved her compliance rates and she's able to make better decisions.

The lack of business education in PT school lead her to finding a mentor and business coach. She would not have left her PRN jobs without mentors, nor would she be having the success she has now without them. Her mentors helped her break through the walls and push her to another level. 

She also describes the process of transitioning from her full time outpatient job to her now full time business. She never quit everything and just started her business without some additional income. She gives great advice for those who want to pursue their own business but are afraid of making a radical career shift.

She also tells us how to make time for your significant other. You have to go through some failures, but you have to schedule time together. Your loved one may not care about your business but it's important to communicate that you're doing it for both of you.

It's fun to be liked by all your patients. Be as encouraging as you can be because  our patients need it, but you have to tell the truth. 

One of the hardest parts of the job is telling someone whom you enjoy working with and who is motivated, that you can no longer help him or her.

Your patients may not always like what you have to say, but they'll respect you if you tell them what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.