I'm A PT: This Program Has Revolutionized The Way I Provide Care

As someone who's always lived an active lifestyle and been passionate about health and well-being, physical therapy was a natural career choice for me. However, after getting my doctoral degree and seeing patients, I realized that the current model for PT in America is broken.

Oftentimes, people are not referred to a physical therapist when they first report feeling pain. Only after multiple procedures, surgeries, and/or medications do they find their way to us. Many PTs also have high workloads that prevent them from spending enough time with their patients. This leads to a cycle where many patients go in and out the door—but very few of them have their pain treated at the root level.

How I got into health coaching

Late last year, I had a significant health experience that put me in the hospital for a week and made it impossible to carry out my (very physical) job as a PT. The recovery period was eye-opening: In the process of rebuilding my strength, I wondered how I could rebuild my career on more solid footing, too.

I had been curious about a career in health coaching since I was a teenager, and the mentorship aspect of coaching was something that I'd been craving more of in my current work. I figured my time off was a good opportunity to explore what becoming a health coach would entail, so I joined one of mindbodygreen's Q&A sessions to hear about their HCC program.

I learned that the 20-week course was administered virtually, and the flexible hours meant that I could complete it while still seeing patients as a PT. I wanted to become a certified health coach at the end of the process, and mindbodygreen's NBHWC-approved program allowed me to do that. The logistics were promising, but what really sold me on HCC was its emphasis on mind-body-spirit healing. I knew from my own health journey that no pain or illness is ever just physical—there are so many other components that go into it—so I took the leap and signed up.

I hoped the program would teach holistic approaches to well-being, science-backed health research, and the fundamentals of coaching and behavior change. It did all that so much more. Completing it has been transformational for me, my classmates, and now my clients, too.

How HCC has already changed the way I approach patient care

Now that I've wrapped up the HCC program, I plan to take the health coaching board exam next year after I complete my practice sessions with clients. I'm confident that HCC prepared me for the exam: Each lesson was thoroughly explained and thoughtfully presented, and the quizzes and study guides helped make everything more digestible. I also appreciated that lessons were recorded so I can refer back to them as a refresher at any time.

But more importantly than prepping me for an exam, HCC gave me a new perspective on patient care. I've already noticed that the way I evaluate patients as a PT has changed. Instead of sitting down with a client and telling them what they need to work on, I take more time to really listen to them and reflect where they feel they're lacking. When I approach care from a more open-minded and receptive place, I've found that I can better support my clients. So many of them already know how they can start feeling better; they just need to be given the opportunity to express it.

I'm looking forward to bringing this more collaborative approach to healing to my own practice one day. I envision combining physical therapy, health coaching, and other holistic tools like yoga and reiki into one offering that can help anyone heal from pain or move about their day feeling even better. My vision is to provide a space where people know they have my full attention and care as a practitioner. Completing mindbodygreen's HCC program has helped me understand where I want to take my career next, and I'm so excited for what's to come.

The takeaway

After years of feeling disillusioned with the medical system as a physical therapist, completing mindbodygreen's HCC program has shown me a better way of providing care.