Show Notes

Kayla: Welcome back to the Designer Practice Podcast and I’m your host Kayla Das.

One of the most challenging parts for many private practice owners is battling the feelings of imposter syndrome.

In today’s episode, Dalton Liano, physiotherapist and owner of Movement Mentorship will share how he overcame imposter syndrome and how you can too.

Hi Dalton, welcome to the show. I’m so glad to have you here today.

Dalton: Hey Kayla, thanks for having me. I’m excited to dive into this topic with you.

Introduction

Kayla: So, before we dive in though, can you tell us a little bit about yourself where you’re from and a little bit about your own practice journey?

Dalton: So, I’m a physiotherapist by trade. I started practicing in 20– oh are challenging my memory here, 2018. I graduated from physio school. I went to Western university for my master’s and then I did my undergraduate degree at the University of Windsor. So, I’m originally from the Windsor area. I grew up in a really small town. But, grew up playing like a lot of sports and being super active and really involved with moving my body. And I think that is definitely what pushed me into the realm of physiotherapy. And then I think as I developed in understanding what it meant to be a physio. I realized there’s a lot of things that I really enjoyed about the profession. It involves health and working with people and coaching and behavior change. And those are all kinds of things I started to discover that I wanted to pursue. And physio kind of provided me with a platform to be able to interact and work with people in that realm. So that is kind of what really drove me to do that. I’m still pretty active these days. I love running. So do a lot of running marathon, running, that kind of stuff and some strength training. So it’s a big part of my life and I’m excited that I get to work with people on a daily basis on that kind of stuff.

Kayla: Fabulous. And actually, I did my undergrad at Western, so go Mustangs.

Dalton: Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah. I got the master’s experience of Western. So, it’s a little bit different than the undergrad experience. I feel like.

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Kayla: Yes, for sure. So, imposter syndrome. I know that’s a big thing that shows up for many private practice owners, especially when they’re first starting out. So how did you overcome it when you started out?

Dalton: Yeah, I guess I didn’t really touch on me owning my own clinic now, but I do I own my own clinic with two other business partners. We launched that in 2020, in the Hamilton area called the movement physio and performance and it was pretty early into my career. Like I said, I started practicing in 2018. And I had some really good mentorship, and guidance from some people in my early career that I think really helped boost my confidence in being able to have an impact on working with people. So, I think that is always like a really big part of managing any type of imposter syndrome and whatnot is getting the right people in your corner that have gone through a similar path as you to be able to kind of reassure that like, “Hey you’re struggling with some things here and there’s some areas of improvement that you can make, but you’re doing the right thing and you’re headed in the right direction.” So, I think that early on mentorship from people close to me was super helpful for at least giving me the confidence to be like, “Hey, I think I want to pursue opening my own place and doing my own thing.”

And a lot of that stemmed from the fact that there wasn’t really a clinic or a place that was in the area that was approaching care and practicing the way that I really wanted to. And I think that really led me to be like, well, I want to try and approach it in a particular way. And if there’s nowhere else that can really give me that opportunity, like maybe I should step into my own kind of opportunity. So that was another thing that kind of pushed me to jump into opening my own clinic early on in the process.

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome by Posting on Social Media

Kayla: I know when we chatted offline, you shared that starting an Instagram page as well as your podcast has also helped you overcome and manage imposter syndrome. So, tell me a little bit about that.

Dalton: Yeah, for sure. So, when I was in second year of physio school, one of my business partners and I have launched the movement Instagram page. So the Instagram started before it became a business. And, we really just felt like we wanted to add a little bit more to the profession from an exercise standpoint is really where it stemmed from. And I think that just motivated us to put out content. And what I think we realized was like, oh, we do have a lot of value to add in this particular realm. And as long as we’re staying in our lane in terms of what we know and what we feel comfortable talking about and putting stuff out there that people will respect that.

And I think when people get a little bit into trouble with maybe feeling a lot of imposter syndrome comes around pushing into territories that you’re not necessarily comfortable or not knowing all of that area to at a confident level. And then you’re feeling like you’re kind of– just not necessarily making things up, but you’re not as reassured of what you’re talking about. And I think that really drives when a lot of an imposter syndrome type feeling. And what we always did was like, hey, we’re going to stay in our lane in terms of what we feel confident in knowing. And then if we want to. Step out in like pursue something new. Well, we have to go and learn about that and talk with people and grow ourselves before we start like speaking on it or putting it out on our social platforms. And I think that process of like, okay, here’s what we want to talk about or know more about. We can’t do that yet because we’re not quite there. We need to go learn that at to a level that we feel comfortable and speaking on and then go put it out and then deal with like how people respond to that, like some people might be like, “Hey, you guys are wrong here.” And we would have to be like, “Okay, cool. You’re right. We were wrong.” And you learn how to almost like critically think and grow as like a clinician.

And I think that was really, really helpful to making me feel more confident in practice that if I go into a situation that, you know, maybe I don’t know everything to the level that I need to know to be able to help that client. I’ll be able to be like, “Hey, here’s what we’re going to work on. I feel like there’s a couple more things we need to dive into. I’m going to go and make sure that I check off all the boxes and identifying what that is. And then we’ll come and apply that back to practice.” Instead of just being like, “Oh yeah, like let’s try this, but have no really idea like why you’re doing it.” I think that process is really helpful for me as a clinician.

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome by Gaining Clarity

Kayla: Kind of really gaining that clarity on what you want to do and where you want to go with your practice, so to speak.

Dalton: Totally, and I think a big part of what drives that imposter syndrome, which I think no matter how much you progress, I think if you’re always trying to improve yourself, you’re going to deal with a little bit of that feeling, but overcoming it as being able to manage it, right? Because it can also be so great that it’s not going to allow you to practice the way that you want to practice or show up the way you want to show up.

And one of the most important things that I’ve done and some of the things that we now do with people that we mentor and come through our space and what not is really trying to understand like who you are as a person and as a clinician, how you want to show up on a daily basis in terms of your values and your standards for yourself. And then really identifying how do you want to treat as a clinician and what people in the space treat that way? And what do you like about them? And then what are some things that you don’t like that people are doing in the space and really getting clear on what those things are is such an important thing to, I think, overcoming that imposter syndrome. Because once you create that kind of guiding star, as long as you’re meeting that standard constantly and reflecting on, am I doing this? And am I aligning with this? Then you’re going to feel really comfortable in practice. I think where people get overwhelmed is when that gap between that standard that they set and where they are is really big, or they don’t have any idea what that standard is for themselves and how they want to show up and what they want to do as a clinician.

Kayla: I agree. And I think that’s really great steps and tools to think about because I agree with you. When we’re clear about us and our practice, it’s easier to go out there and to share that clarity with others.

Fear and Uncertainty

And, something that I believe is that imposter syndrome is a type of fear, right? It’s rooted in self-doubt. And when we think of fear, I believe there’s two things that contribute to fear. One, there’s something connected to that that we truly want. Meaning, you know it’s connected to some value, right? Fear of failure, it means we want to be successful. Fear of making a mistake, it’s usually because we want people to like what they put out in the world.

The second piece is uncertainty. Especially when we’re starting a private practice, even putting yourself out on Instagram or putting your first podcast episode or whatever it is, you’ve never done it before. So there is that uncertainty. So, when it’s something that we truly care about, and then it’s also that uncertainty piece, that’s when that fear shows up.

And when I first completed my bachelor’s of social work program, I was actually going to go into my master’s and then start private practice right away. However, imposter syndrome set in big time for me. At the time though, I didn’t know what it was. I do kind of wish that universities talked about this more or that I knew about it because there wasn’t a term when I was experiencing. I really just thought to myself ” Oh, I suck at this.” So, what I did is I decided not to go into my master’s right away or go into private practice. I just felt that I wasn’t good enough, that I didn’t have the competency.

So, for years, I took a total different route. I went into leadership, which I don’t regret my experiences at all, and I do appreciate my journey. But I almost even forgot the private practice or business was even an option for me until years later. And when I finally got into private practice– and I think for me, it wasn’t necessarily private practice as much as it was for business, right? I feel that I’m a business woman. And even if someone asks me, what’s your identity, it’s I’m a business woman. That’s my identity. But I spent years not knowing that imposter syndrome was a thing. And I just felt that I quote unquote sucked. And it’s really important that we acknowledge that it is natural and normal to feel this way, especially when there’s something new that we’re doing, and it’s something we care about.

A few things, though, that helped me overcome imposter syndrome when I first started my practice was first of all niching my business and it goes into that clarity you were talking about Dalton. Because if we think about niching our practice, if we’re clear about who we are and who we’re serving, we’re going to feel a lot more comfortable in being able to put ourselves out there. The other piece is I wasn’t chasing the next best thing. So when we work as generalists, and if there’s any listeners who want to work as a generalist, there is nothing wrong with working as a generalist. But for me, what I found is that I would have so many different client issues coming in that I was trying to find the next best therapeutic approach or the next best tool or the next best strategy. And because I wasn’t building on the same repertoire of clients, I never felt that I was getting the competence that I needed to build. Whereas when I started niching my practice and I was able to start working with the same type of clients, I was actually building my toolkit and my strategies that really helped me overcome that imposter syndrome piece.

The other piece, though, too, and this even goes into, because I know you mentioned starting a podcast, right. When I first started my podcast, even when I started my blog before that, self-doubts showed up. And I know that some listeners might resonate with trying to put themselves out there, whether it’s social media, Psychology Today, their website, whatever it is, it’s putting ourselves out there go can be tough because we’re always imagining that someone is going to say something. They’re not going to like what I have to say. I’m going to put this out in the world. I’m going to get all this negative reviews and negative comments and no one’s going to follow me and so forth. And I can tell you that I have never, never had a negative response from my blogs, from my podcasts. And actually, only yesterday I received an email from someone who listened to one of my podcasts and said, I am so glad that you put this out in the world because this helped me move forward in my private practice. And as a result, that made me feel so good. So, I’ve actually received lots of positive feedback. I haven’t received any negative. Knock on wood. I want to knock on wood at that. But in saying that, even if I did, it just means that it just didn’t resonate with them. And it wasn’t aligned with them. And my podcast might not be the best resource for them. Obviously, I had to build that. But that fear of the “what if” Usually the what if never happens and the stuff that we really want to see happen happens because we’re putting ourselves out there.

Dalton: Yeah, totally. I agree. And I want to pull on fear and uncertainty thing because I think that’s so true. And what’s funny is that fear and uncertainty is also a positive driver. So, when I look at myself, a lot of what’s moved me forward is a little bit of fear and a little bit of uncertainty, but too much of that can be overwhelming. And what I found in the physio space is like, what happens is you get out of school and you’re basically a generalist because you learn a lot of different areas. And then now you’re going into a more specific area and you feel like you don’t have enough knowledge. And what people do is they have fear that they’re not going to be able to help people. And then they have uncertainty around how they show up as a clinician and what they should be doing. And that really drives people to go out and just take a bunch of continuing education courses in hopes that taking more information in will actually fill that gap of fear and uncertainty because they’re like, “Oh if I just know more I’m going to be able to feel better and help people.” but what I actually find in our space is that that actually drives more fear and uncertainty because now you’re learning more information and more information and you’re like still feeling like “Wow, I have all this information there’s so much to know but I don’t know what to do with it and how to apply it.” And it actually like really drives that further.

And what I’ve found is understanding how you want to show up and who you want to be and how you want to practice and what your standards are. Once you set those, you now can go out and take courses or you can try and apply stuff that’s based off of how you show up and what your standards are and that’s going to make it a lot easier for you to pick and choose what’s best for you. When you don’t know any of that you’re just filling that gap with more information or more courses that I feel just drives more fear and uncertainty. Which is kind of backwards when it seems like that’s what you should do, but it’s not necessarily the best thing to do right off the bat, I don’t think.

Kayla: I want to use an analogy of a toolkit versus a garage. So, if you really focus on building a toolkit that has relevant tools or strategies in that toolkit, that’s going to be a lot more effective and a lot more efficient than having a garage full of tools placed all over the place. When I look at all these continuing education credits and trying to chase the next best thing. Basically, we’re filling that garage and kind of hoarding all these tools. But it doesn’t mean that when we actually need them, we can find them and that it’s actually efficient for when we’re using them.

And something else that you talked about too. I always say competence versus confidence. They’re two different things, right? Competency is when we’re building on those trainings and we’re learning new things. But being more competent doesn’t mean that’s going to make you more confident. And confidence is built. By moving towards whatever the fear is, whether it’s a self-doubt, whether it’s fear of failure, whatever it is that you’re fearful of, it’s moving towards that despite the fear, because when you move towards that, that’s when you start building the confidence, because you’re having the courage to face it anyway.

So going back to our examples is putting out a podcast. The first episode, I don’t know about you. But for me, putting that first couple episodes out there was so anxiety provoking. But now I love it, right? Because I built the confidence. I started putting episode after episode after episode. And after that, I realized, the worst isn’t going to happen. And if anything, what I really wanted was to help people, help therapists design the practices that they love. And I’m getting that feedback that that’s what I’m doing. So, if I allowed self-doubt to stop me, I wouldn’t be able to help other people. I wouldn’t be able to help the listeners. I wouldn’t be able to do what I think my calling is. So again, I built confidence. I didn’t necessarily have it when I first put my first episode out.

Dalton: Yeah, totally. I would agree with you on that. It’s funny to go back and actually listen to some of my early episodes of the podcast, but yeah, I use a similar idea. I just call it like earned confidence. The only way you’re going to gain confidence is by earning it and you earn it by doing it, which oftentimes when you do it, it results in maybe a little bit of failure. Maybe you’re feeling a little bit silly. But like you just start to stack and build off of that. So yeah, I totally agree with that.

Building Authority as a New Grad

Kayla: So, I know that there’s new grads or students out there listening and they’re like, I want to go into private practice. But of course, self-doubt and imposter syndrome showing up you know, “I don’t necessarily have all of this experience as my own colleagues in the field do.” so how can students or new grads build authority in private practice and in business?

Dalton: Yeah, it’s a good question. I believe that, students, and even new grads, as you move into practice, you hold a lot more authority in the space than you think. And it’s hard because you come out again, and there’s all this information, and you feel like you don’t know anything. But the level of knowledge that you do have is actually quite high. Like you just spent four years in undergrad degree, two years in a master’s degree. In Ontario, you’ve been on placement. You’ve done a lot more than you think, and you have a lot more knowledge than you think. So, I think just knowing that like, “Hey, I can go and have an impact on people right away out of school” is something that I really try to encourage new grads to have.

When I was in physio school, there’s this idea around you need X amount of experience to start to get to a level of being this clinician that can really impact a lot of people. And I think there are to some degree, that’s true. Like I think experience really does help you become a better clinician. But I think you can actually really impact people a lot more than you think right off the bat. And part of what really helped me build authority for myself and confidence, so to speak, too, is that just going and practicing and get into seeing people as soon as you can, and you’re going to learn like, “Okay, this is what works well. This is what doesn’t work well. Here’s what I need to improve on. Here’s what I do really well.” versus like sometimes when you try to just take all these courses that you think is going to be the thing that’s going to give you this authority, it really is more just getting into practice and learning and figuring that whole thing out. And so that’s a lot of what I think really drives authority in the space and like it just improves your confidence, which just allows you to deliver at a higher level.

And then I think just also for me personally, and I don’t think everyone needs to do this, but posting on social media and providing valuable content and just showing people what you’re learning, I think does allow for you to hold a little bit more authority in the space. Obviously, you can’t be out there, like perpetuating false things or things that aren’t true, but I think that really does help. It really helps build that confidence up when you’re talking about a topic more frequently and you’re learning about a topic more frequently.

I agree. And I also think we come from this assumption that people are always looking at what our trainings are or what our resume looks like. But the truth is, is our clients in private practice, they may have their own things that they want to see in a therapist. But when I first started out, I actually had a client who said to me, the reason that they reached out to me was because I was young, even though I think I might look younger than I actually am, but they reached out to me because they felt that I would relate to them so that I would connect with them. So, obviously, when we think of the word quote unquote young, we don’t necessarily think of 20 plus years experience. So obviously, certain clients think about different things that they want to see in a practitioner, and we can’t always control that, right? I can’t control my age or how I look.

And also, with that, it’s also understanding that our clients are really focused on their own health journey or their own recovery. They’re not necessarily as preoccupied about us. Really, they’re true question is, can you help me? And if you can, how? That’s all they care about.

Dalton: Yeah. And I think a lot of times too– and I don’t mean this in like a disrespectful way, but we know so much more about that particular area than the client does coming in. And one of the things that I do like nowadays is clients come in way more educated than they ever have with the access to information. Which I love that. And I’m a big fan of that. We put out content daily to help educate people. But still you’ve spent a long time learning your particular field. Your knowledge level in that is very high.

And I think sometimes we think that we don’t know as much and the client knows way more than what they actually know. Now I really recognize some little things that are very simple to me or to some of my colleagues are very much like game changing for clients. And that’s because the knowledge gap there is pretty high and that’s not to knock them, but that’s just to show you that you know a lot more than you think. And even if clients come in and they seem like they have some knowledge, which is great. You still hold a lot more knowledge in that realm than they did because this is like your profession and you should have confidence in that. And you only get confidence by practicing and expressing that more.

Kayla: I agree 100 percent because even if you work with, like, I’ll give you an example of my private practice I work with a lot of executives and leaders. Now I used to be a leader in organizations and I ran organizations. But for some people, it could be really intimidating working with a CEO of a big corporation. But at the end of the day, they’re coming to you because they need support, right? And regardless of this person’s education or knowledge on a topic, no one can replace who you are.

So even if we think about all the other private practice owners out there. The one thing that no one can ever replicate is being you and how you show up in the world. Especially for psychotherapists our relationships with our clients, our therapeutic relationship, is the main component of a successful therapeutic relationship. So, being able to focus on building that relationship versus really focusing on what’s the modality that I’m going to work from? Like, how is this going to work? Now, of course we need to know all of that. We need to be evidence-based. But at the end of the day, our clients are not too worried about that they just, again, going back to, can you help me? And then how can you help me? That’s really their main focus.

Dalton: Agreed. Yeah, totally.

Values, Vison and Overcoming Self-Doubt

Kayla: So, we’ve already talked a little bit about clarity. But when we think of, say, values and our vision and all of these types of things, is there anything else that you can share why or how this can help people overcome imposter syndrome?

Dalton: Yeah, I think the way that I’ve always used it is identifying what I value as a clinician or as a person in the standard that I want to hold is that as long as I’m meeting that standard and I’m staying within those values, then the outcome of what happens isn’t necessarily that important. So, for example, if I’m working with a client and I’m sticking to my values as a clinician and the standards that we set here at the movement and we’re following those and we’re doing those the best that we can and we’re implementing those things. And the outcome is that that client maybe doesn’t get the best experience or they don’t get to where they want to go, or maybe they just haven’t gotten better and they fall off and they go somewhere else, whatever it may be. As long as I’m withholding those standards and the values that we set and that we believe is the best way that we want to show up as clinicians, and that’s also based off evidence-based practice. As long as we’re doing that, then It’s okay that that outcome didn’t go the way that we wanted it to go.

And I think that really has helped me be okay with the fact that like, hey, there’s a lot of factors that goes into people’s recovery that are out of my control. And as long as I’m following the standards and reflecting honestly on those that I’ve set for myself or that the clinic has said, or whatever it may be, that’s okay that that outcome didn’t go the way that I wanted to. And that really helps the imposter syndrome because you’re not putting everything on you. It’s not always on you as a clinician. Now, the opposite is positive when you reflect and you didn’t follow your standards or you weren’t leading with your values and that client has a bad experience or a bad outcome. Then you get to honestly reflect and be like, “Oh, you know what? Well, I didn’t do this very well and I wasn’t holding the standard very well. That’s on me. I need to reflect on that. I need to improve on that for the next one and move forward.” And I think that really helps give you some grounding in being able to deal with the uncertainty of rehab and the uncertainty of humans. Because working in a service industry with other humans, the outcomes are very much affected by a lot of things. So I think that’s how I’ve always used the standards and the values to really help manage that imposter syndrome. Because I think a lot of that imposter syndrome comes from like, “Oh, if someone doesn’t get better, it’s all on me. I’ve done something wrong” or vice versa, if someone does get better, “Oh, I did all that.” That’s also not a good place to be coming from.

Kayla: I agree 100%, and I think something you mentioned too. Now, of course, we do need to focus on the ethical requirements or ethical codes as well as standards of practice. But the other thing is that we are human and we do grow and we do learn along through the process. And even when you look at your colleague who has been in practice maybe five, ten, twenty years, they have already been through the scary parts of it. So, it’s easy to look at someone and say, you know what, you’re so confident or you’re so great. Or you have all of these therapeutic modalities, and you have a full caseload and of these types of things.

But if you’re just starting out, even if you’re in your first year or second year, if you’re building up your caseload, you have to realize that other people they’ve been building up that caseload for years and years. So, comparing yourself to them is like apples to oranges. As much as we want to be there. That’s the goal. And it’s okay to look at other people and say, that person’s an inspiration. And I want to be that person or be like that person in five, 10, 20 years from now. But it’s also acknowledging that there’s beauty into the start-up process. It’s scary. But there’s also beauty in that. And try to avoid to compare yourself to other people who’ve been in it for years because they’ve been through the hard part already.

Dalton: Totally. Yeah. I love that.

Additional Insights

Kayla: So, do you have any additional advice or insights for listeners who might be strongly with imposter syndrome and how they can mitigate, manage, or overcome it in their own practice?

Dalton: Outside of what we talked about so far, I think the other thing that’s really helped me is just surrounding myself with people that are on the same path as me and in similar places. So, where I am specifically and then who are a little bit ahead of me and already have kind of gone on the journey. Like you were kind of alluding to and have been through, let’s say the mud a little bit and learn some of those things that they could offer some insight. I think really surrounding yourself with those people is super important. For me, it was my now business partner, Will, we went to school together. We started practice together. We would talk about all these things together and we would help each other because we would realize that we’re going through similar things and we’re having similar challenges.

And then I had really good mentors who were a little bit ahead of the game than me and doing things that I wanted to do that I would be able to talk to and be like, “Hey, here’s where I’m at. Here’s what I’m struggling with. Or here’s what I’m doing well. What do you think about this?” And they could offer me some insight on how to manage those things and/or maybe avoid some common mistakes that they made early on. And so that’s probably the other thing on top of it that’s really helpful. And I think the beautiful part about the internet and social media, as much as people knock it, I’m a true believer in the fact that it really allows us to connect with people that are on that same path that don’t have to be in our city or in our country. And can actually really align with you if they have the same standards and pursuing the same thing. So there’s plenty of opportunity to surround yourself with those people these days. And I think that’s really important.

Kayla: I agree having that either accountability partner or that mentor is really important because again, it’s really easy to get stuck into the mindset of comparing ourselves to others, to self-doubt. But having someone else there to support you, whether it’s sharing their own journeys, whether it’s supporting you overcome some of these things, it’s really helpful because the other thing about owning a business, especially if you’re just starting out and you’re a private practice versus a group practice, it can be very lonely, right? Because you don’t necessarily have other people to talk to or to chat with. So having that mentor can be supportive in so many ways. And it also shows that you’re not alone. Because sometimes we think it’s like, “Oh, I’m the only one experiencing this.” But if you have a mentor or an accountability partner, you can support each other through that. So, I agree 100%.

Dalton: And another thing I’ll add on there quickly, too, is I find, especially if you’re a couple years out, or even if you are a new grad, like teaching other people what you know as well is like super helpful. So that’s another thing that I liked about social media was we were educating the public and putting stuff out there that was actually really helpful to our growth because when you’re also trying to teach things you learn a lot about that particular area as well. So that’s another thing I’ll add and I don’t think we sometimes think about that. We’re always talking about how we can consume from mentors, but I think also like passing on some knowledge and trying to educate and teach really is a great way to solidify some of the things that I’m learning and I’m going through as well. So, I just want to add that.

Kayla: I love that. And that actually brings me to something that I haven’t shared before, which I do wonder if it happens for other therapists as well, is that I know when I am providing counseling for clients, that I often take a lot away from that personally. Obviously, the approach is not meant to be about me, but I almost always take something away from it and I learn something that is helpful for myself. So, it shows that being able to teach or being able to support someone through it can also be supportive for ourselves as well.

Dalton: Yeah, totally. I would say some of my biggest personal development, realizations have come from clients that I’ve worked with and just us going through the stuff together has really influenced my growth as a person, as a clinician. And that’s what a relationship is, right, you reference d the therapeutic relationship that’s the type of relationship that we really try to build with our clients. It goes both ways, right? You guys are working with each other versus, I’m teaching just to you. So, I totally, totally agree with that.

Dalton’s 12-Week Mentorship Program

Kayla: So, if any listener would like to take this conversation to the next step, and maybe they’re even looking for mentorship, do you offer any services to help them overcome say imposter syndrome, self-doubt, or just anything else that they’re experiencing within their business or practice?

Dalton: Yeah, totally. So, over the years, we’ve gotten the opportunity to work with a lot of clinicians that we bring on to our team here at our physical location in this. This kind of led us to realize there’s a lot of value into the principles and the things that we’re going through with our clinicians now that are on our team that we wanted to put that out to more people.

So, we created an online mentorship program that is basically 12 weeks in length. And it takes people through six modules that we believe are a good core principles of things to start off with as a clinician. And the thing is, it has nothing to do with adding more clinical knowledge, and it has everything to do with adding frameworks to deliver the information and the knowledge that you already have.

So, for example, we start off the mentorship with the imposter syndrome module where we dive into what we call is your super physio, which is highlighting what your standards, your visions, your mission is as a physio. And that is your super physio that you’re going to use as a guiding framework for your career. And then we build off that with talking about client experience. So how do you actually interact with the client and give them a really high-quality experience? And what are some little things that you can do as a clinician to set this up and make sure you’re doing it every time so that this client has a good experience? Because what we’ve realized is most of the time when people fall off, is they’re not having a good experience. Oftentimes it doesn’t even have to do so much with our clinical knowledge as it does with the experience of the plan of care. So that’s a big part.

And then we talk about just how a simple practice is a better practice. So, we really talk about some principles that we use as clinicians that simplify things. Doesn’t mean it’s easy, but it really gives a framework for a lot of the broad knowledge we’ve learned in physio school, and it kind of compartmentalize it in a way that’s a lot easier to deliver. And I feel like that’s always a big struggle for new grads, there’s so much information that they don’t know how to put it in a good framework. And so we really go through that.

And then we actually do talk a little bit about some sales and some marketing and how we’ve view sales and marketing as clinicians, which a lot of that has to do with building relationships and solving problems. And how do we communicate to clients that we have the ability to solve their problems and how do you connect with the people that fill your cup up and that you want to work with on a daily basis so that you don’t run into burnout. So, it focuses more on those things as opposed to like, “Hey, here’s this new assessment protocol that we’re using to highlight or, rehab like a knee. That’s not what our mentorship is about. There’s a ton of good mentorships out there that, that do that to a high level. We’re kind of focused more on those things that I just talked about. And we’ve had really good success with the people that have come through it already. And we’re super excited to be able to introduce it to more people because it’s coming at a mentorship from a bit of a different angle in the space than you typically see.

PT Coffee Cast Podcast

Kayla: Fabulous. It sounds like a really great program. And I know we’ve already referenced this, but you do have a podcast too, that you would like to share with listeners. Can you tell us a little bit about what the podcast is about?

Dalton: Totally. Yeah. So, the podcast is basically what made us want to put all this into a mentorship, we’ve been putting out episodes since 2018. And it originally started out as us in physio school, interviewing clinicians about what they were doing in practice and how it was different maybe from what we were learning in school. And as we evolved as clinicians that then became us being clinicians and what we were learning about practices, new grads, and sharing that with our listeners. And now that we’ve kind of developed in our careers. It’s now more us taking on a mentorship role and using the podcast as a way to provide that mentorship for free. So, most of what we talk about on the podcast is the mentorship, it’s just in different ways.

What makes the mentorship a lot different is it’s more nuanced and it’s more packaged together to really deliver home all of the things we’re trying to teach people. And the other benefit is that you’re working alongside other clinicians and other people who are on the same journey and there’s a lot of value to sharing those experiences with each other. But yeah, the podcast is very much a lot of what we talked about today. And a lot of like, how you can improve some of these skills that I just mentioned about the mentorship is a lot of what we deliver in the podcast episodes. And that podcast is called the PT Coffee Cast because Will and I bonded over crushing coffee and talking about rehab.

Kayla: Amazing. So, to listen to Dalton’s podcast, PT Coffee Cast, check out kayladas.com/daltonlainopodcast.

And if you’d like to book a call with Dalton regarding his 12-week mentorship program, head to kayladas.com/daltonlainoprogram.

And just so you know how it’s spelled, it’s D A L T O N L A I N O.

Or you can simply scroll down to the show notes and click on the link.

Conclusion

Dalton, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today and providing these strategies for managing, mitigating, and overcoming imposter syndrome in our private practices.

Dalton: Yeah, Kayla, thanks so much. It was a great conversation. I had a lot of fun.

Kayla: Thank you everyone for tuning into today’s episode. And I hope you join me again soon on the Designer Practice Podcast.

Until next time, bye for now!

Credits & Disclaimers

Music by ItsWatR from Pixabay

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