This specialty kind of fell into my lap after years of “kicking and screaming,” well, not really, just saying no a lot.

In March of 2018, I attended a continuing education course at Springfield College with a student of mine at the time (who had just completed his final clinical affiliation for split outpatient ortho and acute care in a small community hospital in Connecticut) on pelvic floor therapy. Each year I looked at the offerings for clinical instructors and nothing really excited me, but this time was different. When it was time to choose I sat down with my student and asked him what he was going to and we chose to go to the pelvic health course as he was going into outpatient orthopedics and knew he might come in contact with pregnant or postpartum patients that might need the education on pelvic health. I was excited to learn more about the pelvic floor and what that really entailed. Every time this pelvic floor physical therapist spoke about patients and the conditions she treated and how they exuded confidence going on vacation, going to an event, or even being more intimate with their partners I thought “This might be for me.” I was intrigued and excited to learn, for probably the first time, in at least 2 years.

The next day I was approached by my manager about starting a pelvic health program at our local hospital together as a team; and when I say approached, I mean there was a note on my desk that read “Please see me” and she signed her first initial. My first instinct was, “Oh no, what did I do now?” I had been skeptical for approximately 2 years as the topic came up about every other month at our staff meetings, however, without a doubt or skip in my breath I said “Sure, why not?!” At this point, I thought what do I have to lose? I was getting reimbursed to take these continuing education classes, I was getting to travel, and I was learning alongside a colleague. I went home that night and told my parents what I was going to do and they thought I was joking. My friends and boyfriend said, “You’re going to do what?” Within 1 week we were signed up for our first pelvic floor series courses through Herman & Wallace starting with Pelvic Floor 1 (now Pelvic Function 1) in Virginia Beach, VA. I began seeing patients within 3 months of taking PF1 after developing the history sheet and marketing with local OBGYN/midwife offices. Fast forward to August 2018, we took PF2A and in October 2018, I took PF2B, both in Boston, MA.