Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Lauren Mallari-Snyder PT, DPT.
Lauren, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
After graduating physical therapy school in 2011, I worked for a physical therapy company in San Clemente, CA where I quickly recognized the need for women to receive specific focus. Women were opening up to me about having issues like pain with intercourse, incontinence, back and hip pain, or a bunch of other issues related to being pregnant and postpartum. It boggled my mind to think of how women, and particularly pregnant and postpartum women, are such an integral part of creating our future and a healthy society but they were not being taken care of fully!
After San Clemente, I moved to Chicago, IL and got to expand my knowledge with more post doctorate training, learning how to blend my skills of treating orthopedics, women’s health, and pelvic floor dysfunctions.
These jobs were great! I got to run on the beach before work with one of my best friends when in San Clemente and got to work alongside my then-boyfriend, and learn from a plethora of amazingly talented physical therapists when in Chicago. But I worked a ton.
I had become so passionate in treating my patients with this blended approach from the mindset of wanting to show people a different style of treatment, to enhance function as opposed to just treating symptoms, and figured if I was going to work this hard, I might as well be doing it for myself! I decided to open THRIVE Physical Therapy San Diego mid-2018, my husband joined in December 2018, and the rest is (recent) history!
Has it been a smooth road?
It’s been kind of bumpy but I’m not mad about it! I didn’t and don’t expect it to be a smooth road because let’s be real, I went to school to learn how to use my brain and hands to help people move better and have less pain, NOT to learn how to run a business. And, I wouldn’t have learned much if it was smooth!
The biggest struggles have been within myself rather than within my business, which I distinctly remember multiple entrepreneur friends and acquaintances warning me about. They always gave some rendition of “Owning a business really just lays all your shit out on the table and forces you to handle it.” Now, I understand.
One failure, now improved to the level of “struggle”, has been my attempt to organize my headspace and time to do all of the tasks and things I didn’t even know were things while trying to have an outside-of-work life. Whoof, this is a doozy, but it’s coming along! The biggest struggle of them all though has been and continues to be (But I’m working on it!) the guilt I feel when I just can’t, or reluctantly decide, to not do all the things. This strange mix of FOMO and guilt throw me around the ring daily and I’m a dancer, not a wrestler.
My advice for women who are starting their journey? Well, if you want to take advice from a 33-year-old who’s still figuring her shit out and coming to realize that she will forever be “figuring her shit out,” then here you go: maybe don’t focus on “figuring your shit out” and checking all the boxes but rather focus on how you’re going to present to YOURSELF WHILE you’re figuring it out. Because, in my experience, we’re never going to have it all figured out, so we might as well do it kind of gracefully (or forcefully or strategically or however the heck you want to do it) in YOUR OWN DAMN MIND, that you can feel at ease and proud of what you’re actively doing right now and not worrying about the fact that you haven’t got it all figured out yet. This could also be a great way to avoid the whole FOMO and guilt situation!
So, go ahead: make your checklist (I love me a good checklist!). But do pay attention to how you’re getting there so you can see, feel, and be proud of all of the work you’re doing RIGHT NOW.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with THRIVE Physical Therapy San Diego – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Whoops! I talked about this some, up there! Here’s the short.
I am a doctor of physical therapy, Co-Founder and Co-Owner of THRIVE Physical Therapy San Diego, with my fellow DPT husband, Aaron Snyder. I treat both men and women for movement-based issues (think: “Oh, my back hurts after I work out” or “My hip hurts when I stand up from my desk” or “My knee hurts when I go downhill”). But I specialize in working with women who are pregnant and postpartum for all types of movement, pain, preventative and preparatory issues, and am known for my work to address diastasis recti, urinary incontinence, prolapse and pain during intercourse.
What sets me apart is my ability to provide manual, internal and/or external treatment of the pelvic floor and my functional/orthopedic/pelvic floor conscious blended assessment and treatment approach where I’m always manually addressing the alignment, mobility, neuromuscular control, strength, and motor control components of the client.
Do you have any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general? What has worked well for you?
If you’re looking for a doctor of physical therapy to mentor you, do your homework to find out what type of physical therapy you’re interested in. I suggest calling the physical therapy clinic directly and just asking if they offer mentorship. If you are looking to be mentored by a specific doctor, then I’d try to find their email online, or just ask the administrator who likely answered the phone if “so-and-so” provides mentorship opportunities. Doctors of physical therapy are generally much easier to get in touch with than medical doctors. And of course, there are social media! Social media is fantastic for finding doctors of physical therapy who own their own companies.
Networking can range from a nightmare to super fun, and you’re going to probably have to get through a couple of nightmares before you figure out your style. Just chalk it up to another learning point! What works well for me is continuing to support and deepen already established relationships and going to smaller gatherings that aren’t focused on selling yourself to other people but rather hanging out and learning about something else or something you all have in common. I attend “Coffee and Conversations” at Hatched Collective in Normal Heights, “Morning Mindfuel” with Dames Collective at various places in San Diego, and “Founders Live” in East Village. I have also hosted and attended the San Diego Birth Network’s socials, attend and give workshops and talks with other practitioners in the Women’s Health field and enjoy getting coffee, lunch, dinner, or drinks with people I hit it off with!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sdthrive.com
- Phone: 619.354.4888
- Email: Lauren@sdthrive.com
- Instagram: @thrivephysicaltherapysd
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/thrivephysicaltherapysd/
Image Credit:
Brandi Schutt of Thoughts By Brandi
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