Leaning into Teaching
Physical therapy training makes generalists of us all, which is fairly standard across medicine. They teach you the bulk basics and how to keep patients safe, but the majority of relevant information (or at least its real-world application) comes from actually working. Clinical internships fill this gap, offering powerful experiences where you absorb another provider's style and approach.
When I graduated, I was hunting for a teaching hospital position. These institutions focus not just on individual professional development but on advancing the field itself through active research, residency programs, and graduate courses at affiliated universities. I had my sights set on this path. Then I graduated in December 2019, and if you can read between the lines, those initial career plans were immediately squashed.
What felt like catastrophic timing at the moment eventually brought me to Mexico and to ROOTS. Starting my own clinic as a new grad was never part of the plan, but here we are.
The theme that drew me to teaching hospitals never went away, it just found a different home. Over these five years at ROOTS, I've influenced and been influenced by every patient I've seen and every provider I’ve worked with. We learn every day by truly listening to patients, staying current with research, identifying patterns, and collaborating with colleagues.
I always say I hope I'm not even half the physio I'll eventually become because it’s each of these interactions that build you. Even across the thousands of sessions I’ve performed to date, one thread has remained highest priority: teaching and learning.
What sets ROOTS apart in Mexico City is our commitment to weaving this exchange into everything we do.
It shows up in how we structure your first session, in our back-end team meetings, through mentorship programs, and in supplementary projects. We spend real time listening to one another, theorizing, experimenting, and bringing you along with us. Every patient who walks through our doors should leave understanding not just their home exercises but the systems they're navigating with us, gradually learning the machine they live within through genuine collaboration and consultation.
As I've leaned into this identity, something interesting has happened. The type of providers wanting to affiliate with ROOTS has shifted. My dream has always been for ROOTS to be a brand automatically associated with this quality and intention, and little by little, we're moving there.
Over the past five years, this reputation has attracted international professionals and patients seeking deeper care and investment. We've worked with people from over 60 countries and our small staff of 6 represents 5 different countries.
The intercultural business and professional practice developments I've witnessed have been one of my greatest joys. Each of these perspectives is supercharging our growth as both a clinic and as individuals. It's exactly what I want more of in the years ahead.
This alignment means doubling down on our identity as a learning institution.
Beautiful things happen when we commit with passion to leading with learning. It means choosing 1:1 hour-long sessions over doubling up for profit. It means refusing to overfill our schedules. It means blocking time for mentorships. It means prepping, planning, thinking, and discussing cases behind the scenes to combine our collective strengths for your benefit.
If you're a patient looking for providers who will genuinely invest in your understanding of your own body, who will bring their collective expertise to your case, and who see education as inseparable from treatment, this is who we are.
If you're a provider who values depth over volume, who wants to practice in an environment that prioritizes learning and development, who believes that the best outcomes come from true collaboration, this is the direction we're heading.
