My journey started in 2017 when I felt I was at a breaking point in my human PT career. At this point, I had been practicing in the outpatient orthopedic setting for more than 13 years. I reached a point where I no longer felt satisfied in what I was doing and was on autopilot. The long hours and days started to take a toll on my physical and mental health. This all had been compounding for many years and I knew deep down there was something else out there for me and that I had a greater purpose in this world. I knew something had to change or else I was heading down an even darker path.

I truly started guessing my career altogether. This is where the deep soul searching came in. I kept asking myself, “What is the one constant that no matter what always makes me happy?” Every time I asked myself this question, I came up with the same answer, “It’s my dog Minzi”. Every time I look at her or she is just hanging out with my husband and I, she puts a huge smile on my face and warms my heart. She, along with my husband, had seen me at my darkest moments, my lowest points, but all she had to do is look over at me or sit up against me as if she were saying, “Mom, it’s all going to be ok”. During this time, I felt my bond with Minzi grow more than it ever had. My love for her grew stronger everyday as I was trying to figure things out.

At this point, I knew very little about canine rehab. I did some observation with a local vet in 2015, but didn’t feel ready to switch careers at that time. I decided it was time to re-evaluate things and start observing again to see if this was the direction I wanted to head in. So, I started observing canine rehab again with one of the local vet offices and this time was different. This time my heart was involved and I KNEW this was it. THIS was my purpose and what would truly make me happy everyday. In July 2017 I took a huge leap and started registering for courses through the Canine Rehabilitation Institute. I also started working for a different company and only treating patients two days a week. I was slowly starting to feel happy again!

My coursework began in early 2018 and my world started to change. Not only was I learning about canine rehab, but I was also meeting people in my classes from all over the world with different backgrounds. I was learning from them as well and building new relationships and I loved every minute of it! The last part of my certification process was completing a one week internship. I headed out west to Colorado State University for one of the most intense, but rewarding weeks of my life! There was so much valuable information that I learned that week and was so happy that I had embarked on this journey to begin a new chapter in my life. Now I needed to figure out what I wanted to do with this certification.

Part 2 talks about my venture into the business world and how Movin’ Tails started!