These transcripts are AI-generated, and spelling may not be 100% accurate (especially for names, places, and methodologies).
there is a huge list of outgrowing waitlist
I guess at the moment for kids in need of therapy
and if the people who work with them every day
can implement some small changes
us working with them
I think we know the stats that we work
with them once a week
it’s like 0.095% of their week
but they see their educators and their teachers daily
and so something small can really make a huge impact
Hello and Welcome to The Healthy Business Lab Podcast
where we interview and have amazing chats with awesome allied health
business owners to share their learnings
insights and everything in between
Today I’m super excited to have Shakila Ramathasan
from Speak to Sparkle and
welcome to the show, Shakila
Thank you, Craig
thank you so much for having me today
it’s great to have you on board
and again we’ve
had a chat before now and I’m excited to be sharing your sort of model
to get insights of that but I do want to start with
your expertise at the end of the day
your speech pathology and you know
you focus on kids
and the pediatric space as business owners
I always say we need to look after ourselves and also our families
if we’re looking after our families and looking after ourselves
then it’s usually easier to manage our business life as well
so I’d love for you to give a bit of a background around yourself
and your expertise
and how you sort of work with kids in the speech pathology space
because I’m sure there’s some insights there that are
busy business owners out there with their own kids
might be able to pick up some sort of key little
insights that you get from
you sharing a bit of your background and a bit of your
expertise as to what you’ve got you to where you are today
yeah, perfect!
my business name
so like you said Speak to Sparkle Speech Pathology
and I work with lots of littleies
I mean up until the age of 18
but my favourite age is the under fives and primary school years
and honestly it’s so rewarding to work with these little people
I learn more from them than they learn from me
to be honest, their resilience,
their drive families that we work with as well
like they really just make this profession so rewarding
and I have to admit that
it’s been one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my life
is to work with these little people and their families
I started this business when
I had just had my daughter
so I’ve got a four year old at the moment
she was about 9 months old when I went back to work
so I started my own service
where I wanted it to be accessible to families in need
and also from my own perspective as well
I have a young family and I know the importance of
not being able to
go to the clinic for appointments on a weekly
fortnightly
sort of monthly basis and working with families in their homes
in the childcare, daycares
kinders schools
whatever in the community
wherever is most beneficial for the family
I wanted to be able to provide that service there for them
and so we work alongside our families to ensure that
they feel supported it’s where they want
and it works with their family dynamic
a lot of families that we work with
you know work 9-5 jobs, Monday to Friday
and then
they don’t have the opportunity to take their kids to the clinic
after 5 – 6 o’clock and to be honest
it’s very late for these little people to be learning at this point
and so working with the children in their everyday settings
so the daycares, kinders schools
allows us to also work alongside the educators
to teach them the skills and strategies
and then also liaise with parents
sometimes the parents may meet us
just prior to drop off
and we have a conversation with them
and show them some of the techniques
or post the sessions we do telehealth calls with the families again
teach them some more functional skills that they can do
in an everyday environment
kids get homework enough
parents have enough pressure on themselves
and I know that as a parent myself
so making it easy and accessible
that was our goal
that’s awesome! i love to sort of
delve into the processes and the thoughts that you went through in
that phase of that model that you were talking about is
it’s not the most common one out there again
is most people have the clinic
so again your background of getting to that point
I can hear the all the why’s as to the benefits that
you’re seeing from that but what was the decision making process
that you went through when you sort of went actually no
this is the way that I’m going to do
I am going to do this a little bit different
what was it like back at that point in time
I think for me in my career
I have done working in clinics before
and we see the same kids day in
day out the same family
the same people and what I really enjoy about our model at the moment
is every day is different
although we’re seeing the same child
if their sessions are weekly or fortnightly, monthly
whatever it may be we’re seeing different teachers
we’re seeing different educational support officers
we’re seeing different educators is in the daycare settings
we’re meeting directors of centers
we’re meeting leaders in the room
we’re also meeting support staff
and these are all the people that are on the ground level
working with these kids on an everyday basis
and I remember as even when I was working in a clinic prior
I had done a few visits already
and I thought gosh
this is amazing
that you get to not only work with the child in their everyday setting
while they’re playing
at daycare inside
outside with their friends
building those social skills with their network themselves
having them come into the clinic
and building skills in pragmatics or social skills
is one thing to work with us
or in a small group with their parents and siblings
but working in their everyday environment
I thought was just so beneficial
and we definitely see more progress
working in that space than we do sort of in that clinic
four walls, white walls environment
I think that was
one of the questions that was bubbling away there
as you were talking and having worked in
an environment where you kind of did do this side by side
at that time
was that a really sort of pivotal time that made you look at that
the wider picture and go hey
on this hand this is really nourishing for me
this brings a whole lot of benefits for me and what I do as well
exactly
but on the other side of that
the outcomes that you were seeing
is that now you got similar client over here
and a similar one over there
but once potentially you could see different outcomes as a result
of the different approach
is that a fair comment?
yes, definitely
and I think building those meaningful relationships was huge for us
for me in particular
going out and working with these educators and teachers
I’m not just working with them for that one particular client
I’m giving them knowledge and skills to use across the board
and so if that one thing that they take away from us and use it
saying a whole class approach
or use it with other children who have similar needs
we should see the reduced need of
the amount of kids that are coming through
and are on wait list
look, there is a huge list of outgrowing waitlist
I guess at the moment for kids in need of therapy
and if the people who work with them every day
can implement some small changes
us working with them, I think we know the stats
you know if we work with them once a week
it’s like 0.095% of their week
but they see their educators and their teachers daily
and so something small can really make a huge impact
I love that! I love the idea
I just got so little goosebumps here in that thinking of again
the the ripple effect of
we could do the same thing that is within four walls
and nobody else sees the benefit of some of
the gold that you’re imparting with the child and the caregiver
at that point in time
but then that ability to be able to share it in an environment that
has the rub off and the ripple effect through the other
children that will be within those spaces
if you’re doing social stuff
and again the educators that are also there
that educators are amazing
and because they naturally generally want to learn as well
they’re picking up all the little insights
which I know even as a parent and somebody who loves to be educated
sitting in some of those sessions one on one
how many things it’s applied for this child
but it actually applies for this one over here
and I do coaching over here
and oh okay
there’s just so many benefits for that process
it’s great, I mean
I’ve built so many wonderful relationships over the years
and in particular
so many of these educators and teachers will say to me
Oh, I’ve just got this one child and there’s
XYZ that we want to work with
and how can we start this conversation with the family
and of course it’s all confidential
we don’t exchange names or anything like that
but they’re always talking about a child
and how can we make a difference for them
and so I love speaking to them about why don’t you try this or
you know show them this social media page
there is this resource out there on this particular website
and there’s so many ways to access information now
and just building and having these conversations regularly
it has just been paramount with a lot of these children and families
yeah and at the end of the day
communication is such an essential part of the human experience
and getting in at the ground floor of that and being out of
have an impact on that is
i can just see your facial lighting up there
and you can hear it in your voice as to
to what you do
so I’d love to sort of talk a little bit on the business side of that now is
and we always talk about experiments here in
The Healthy Business Lab
of things we’ve done that have worked
that haven’t worked
that we’ve learned from and experimenting with stuff
obviously the model itself being more of a mobile
rather than a practice based approach is a pretty big experiment
talk go through some of the
challenges with that model
though from
a business management perspective
I think in the pediatric space
one of the big challenges for us is using time effectively
although the flexibility is amazing
especially for parents who are in this role or
you know business owners who are also parents
being able to see clients and still be able to drop your kids
to and from school
like the flexibility is great
although one of the biggest challenges are working with schools
so in schools they have specialist subjects
they have literacy subjects
they have lots of different things and each school has their own need
so to work with the schools firstly
building the relationship is vital
but there are certain schools that we can’t go in
during a specialist time we can’t go in
we have to only book certain slots
whereas other schools are quite flexible
come in whenever you want
we need the help
so I think trying to ensure that we’re using our time effectively
it is vital
there some days I having those big gaps in between clients
so it might be an hour to an hour and a half
because I can’t actually go and see this client until
it’s say 1:30
yes, it’s great when there’s a time beforehand to do any administration work
but you are on the road and so the fatigue kicks in actually each day
driving to and from clients as well
whether it’s their home or school
so fatigue would definitely be one
and just using time effectively to ensure that we’re delivering
the service
but also having the time for ourselves
to continually upskill and do the administration work that we need to
as well
yeah, cool! I love it! love what you’ve shared there
so I think that the first chat that we had you were
you pulled over on the side of the road
you were in between appointments at the time as well
so again
it’s lovely that you’ve shared sort of your experience of that
so how have you gone about finding the mix
or the approach to all those different things that you want to cover off
from looking after yourself as your business owner
practitioner from the business side of things
and getting the right schedules in place
to then making sure that you’re getting time for the education
and been out of manage that effectively
again, a lot of the time
you hear about the idea of the task switching can be distracting
and tying to that fatigue that you’ve touched upon there
it sounds like that’s a very real thing
so what have you done to try to
I don’t like using the word overcome
but the way that you’ve tried to
manage that process for how you work there
so I schedule my week
I keep trying keep mondays as an administrative day
and that may be anything from follow up phone calls
to writing reports to anything upskilling
professional development
I then the other days I do drop off for my own daughter
and then I will start my work day
so my work day will then go up until almost her pick up time
so the school finish time around 3
and then from there I do administration later in the afternoon
I do all the client facing work first
and then in the afternoons
it’s quieter work from home and being able to do your progress
notes follow up emails
phone calls that are as required
during the school holidays though
we do make time to ensure that there is some
an adequate professional development
in a lot more engagement with families
via telehealth a lot of families also go away and they need a break
we also need a break there is
therapy burnout that does happen on both ends
so we ensure that each school holidays
that we allocate the time
that we do our professional development and learning
and at the same time liaise with families who
I guess are most vulnerable and really need that extra
sort of check in with us
we’d might do some telehealth calls during that time
but that’s also our downtime
before we then start up again for a busier term
Oh, I’m loving this on so many levels
in as much as
it sounds as though
you’ve had a very methodical and structured approach to working
a way that’s going to work for you
as much as it is going to work for your clientele there
and having a young family myself
and I can just hear that
reverberating through what you’ve set up for you and your little one
and hearing I’m gonna
so just I’m jotting around furiously here
cause it actually echoes some of the way that I’m reconfiguring
some designing about business and the like
and I love how on a Monday and I sort of think of
you’ve used the primacy effect quite a bit here
in how you’ve structured your week
we talk about primacy effect from the financial side of things
with the methodology that we use
but Monday we get in
we get done all the admin stuff because it’s good to get that done
get it focused so that if I put it at the end of the week yeah
then it’s unlikely to get done
I don’t have much energy left
and but you’re doing some of the things and later on the week
that gives you the energy
and I can see you bouncing into your client stuff
and on the individual days for the remainder of the week
you’re doing that first thing and then you’re getting work done
and yeah, you’re covering off the admin work a little bit later as well
but I’m presuming that if there is a little bit of overflow
it’s like I’ve got my block on Monday
I can come in I knock it all over and then I’m at it
I’m ready to go
is that a fair way about how you’ve gone about designing that
exactly and the point of having that Monday is to ensure that you’re having that
break before you go into such a busy week
I also break it up midweek
so on a Wednesday I work alongside a pediatrician
so in the clinic setting these are mainly for families who
in a high sort of vulnerable area here in Melbourne
and so the families have access to come to a clinic if need be
there are some families that
they don’t want us to come out to their homes
and that’s completely fine
there are children who also don’t go to daycares or kinders as yet
so they do need a space to come to
so we have that option there for them on a Wednesday
and then we continue the mobile visits on the Thursday and Friday
another thing I do which I think is different other business models
is I leave a communication book for every client
what that is it’s just
a plain book and in there I write notes from the session
any strategies any skills
and this is post session educators have access to it
teachers have access to it
parents have access to it
it works amazingly because if something has gone on that week
or there’s been you know
something that they really want to celebrate even
which I love great stories as well
everything is in there it’s like a one stop shop
it doesn’t get lost in email, people, parents really love that
it works really well for schools
they have educational support officers right in there
the learning support aids well being teachers they might say look
we’ve had a really tricky week
so as soon as I’ve gone in and I’ve had a read and I’ve gone okay
this child’s had a difficult week this week
how can I adapt how I’m going to approach this session
or they’ve had such an amazing week
so what can we do to then ensure that we’re stepping up there
yeah building upon that
that’s so good
and even to touch upon as well that
the framework of sort of term based and holidays
it’s kind of that idea of we’re working full on
but then as humans and on both sides
everybody needs that bit of a breather
whether it’s the telly health call
whether it’s just downtime
let’s consolidate let’s do what we need to do to
Again, which then no doubt feeds into your home life as well where you
want to make sure you just have a bit of time
with the in the holiday time in the space so
it’s encouraging for families
I think they also then have the power to be like
I also need to take a break and just connect and be with our children
and it’s not all about therapy every week, every fortnight
it’s okay to take a break and then to come back
I love it so much and
I’ve got no doubt that our listeners out
there are just taking over as much as what I am around
Again, just loving the intentional approach and the intentional design
starting from no doubt before you started running your
own practice there of how can this work
how does it work for me how does it work for our clientele
how does it work for the ripple effects
and I’ve loved every little bit of that conversation
and the experiments you’ve done there
so I’d love to hear of
some of the transformations that you’ve had
or you’ve seen that sort of
stick in your mind there that you’re
getting off the back of this approach
what’s one or two of those ones
that you can see your face already lighting up a little bit
that there’s so many of them
but if you pick out one or two of the little transformations of
taking somebody from here to the outcomes that they were looking for
I mean, I work with so many families who come to me with a child
who presents his developmental delay from the start
and a lot of families will say
I just don’t know how to play with them
and it sounds simple
but for them they just don’t culturally
I think I used to giving kids the toys
and they just play the modelling
they’re not really sure how
to model how to engage and connect with their children
so my biggest thing for most families
and in particular the ones that have had the biggest changes
is to actually connect with your child first
to build the relationship
the rapport and as we do
it’s not always that you meet a child and you get on you
you’re really working to build that relationship with them
and their families
but I’ve worked with numerous children from trauma backgrounds
I have worked with families who culturally
linguistic and diverse backgrounds
I also speak Tamil as well
so they have a lot of families who will come and see me
and because I can engage with them on that level
and speaking that language
they’re then able to make those changes
there’s lots of taboo around disability and neurodiversity
and so really empowering some of these families
especially the families who initially will say to me
I don’t want anyone to know this is between us
I don’t want anyone to know that my child is autistic or has ADHD
and I make it a point to empower them
to talk about their child and their strengths
because every child is unique
every child is beautiful and has their own strengths and skills
and I want to ensure that the family are able to be proud of that
and yeah, make change
so good
I’m lost for words a little bit there
just pausing to let that settle for
everybody out there and again
that’s what working in the allied health space
that’s what everybody
gets into professions like these for
to have those experiences and have that impact on the communities
that we all serve
thank you so much for sharing
your story, your learnings
your insights, your model and what you’re sort of achieving there
and time has flown by so we’ll start to wrap this up a little bit
but again I’m sure there’s plenty of
other allied health business owners out there
they’ll be interested to connect and
reach out off the the back of hearing you
talk today where’s the best place for people to
find you and get in touch
we are very active on our Instagram
so at Speak to Sparkle
we have constant posts a little bite size post that go out
I think 3 times a week on easy tips and
I have families reach out, educators
so you can message on there
definitely get back to you and reply
we also have an online referral form or a
send us a message tab on our website
at www.speaktosparkle.com.au
and I’ve met lots of lovely families, educators
even other business owners and other allied health staff that
we’re constantly networking with
so, yes I would love to continue building those relationships
that’s awesome because that’s what this podcast is all about
and that’s what we’re finding
one of the amazing benefits is where we’re
showcasing so many great businesses and business owners
doing awesome things that are open to connecting and collaborating
and just learning, learning from each other at the end of the day
so we’ll make sure
we’ll put all those details into the show notes
this episode here today so yeah
make sure you do reach out to Shakila and follow her content
and learn plenty more along the way as well
Once again, thank you very much for joining us on the call of the episode today
Thank you so much, Craig
it’s been absolutely lovely to chat with you
I could chat all day
I appreciate that! these episodes could easily be double or triple what they are
so we need to keep them bite size
but I also leave that as an opportunity
who knows we’ll have people back
no doubt as we continue to evolve this podcast over time
we’ll continue some conversations as well
thank you once again
and that’s over and out from us at
The Healthy Business Lab Podcast
and as always like, subscribe
follow along to hear many great stories and insights
from fellow allied health business owners
Thank you very much, bye!