Mariel’s Musings, pt. i

Welcome June! What a breath of fresh air the summer season is. I do hope you can each spend some time in the sunshine this week or enjoy a walk around your favorite park. I’ve just moved to Minneapolis, MN (a city beloved by the Streamline team) where my partner and I will set up shop for the next few years while he attends Law School at the U of M! Currently, I am applying to Physical Therapy programs from the spare bedroom in our lovely new apartment in “The Wedge” neighborhood. During the process of drafting personal statements and tedious transcript entry, I’ve found myself reminiscing about the meandering journey that has coalesced in this fateful summer of finally submitting applications. A journey in which Streamline Physio plays a major role.

For those of you who haven’t met me, I’m Mariel! I am Streamline’s Client Care Coordinator which means you have probably received an email or phone call from me at some point. Like many of you, Dr. Kari and Streamline Physio has changed my life for the better in BIG ways. Dr. Kari and I got connected in June 2023 when I was working as a personal trainer and yoga teacher at a local gym in Menomonie, WI. I was a recent college grad from the UW-Madison Dance Department. After I graduated in 2020, I danced professionally with a Madison-based dance company in addition to working many, many side gigs. My weeks were filled with company classes, rehearsals, performances in addition to dance & yoga teaching, group fitness instructing, tattoo shop managing, grant writing, freelance website design, preschool teaching, waitressing, pet sitting, and lots of time in my car running from one side of Madison to another. After about two years, my partner and I both found ourselves super burnt out from the city hustle-bustle and decided to move to his hometown in rural northwest Wisconsin. That year, I felt a bit lost. No longer dancing with the company, I knew I needed to find a new way to be in community through the healing power of movement (my true love). I honed my yoga teaching practice and began personal training. I found a passion for working with people one-on-one to support them in finding embodiment, strength, and resilience. I had a vague idea that I wanted this to be my career but I didn’t know what it would look like. The crux of the problem: I didn’t have any role models…yet.

A friend of mine had previously been a patient of Streamline and shared an Instagram post that Dr. Kari was looking to hire a remote administrative expert to support her growing business. Learning about Streamline Physio blew my mind. I had no idea that physical therapy could be so intentional. Dr. Kari’s dedicated focus on healing each and every patient as a whole person was inspiring to me. I found my role model. I knew I wanted to stay as close to Dr. Kari and her practice as possible. Lucky for me, she thought I would be a great addition to the team! That July, I joined Streamline Physio as the Client Care Coordinator. I hit the ground running learning the ins-and-outs of the business. The knowledge Dr. Kari had about each of her patients, their families, their hobbies, their setbacks and WINS almost surprised me. It was immediately evident she truly cares for the people she treats. Dr. Kari was also dedicated to my growth as a movement instructor; she would share interesting case studies from her practice, new findings from research publications, and was always available to answer my question. Reading the growing collection of glowing google reviews and receiving feedback from our clients, I came to see that her care for her people combined with her advanced knowledge of the body and years of experience treating as a PT set Streamline heads and tails above from the run of the mill PT clinic. In learning this, I had a much clearer vision of my future career and DREAM job.  

That August, I enrolled at UW-Stout to tackle the prerequisite coursework that I needed to apply to Physical Therapy graduate school. I spent the last two years chipping away at all of the required undergraduate courses and just completed this leg of my journey in May! This summer, I am giddily applying to Physical Therapy programs. It has been an insane season of personal growth since meeting Dr. Kari and Dr. Amanda! Both of these clinicians have been HUGE inspirations to me – being the CHANGE we want to see in healthcare and bringing a true healing that we all need. These women have shown me that a great Physical Therapist meets patients where they are – and holds space for the variety of emotions that come up for clients on a physical healing journey. They have also shown me how to believe in a client (sometimes more than they believe in themselves) and lovingly push people to achieve new heights! They have both been so incredibly patient with me as I juggled the many responsibilities of school, work, and side gigs .

I wanted to conclude by saying a HUGE THANK YOU to all of our Streamline Clients who have also been inspirations to me. Thank you for being brave enough to try a physical therapy clinic that does things differently. And thank you for trusting us with your bodies and healing. We take it really, really seriously. 

Happy June Everyone. Let’s all do something brave today!