Kylie Faulks Women’s Health Physiotherapy has opened in Kingston. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Local physiotherapist Kylie Faulks is passionate about taking care of women and their health needs at all stages of their life. So passionate she has opened one of Canberra’s first specialist women’s health practices in Kingston.
Kylie Faulks Women’s Health Physiotherapy opened last month, and it’s been a long time coming for Kylie.
Her dream of owning a business is also about creating a safe space for women needing treatment that’s centred around conditions unique to the female body, says Kylie.
“Times such as pregnancy and the post-natal period can present a unique set of challenges, and sometimes a traditional clinic can seem like a very clinical space,” she says.
For women who may have conditions that are intimate in nature, Kylie says just opening up about them in the first place can be difficult.
Kylie Faulks Women’s Health Physiotherapy provides a space that’s warm and welcoming. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
“We’ve worked really hard to create an environment which is warm, comfortable, welcoming, private and safe so people can open up about more confronting symptoms,” she says.
Common issues which many women don’t realise are so common include incontinence, pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic pain conditions, bowel and bladder conditions, and prolapse assessment and management.
Kylie will be joined in early 2022 by another Master’s qualified women’s health physiotherapist, Tennayah Catto, from Western Australia.
The pair previously worked together on a research paper and formed what Kylie describes as a “very strong professional relationship where our goals and values are very aligned”.
While opening a new business in the middle of a global pandemic has presented Kylie with some logistical challenges, she remains positive.
“Opening a health clinic means abiding by some pretty specific restrictions and rules which are new to everyone, myself included,” she says.
“But because I’m opening a new business, it’s allowed me to adopt these new practices from the get-go, which I imagine would have been easier than changing an existing established model so maybe I’m the lucky one.”
Kylie is a little concerned about the fact that pregnant women and those who have just given birth might be more cautious than most when it comes to attending an in-person appointment, but says she’s done everything she can to ensure the clinic is as safe a space as possible.
“We’ve got some great guidelines from AHPRA [The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency] to follow, and we will go above and beyond to make sure women are supported in a COVID-19 safe way,” she says.
There is space that can be used for classes at Kylie Faulks Women’s Health Physiotherapy. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Opening a new business also signals Kylie’s return to work after having three children.
She says the decision to go back to work was “a battle, as it is for many mums”.
But Kylie decided that if she was going to return to work and spend time away from her kids, it was important she return to a mission she is passionate about.
“For me, this is that mission,” she says.
As for the task of juggling a business and family commitments, Kylie says the support of friends and family will help to keep the workload manageable.
In the next few months, Canberra women will be spoiled for choice as two other specialist women’s health clinics are set to open, too.
But Kylie’s not worried about the competition. Instead, she’s happy this niche in the market is finally being recognised.
“Each clinic will be different in what they offer,” she says. “The more clinics we have for women’s health, the more it raises the profile so I’m all for it.”
For more information, visit Kylie Faulks Women’s Health Physiotherapy.
Original Article published by Lottie Twyford on Riotact.
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