Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Williams.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I graduated physical therapy school from The University of Missouri in 2016 and started working as a general outpatient orthopedic physical therapist. Within the first year of working, I had a couple clients that had tailbone pain, but only treating them orthopedically, I was only getting them about 50-75% better. I figured they needed pelvic floor physical therapy, since those muscles attach to the tailbone, but the nearest pelvic floor physical therapist was around 45 minutes away. I knew my clients were not going to make that drive, so I decided to go to my first pelvic floor course to be able to treat these two clients of mine.
It wasn’t until I attended that first pelvic floor course that I just absolutely fell in love with the knowledge base and the fact that I could help individuals, and women specifically with all things pooping, peeing, having intercourse, and having babies! Selfishly, that felt like really important “work” that I could do every day and go home thinking that I was actually making a difference in the world. Most of my career consisted of being an orthopedic physical therapist, pelvic floor physical therapist, and a clinic director all at the same time.
Fast forward to August of 2024: The company that I was working for at the time ended up unexpectedly closing down a month before our second born was due. The owner had decided that it was her time to retire, and all employees were given a 3 weeks notice that all clinics would be closing down. It was extremely stressful at the time – but I truly believe time has a weird way of slowly leading you to exactly where you should be. At this point, I didn’t figure many companies would be thrilled to hire a 37 week old pregnant woman who was about to go on maternity leave! So, I decided this was the perfect time to go off on my own and fulfill my dream of being my own boss. To open my own pelvic floor physical therapy business. To do things my way.
PelviMama Physical Therapy was built on so many years of this being my dream, but having a huge life change pushing me into that direction. I built PelviMama Physical Therapy in 3 weeks. I was able to solicit a few clients to come with me since my non compete had gone away with my previous company since it no longer existed, and ultimately after my second daughter was born (& the biggest blessing of all!) I was able to spend plenty of time with her which I wouldn’t have been able to do if my previous company hadn’t closed down.
Since this time, it’s been the biggest blessing to have PelviMama Physical Therapy to support other women in similar life transitions in bringing their babies into this world. I feel like I have finally found my calling, and this is what I was meant to do and meant to be. It was truly a meant to be phenomenon, with a whole lot of hard & FAST work in between!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Absolutely not! Since graduating from physical therapy school, I have worked for 3 other companies within the St. Louis area. There’s honestly been a lot of tears shed over not feeling like I was making a huge difference being under insurance limitations at those companies. Many days were spent arguing with insurance companies to try and get the care that my patients deserved. Having to see multiple clients at a time and filter clients in and out as quickly as possible because reimbursement rates were continuing to get lower and lower for physical therapy services were two things that specifically ate away at me. Even though I tried my best and had each client at the forefront of my mind, I felt like my quality of care diminished the more I had to spend time justifying my services to insurance companies.
I was the clinic manager/director at three different facilities within those respective companies that I worked for. Anyone that has been in management knows that there is much more responsibility and headaches that can come along with that title!
There was also the factor that all of my work places were around 30-60 minute drives to and from that workplace from where I was living at the time. Once I became a mother myself, that would really weigh me down thinking about how much time I was missing out on being in the car. I remember feeling so much anxiety trying to get back to my first newborn daughter while driving home from work each evening. Motherhood changed me, in the best way, and the little things mattered the most! Like getting back to her before she went to bed at night.
I’m one of those people that feels a lot of what others are feeling in any given moment. I like to think I have a high level of empathy, and now that I am a mother myself to two little girls, I have an understanding what other women are going through in the childbearing stage of life as well. That’s huge when working with a specific population that you are actually caring for. But at the end of the day, it can also be emotionally draining especially when you have may other factors like insurance, management and the commute also in play!
As you know, we’re big fans of PelviMama Physical Therapy. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I own PelviMama Physical Therapy. It is a women’s health and pelvic floor physical therapy clinic within the St. Louis area. I am a pelvic floor physical therapist and certified birth doula who specializes in all things pregnancy and postpartum. I can help with common pregnancy and postpartum pelvic floor dysfunction such as core weakness, low back pain, pelvic pain, bladder leakage, constipation, and overall returning to prior level of function postpartum however it is the preventative care side of things that I am really passionate about.
Prior to opening up my own business, I became a certified birth doula. It was amazing at what I didn’t know about the birthing process already being a pelvic floor physical therapist before becoming a birth doula. I think that is what sets me apart from most pelvic floor physical therapists within the area. I am very passionate about helping women prepare for labor and delivery so that they become more confident in how to control their body and pelvic floors but also in how to birth their baby and empower them on what they can do in preparation to intentionally birth their babies. I’m there for those women to confide in and to ask all the scary questions about birth. Birth can be a huge unknown territory, but I’ve found that there are a lot of women, including myself, that like to know all their options ahead of time so that they can then make an informed decision for themselves and their own family when the time comes. My hope with preparing women for labor and delivery is to prevent all that unwanted dysfunction postpartum and then we can get started on returning to prior routines and exercising safely postpartum rather than addressing dysfunction!
I’m most proud of how my clients feel when working with me. I’ve really envisioned and created a safe space where women can come to feel supported, empowered, and like someone is actually there to care for them. There’s a weird sense of feeling like no one is there to take care of you, especially when you’re postpartum, and I want to be one of those people that women can look back on and say “She was actually there for me during that vulnerable time.”
I specialize in pregnant and postpartum care, but I would also like readers to know that every and all women are welcome within my space. You don’t have to be a mother to be welcome. There are plenty of women that find me who aren’t looking to become pregnant or who didn’t just have a baby. Pelvic floor and women’s health knowledge is so extremely important and any chance that I can get to spread awareness, I’ll gladly take it, and if I’m not the right fit, I would be happy to guide women to find who that provider is within the St. Louis area.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I’m generally not a huge risk taker! That’s why it literally took my previous company closing down for me to really go for it and shoot my shot in creating my own business. I really view me creating my own business as a huge risk, however. I had a very stable job (from what I had thought prior to my company closing anyways!), good income, very respected reputation leaving the standard, outpatient orthopedic physical therapy setting who takes insurance. When my company closed down, there were several companies that reached out who would have actually liked to hire me even being 37 weeks pregnant!
But in that moment, I knew this was what I had to do. For my family, for myself, for our future. I left everything that was familiar, which was super scary! I knew almost nothing about owning my own business. They don’t teach you those things in school! I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have thoughts of doubt and wondering whether or not I would be successful.
I knew if I didn’t risk taking this opportunity at 37 weeks pregnant, then I never would. I never would have followed my dreams if it weren’t then. My biggest risk I’ve ever taken, has ended up having the most prized reward: supporting other families while also gaining more quality time with my own. It’s safe to say I’d take that risk 100x over again.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pelvimamapt.com
- Instagram: @dr.ashley.williams
- Facebook: @PelviMamaPhysicalTherapy
