From Two to Twelve Practitioners: Scaling a Clinic Through Evidence-Based Systems

Hi, I'm Dr. Brianna Botsford. I'm a naturopathic doctor in Edmonton and the owner of Flow Functional Healthcare. I joined The Confident Clinician four+ years ago and my practice felt chaotic. I didn't feel like I was completely on top of all the most recent research even though I tried my absolute best. Now since being part of The Confident Clinician for the last four+ years, I found that I can stay up- to-date and stay current without having to put in all of the time that I was using before. I highly recommend The Confident Clinician program to any practitioner that's looking for growth and personal development in their business and in their practice. I have found that the systems and tools that we've put in place in the clinic but also as individual practitioners, have been a lifesaver. Before I started working with The Confident Clinician, I spent a lot more time on research for every patient. Whereas since working with The Confident Clinician, I have better systems, both from an administrative perspective but also just from a clinical perspective. The Confident Clinician has helped me build my personal practice but also my clinic. We have grown in just four short years from two naturopathic doctors to a team of twelve practitioners and staff, total. That growth was made possible by a lot of the systems and marketing tools that were provided in The Confident Clinician. What made me say "yes" to The Confident Clinician was working with Jordan Robertson prior to her launch of The Confident Clinician. Learning from her and her style of research was really exciting and helpful for me. Then when The Confident Clinician came to be, I knew right away that I wanted to be part of it. I also knew that this was a direction I wanted for my career to go as part of the leadership team. To help grow research in integrative medicine and provide actionable tools for clinicians to use. Time commitment is always a challenge for me. Trying to show up to calls live was probably my biggest fear when I committed to being part of The Confident Clinician. Now, knowing that I can access the recordings anytime I need to and that a lot of the resources are available 24/7, it's a relief because I don't have the time or haven't prioritized the time to block out to attend live and be there all the time. What surprised me the most about working with The Confident Clinician was the sense of community that I felt even in the online space. I'm all the way out here in Alberta, a lot of MD's are in Ontario and it's a little bit lonely sometimes. So, being part of an online community, I wasn't sure if I would actually feel connected to those practitioners on a personal level. But there really is a sense of community and I really value that. It's also surprising that we are able to create that and connect without ever really having to be in person. I have colleagues in The Confident Clinician I've never met in real life and I still feel very connected with them. I have had some big opportunities come my way from the University of Alberta and different researchers and the local hospitals here. And I think that a lot of that comes from the confidence that I've developed from working with The Confident Clinician and understanding research and how to apply it in practice and also how to apply at a population level, even in speaking engagements and things like that. It's also allowed me to communicate at the same level with medical doctors, surgeons, researchers and so, having those folks come to me and asking me for opinions and asking me to speak and asking me to be part of that conventional infrastructure has been really cool. I would recommend The Confident Clinician to anybody who feels strapped for time. Because even though it feels like you're going to have more work to do, it's actually so much less. I also think that folks who are feeling like they don't have that sense of connection in their professional practice. A lot of naturopathic doctors and integrative practitioners practice with other clinicians but they may not be in the same discipline. So naturopathic doctors might work with chiropractors or physiotherapists or therapists, those kinds of things. And if you don't have the opportunity to connect with other people doing the work that you're doing it can be really lonely. Also anybody who has an eye for staying totally up- to-date on the most recent research but again lacks the time to immerse themselves in every single topic and really have a deep understanding of what's going on.