Oct 29

Trying to change the systemic challenge of athlete safeguarding on a global scale: Kirsty Burrows

Content warning: please be aware this contains discussions around violence, harassment and sexual assault.Kirsty Burrows says the power of sport to do good on a global scale is huge. But she also says, if we can’t keep athletes safe from violence, harassment and assault, then the problem is even bigger.Her career has been far from conventional. Her first job after graduating as a physio was with Singapore’s National Football Academy. But quite early on she realised she wanted to leave hands-on clinical work, and instead try to tackle the systemic and endemic issues of athlete safeguarding.She took the foundations of her physiotherapy training into human rights, law and athlete welfare, a journey that has led her to having a seat at the table of some of the highest discussions on safe sport around the world.This is a fascinating discussion around the challenges of trying to drive global change, and why a physio’s instinct, knowledge and empathy have been the foundations for the path Kirsty has forged for herself.They discuss:- Getting into physio: how an injury and a visit to the English National Ballet’s physio wing led to her degree.- Taking the leap to Singapore: moving straight after graduating instead of doing NHS rotations.- Imposter syndrome: feeling she wasn’t the best physio in the room, and why she moved on from clinical work.- Seeing young athletes as children first: a youth injury decision that changed how she viewed pressure on young players.- “Winning well”: research on medal-winning coaches finding “respectful, caring determination”.- The physio’s trusted role: why athletes often confide in the clinical room, and the recurring problems she kept hearing.- Violence and abuse in sport: the shocking prevalence and why it’s a society-wide problem.- Moving into safeguarding at the IOC: building the first safeguarding framework for the Rio Games, and the impact of the Larry Nassar case.- Funding and culture change: moving from tick-box compliance to real culture change.- Research and her PhD: taking a public health approach to violence in sport, and doing a PhD by portfolio alongside her role.- Advice for clinicians: physios’ skills reach far beyond the clinic, she says “take the chance, take the leap.”This is The Leap from Verilo.

Oct 1

Emily Kinkaid: "Going through the unthinkable challenged everything I thought I knew about running a practice"

What happens when life forces you to step away from the business you've spent years building? In this episode of The Leap, Joshua is joined by Emily Kinkaid, podiatrist, practice owner, leadership coach and co-founder of Leading Practice. Emily founded Active Step Healthcare in 2011, growing it from a single rented room and a few pieces of equipment into a thriving multi-clinician podiatry practice. But in 2021, Emily’s then- three-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia, and Emily had to step away from the business completely. Suddenly, she was forced to discover whether the practice she'd worked so hard to build could actually operate without its founder. That experience changed Emily's approach to leadership. It exposed the risks of building a business around one person and led her to rethink how she developed her team, distributed responsibility and built resilience into the practice. Today, Emily shares those lessons with other healthcare practice owners through Leading Practice as well as her book, Practice Resilience. In this episode, Joshua and Emily explore what it really means to move from clinician to business leader, why founders can become the single point of failure in their own businesses, and how building strong leadership can create both resilience and long-term business value. In this episode, we discuss: Emily's journey from podiatrist to practice ownerGrowing Active Step Healthcare from a single room into a multi-clinician practiceThe transition from clinician to business leaderWhat happened when Emily was forced to step awayThe uncomfortable truths that experience revealed about her businessBuilding leadership and responsibility across a teamWhy founders can become the single point of failureThe origins of Practice Resilience and Leading PracticeThe biggest leadership blind spots Emily sees in healthcare practice ownersWhy a business that can operate without its owner can be more valuable at exitThe relationship between leadership, resilience and business valueWhat Emily has learned from one of the hardest periods of her career This is The Leap from Verilo | verilo.co.uk Produced by Savannah Media | savannahmedia.co.uk

Sep 3

Simon Shepard on Taking Elite Performance Beyond Elite Sport Physio

What happens when the lessons learned from elite sport are taken far beyond the world of professional athletes? In this episode of The Leap, Joshua is joined by Simon Shepard, CEO of Optima-life. Simon spent more than 25 years working in elite sport at Lord’s and with Middlesex County Cricket Club, before co-founding Optima-life in 2008. The business combines technology and coaching to help organisations and individuals better understand resilience, performance, recovery and wellbeing. Joshua and Simon discuss his journey from physiotherapy and elite sport into entrepreneurship, what he learned from working with high performers, and why the principles of human performance shouldn't be reserved for elite athletes. They also explore the role of physiological data, Simon's concept of Key Human Performance Indicators and what it really means to find balance while trying to perform at your best. In this episode, we discuss: - How Simon first secured a role at Lord's with a little spontaneous moment of bravery - What he and James Bond creator Ian Fleming have in common - Balancing private practice with a role in professional sport physiotherapy - The moment he realised the lessons of elite performance could benefit everyone - Taking the leap into entrepreneurship and building Optima-life - How physiological data can help us understand stress, recovery and performance - Bringing sports science into healthcare and the corporate world - What balance really means in a high-performance world - The future of human performance, brain health and cognitive fitness Listen now. The Leap from Verilo is produced by Savannah Media. verilo.co.uk

Aug 6

Tackling body dysmorphia in the aesthetics industry: Brea Cannady

Content Warning: Discussions and descriptions of body dysmorphia and negative body image What if the biggest problem facing the aesthetics industry isn't a lack of regulation, but the illusion of it? Today’s guest is tackling a part of the aesthetics industry that many people know is a problem, but very few seem willing to properly address. In this episode of The Leap, Joshua speaks to Brea Cannady, founder of PREPÆRE™, a health technology platform designed to transform how cosmetic clinics approach informed consent, patient wellbeing and risk management. Originally trained in Physics and Medical Physics at UCL before a career in finance and consulting, Brea's route into aesthetics wasn't conventional. But neither is her mission. Drawing on both her professional background and her own lived experience, Brea is challenging long-held assumptions about psychological screening, patient expectations and who really has the power to improve standards across the industry. Together, Joshua and Brea explore what happens when someone decides not just to build a business, but to rethink the infrastructure of an entire profession. Included in this episode: Brea's own experience with body dysmorphia as a young adultWhy Brea walked away from a successful career to found PREPÆRE™How her own experience shaped the platform she's building todayWhy she believes aesthetics doesn't have a regulation gap, it has a regulation illusionThe role insurers could play in improving patient safetyWhy expecting clinicians to "spot body dysmorphic disorder" is the wrong approachHow clinics can strengthen informed consent and expectation managementThe legal case every aesthetic practitioner should knowWhat the future of safer, more ethical cosmetic medicine could look likeThe realities of challenging an established industry as a first-time founder

Jul 9

Taking sports massage training to Everest’s Sherpa communities: Lisa Jelly

"When you’re standing at the top of the world, they're not just a team that you chat to. They are your lifeline.” Trigger warning: This episode contains discussions of deaths of climbers on Mount Everest. Viewer discretion is advised. In this episode of The Leap, we're joined by Lisa Jelly, a physiotherapist whose career has taken some remarkable and unexpected turns, all the way to the Himalayas and back. After beginning her career in physiotherapy and progressing into senior healthcare leadership, Lisa's path changed dramatically following a trekking expedition to Nepal. Inspired by the resilience of the Sherpa community, she founded Lehara, a not for profit that runs from the Khumbu Valley. The organisation trains Sherpas’ female relatives as sports massage therapists, creating sustainable employment while reinvesting profits into local community projects. Alongside leading Lehara, Lisa is now Head of Central Operations at MyDentist, balancing a senior leadership role in one of the UK's largest healthcare providers with her passion for creating meaningful social impact. Two very different careers. One consistent mindset. We also discuss: How an injury first inspired Lisa to become a physiotherapist.Why she chose leadership over practice ownership.The trek to Nepal that changed the course of her career.What it is really like to summit Everest and stand at the top of the worldThe story behind founding Lehara and the philosophy of "sustainable giving."The incredible things Lehara has achieved in its first few yearsWhat summiting Everest taught her about trust and leadershipBalancing founding a charity with a senior role at mydentist.What independent practice owners can learn from her story. Whether you're a clinician, practice owner or simply someone contemplating your next big career move, Lisa's story is a powerful reminder that the most rewarding journeys rarely follow the path you planned. It's also a pretty inspirational, first-hand account from one of the few people in the world who have made it to the top of Everest, an achievement less than 1% of the world's population has ever managed. This The Leap from⁠ Verilo,⁠ produced by Savannah Media

Jun 11

The Missing Business Education for Private Practice Owners: Jane Greenshields

“I don’t believe you bring your best self into the clinic if you’re worried about your finances” In this episode of The Leap, Joshua speaks to Jane Greenshields, osteopath, clinic owner and co-founder of Hands On Money, a financial and business education platform designed specifically for private healthcare professionals. After more than 25 years in clinical practice, Jane and co-founder Melina Harrison recognised a challenge faced by countless clinicians: highly skilled healthcare professionals are often taught how to care for patients, but receive very little education on money, marketing, business growth, or long-term career planning. Through Hands On Money, they are working to change that.In this conversation, we discuss:– Why Jane and Melina felt compelled to launch Hands On Money alongside their clinical careers– The business and financial education gap facing newly qualified healthcare professionals– The biggest marketing mistakes clinic owners make and how they affect profitability– Why so many clinicians struggle with pricing, profit and conversations about money– The value of peer-led education alongside specialist professional advice– Building an ecosystem of support around accountants, financial advisers, psychologists and industry experts– How clinic owners can start preparing for a future sale years before they approach the market– The importance of intentional planning when building a healthcare business– Lessons learned from more than two decades in practice– Balancing clinical work, entrepreneurship and family lifeThis is a fascinating insight into a side of practice ownership that often goes undiscussed. Find out more at verilo.co.uk | The Leap is produced by savannahmedia.co.uk

May 14

The "Chance Meeting at a Salad Bar" That Led to the Biggest Leap of Tom Jacobs' Career

In this episode of The Leap, Joshua speaks to Tom Jacobs, owner of Flex Health Hub, who is right in the middle of one of the biggest transitions of his career. After years working across orthopaedics, MSK rehabilitation and sports medicine in the NHS and elite sport, Tom made the leap into private practice ownership, steadily growing Flex Physio Practice from rented clinic rooms inside leisure centres and GP surgeries into a brand-new, purpose-built multidisciplinary facility in Oxfordshire. Now, with the launch of Flex Health Hub, Tom is bringing physiotherapy, fitness and wellbeing together under one roof, creating a model designed to serve both patients and practitioners in a more integrated way. And all thanks to a chance encounter at a salad bar. In this conversation, we discuss: Moving from NHS clinician to the "wild west" of private practice ownershipThe mistakes he made when buying a business, including remortgaging his own houseHow he instills a sense of worth, pride and value in the teams he managesWhy his belief that you "can't teach character" influences his attitudes towards culture and recruitmentHow a "chance meeting a salad bar" led to the creation of the Flex Health HubWhy he believes magic can only happen when you push yourself outside your comfort zoneHow he juggles all the different hats he has, between clinical, business, strategy, teaching, charity work and family lifeWhy he thinks mistakes are your biggest schoolmaster and how he wishes we were less risk-averse as a cultureThe realities of opening a purpose-built healthcare facility that had never been the original planThis is a practical and honest conversation about what it really takes to build something from the ground up in healthcare, and the mindset required to take the leap into ownership. This is one discussion you're not going to want to miss. Produced by Savannah Media for Verilo.

Apr 16

Taking Over — and Growing — a High-Performance Physio Practice: Andy McCrea

For Josh, this episode is a particularly personal one. Today’s guest is Andy McCrea, Clinical Director and Director of Elite Physical Medicine — the very clinic where Josh first completed his work experience, and the place that first sparked his interest in becoming a physiotherapist. Since then, the practice has grown from a single clinic into a respected multi-site business across Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, built on principles drawn from elite sport and a reputation for solving complex cases. Andy himself is frequently recommended by surgeons and has even earned the nickname “the Irish magician” from patients for his diagnostic expertise. In this episode, Andy shares the journey from clinician to clinic owner, and what it really takes to grow a practice while maintaining high clinical standards. Josh and Andy explore: How early exposure and mentorship can shape a careerThe transition from practitioner to business ownerThe realities of scaling a physiotherapy practice from one site to severalBuilding a reputation for diagnostic accuracy and complex case managementThe influence of elite sport on everyday clinical practiceAnd how leadership evolves as a business growsIt’s a reflective conversation about growth, responsibility, and the long-term evolution of a clinic built on high performance and trust. verilo.co.uk

Mar 19

From Teenage Founder to Building The UK's Newest Wellness Innovation: Emily Hughes

Entrepreneur Emily Hughes started her first business at just 13 years old, and hasn’t stopped since. In this episode of The Leap, Emily shares the journey from running a teenage beauty business to launching her most ambitious venture yet: Reco HQ, a sports recovery and wellness concept planned for South London. Inspired by the recovery culture she experienced while studying entrepreneurship in Australia, Emily is now raising funds for a scalable, community-led wellness space. But unlike many startups, this is a business you can’t test with a simple MVP. It’s a capital-intensive project requiring investment, planning permissions, building regulations, and a lot of belief in the vision. In this conversation, Emily and Josh explore: What it’s really like to start your first business as a teenager Why younger entrepreneurs often take bigger risks and have more fun doing it How bootstrapping early ventures shaped Emily’s approach to business The realities of raising investment for the first time Why the wellness and recovery market is primed for growth in the UK And how Emily is designing Reco HQ as a scalable “cookie-cutter” concept from day one It’s a candid conversation about risk, ambition, and what happens when entrepreneurial instinct meets infrastructure reality.

Season 1 Trailer

The Leap - trailer

Welcome to The Leap, a new podcast from Verilo that celebrates bravery and shared experience amongst entrepreneurs and experts from the healthcare, medical and wellness sector.Each episode, we bring you honest conversations with people who have navigated the realities of buying, selling and owning businesses, sharing what they learned when they stepped into the unknown.Taking a leap of faith is rarely simple. But with the right knowledge, perspective and support, it can be the most rewarding step you’ll ever take.

The Leap

Episodes

Trying to change the systemic challenge of athlete safeguarding on a global scale: Kirsty Burrows

Emily Kinkaid: "Going through the unthinkable challenged everything I thought I knew about running a practice"

Simon Shepard on Taking Elite Performance Beyond Elite Sport Physio

Tackling body dysmorphia in the aesthetics industry: Brea Cannady

Taking sports massage training to Everest’s Sherpa communities: Lisa Jelly

The Missing Business Education for Private Practice Owners: Jane Greenshields

The "Chance Meeting at a Salad Bar" That Led to the Biggest Leap of Tom Jacobs' Career

Taking Over — and Growing — a High-Performance Physio Practice: Andy McCrea

From Teenage Founder to Building The UK's Newest Wellness Innovation: Emily Hughes

The Leap - trailer

Trailer

The Leap - trailer

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