We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Syd Young. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Syd below.

Hi Syd, thanks for joining us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your professional career?

Before I started OutWellness, I was a staff Physical Therapist at a pretty typical PT clinic. At this job, our weekly meetings were all about numbers—more clients, longer hours, increased revenue—never about patient outcomes or how to communicate compassionately. One day, after being hit by a car on my commute, I still showed up to work and was praised for it.

This taught me that I wanted to be a people-first business. Not only in terms of clients, but also in terms of the practitioners that work with me. I want people to feel validated and fulfilled, and I want my clients to feel that they are cared for and appreciated. I want our clients to feel like so much more than a number on a screen that we review each week, like they are part of a community, like they matter.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Dr. Syd Young (they/them) and I am the proud owner of OutWellness. I graduated with my Doctorate in Physical Therapy in 2020, and went on to complete my residency and fellowship in sports, orthopedics, and manual therapy. I am a nonbinary person living in Austin, TX. I got into physical therapy because I as an athlete most of my life, and had lots of exposure to the field. I also really love helping people.

OutWellness is a queer health and wellness center dedicated to creating a safe space for marginalized folks to come address health and wellness goals. We offer personal training, physical therapy, acupuncture, massage and a gym membership. We also offer group workouts and workshops, such as sex-ed, dance classes, self defense, and kink workshops.

The thing that I am most proud of at OutWellness is the community that we are building. We offer weekly no-cost trans masculine and trans feminine workouts, which are centered around creating safe spaces for our trans chosen family to workout and create community. This is important everywhere, but especially important in Texas, where trans erasure is prominent. Yes, we are a health and wellness center, but we are also a safe space to meet new people, try new things, and create community!

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

If I could go back, I would do exactly what I’m doing now. I love my job so much, and I think that my specialty training has allowed me to provide the best care possible to my community. One of my future ambitions is to establish a residency program in gender-affirming care, ensuring that clinicians are fully equipped to provide exceptional care to trans and gender non-conforming individuals. My reasoning for creating this residency program is because there are 10 residency programs currently in physical therapy, and our trans and gender nonconforming Chosen Family deserve the same exceptional treatment as our non-queer counterparts. The specialty training will allow people seeking gender-affirming care to seek out a physical therapist with significant knowledge about their procedure, as someone would do following an ACL reconstruction.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Word of mouth has been crucial in building my reputation because it reflects genuine trust and satisfaction from my clients. Very early on, we started doing monthly no-cost community workouts, which allowed us to reach a wider range of clients, as well as create community within our brand. These became a good way to workout, but also a good way for people to make new friends. As I stayed true to my mission of creating a safe and inclusive space, clients naturally became ambassadors for OutWellness, sharing their positive experiences with others. This organic growth has not only expanded our client base but also strengthened our community, making word of mouth our most effective marketing tool.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.outwellnessatx.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outwellnessatx
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/syd-young-pt-dpt-faaompt/ ; https://www.linkedin.com/company/outwellnessatx

Image Credits

Jeremy Wood