Coach and Therapist Professional Mentorship

I’ve had to pause the application process briefly due to the influx of applications to go through. Thanks for your interest. Sit tight. Not everyone that applies is ready.

You want to get better at what you do. And you want to do it as quickly as possible.

The questions we all have at times are the whats, whys, and hows that identify the needs of our clients and the context in which we must determine the best course of interaction.

What is the best thing to do when I see [fill in the blank]?

What is best when [fill in movement] is limited?

What is the best time to implement [fill in an exercise or treatment]?

What does [a measurement, movement, or bit of information] mean?

The volumes of information available can be overwhelming at times. Unfiltered, it can be paralyzing and leaves you more confused.

How do you find the best information?

How do you organize and make sense of information?

Who provides a possible answer to my questions?

How do I determine what is useful?

What should I do next?

In my own career I’ve been faced with the same challenges. I still am.

I’ve been very lucky to have had several mentors throughout my career that have provided guidance and helped me develop a filter for disseminating information. They helped me develop principles to guide my decision making along the way to allow my successes to outweigh my failures. As role models, they provided behaviors to emulate and in some cases to avoid.

I think we all need mentors. It’s impossible to know everything we need to know. It’s impossible to be objective with ourselves.

There is power in the concept of two people working to enhance the growth of one to bring out their best. We need someone to help us see the things we cannot perceive ourselves. Someone to help us guide our focus to reach our potential. Some who may have more or a different experience than you. Someone who has failed more times than you. Someone who asks the questions that you didn’t know to ask yourself.

Mentors provide avenues to develop a useful model, a key element to accelerate your professional development in complex environments such as human performance.

Every semester, I take on a new intern at IFAST and have mentored many other professionsals (5 have gone on to work in the NBA). Each one comes with their own personal and professional needs, but evolving a model of human behavior, performance, and treatment is the ultimate goal. Together we create a model that makes sense and allows them to make better decisions.

To do so, I think we need something more than just a mentor.

To truly innovate and grow, we need to be exposed to a variety of opinions and ideas. The scope of influence in such complex environments as human performance and rehabilitation demands that we have access to diversity.

We also need a way to measure progress. To do so we must communicate as a group, a network. Challenging ideas and concepts in real time and in complex circumstances.

Apprenticeships, fellowships, and internships are the best avenues for acquiring knowledge and new skills. Coaches and mentors provide us opportunities to gain the implicit and tacit knowledge that cannot be acquired in books or at courses. It is never more important than at the beginning of our careers or when we plateau in knowledge or skill (even when we appear to be successful).

Limitations such as time, money, and travel prevent many from ever achieving the level of mastery they desire. 2-day courses are great for information, but ongoing growth and understanding through modeling is impossible.

We’re going to do something about it. We’re going to get better.

Thankfully, technology has provided us with advantages.

If you don’t have time or can’t come to Indianapolis, you can still benefit from mentorship. It’ll be just like you were in the “purple room” with Bill yourself.

Find out how valuable mentorship really is… READ WEDNESDAYS WITH BILL

This mentorship includes:
-Daily interaction with your mentor to cover your personal weekly Big 3 based on your personal and professional goals
-Organizational strategies to complete more work in a timely manner
-Gain direction and access to valuable educational, professional, and personal resources
-Weekly assignments to move your projects and career forward

Two individualized, 60-minute monthly mentorship video call addressing any of the following:
-Your monthly work or study plan
-A specific professional or personal project
-Client/Patient consultation
-Discussion regarding a specific area of study
-Targeted Q & A
-Review specific case studies based on real patients
-Discuss specific topics
-Direct instruction and execution of exercises and activities
-Group Q & A

The learning process can oftentimes become a wretched jungle of trial and error. Of failure, reflection, recalibration, and refinement. Going at it alone takes work, but most importantly, time. Though the struggle remains, having a guide to help you navigate along the path helps streamline and skyrocket the process. For the right guide can save you from many of the common mistakes made along the way. For me, that guide is Bill Hartman. Both clinically and in life, Bill is a man who I continue to come back to for guidance, discussion, collaboration, and advice. He has an incredible knack for teaching, challenging, and growing the people he works with. Having learned under his watchful guise and the mistakes he’s made in the past has expedited my learning curve in a way I never could have dreamed. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for Bill’s mentorship. In the jungle of learning, there simply is no better guide than Bill Hartman.
Zac Cupples, former NBA Physical Therapist and Strength Coach

I spent 12 weeks under Bill Hartman experiencing the first-class mentorship experience that he provides. Those 12 weeks were instrumental in developing me into the clinician and person that I am today. Bill challenges you to grow by making you reason your way through every decision, allowing you to develop your own model of treatment. His wisdom and experience provide the foundation for which you will build your approach. Where many therapists may carry an ego, Bill checks his at the door to facilitate learning and growth for both you and him. I give my highest recommendation for any opportunity that he provides.
Josh Madonick, PT, DPT

Making the 15 hr drive to Indianapolis to learn from Bill Hartman for 12 weeks is the smartest professional decision I ever made.   Clinical affiliation is an understatement; it was an educational utopia.   I am reminded on a daily basis that it is an investment that will always pay dividends and I am forever indebted to Bill for fostering my learning and professional growth.   I received an unfair advantage in having the opportunity to “pillage” his mind for 3 months.  Frankly, he is a walking encyclopedia on all things physiology.   Bill has a passion for understanding the human body and an unwavering desire to refine his craft.   If you want to improve your knowledge base and skill set as a clinician or coach from someone “in the trenches,” you have come to the right place.   You can assure what you’re reading is honest, valuable information from a perspective respectful of scientific rigor, sound physiology, and validated clinical application. He has an uncanny ability to consolidate information from all facets of human performance to produce a unified and holistic methodology.  He marries performance and rehab information seamlessly so you can apply the right principles at the right time to anyone in your care.  Do yourself a favor; listen to what he has to say, learn it, practice it, master it, and delve deeper.   I promise, you will not be let down.
Michael Roncarati, PT, DPT, CSCS
Memphis Grizzlies

I spent 10 weeks with Bill at IFAST for my final clinical rotation prior to graduating PT school. On the first day of my rotation I was told that I will get out of this clinical what I put in. Staying true to this, he provided an excellent blend of structured and unstructured mentorship, pushing me into uncomfortable situations that fostered my growth while also being available to me in a way that let me guide my own learning process. This dynamic environment provided insights and understandings that deeply influenced my thinking and practice in a positive way, accelerating my clinical development by easily 5-10 years. Bill embodies the true meaning of mentorship, but to get the most out of it you will have to do the work.
Leor Giladi, PT, DPT

I have had a lot of teachers in my lifetime. The most effective teachers are dynamic and inspirational, which promotes the learning process. A mentor is quite different from a teacher. A mentor’s main role is not to help you pass tests or inform you about the latest and greatest research and techniques of the profession. Mentors teach you how to process and use the information that you have. They see your weaknesses and help you grow in those areas. This is done by providing the right questions and challenging you as a professional. Through these processes a mentor will guide you in becoming a skilled and confident professional.
Bill Hartman is a fantastic teacher. Anyone can come away with incredible insights after even a short conversation with him. But, if a student is willing to put aside their ego and embrace the challenge in growing as a clinician, they will find that Bill provides invaluable and lifelong mentorship. This is his true gift. I will never forget being broken down and built back up as a stronger clinician during my internship with Bill.
Bill’s mentorship provided me the opportunity to become the clinician I aspire to be. This relationship continues. Every time I meet with him, I find an area of my skill set that I want to strengthen. Anyone who wants to become the best clinician they can be should seek this opportunity of mentorship from Bill Hartman.
Sarah Martin PT, DPT, PhD

I had the pleasure of spending 8 weeks with Bill at IFAST after graduating from PT school. Facing mounting financial pressure to start my career as a PT with student loans looming, and high pressure and self-expectations as the first post-graduate IFAST intern, I was struggling with my decision prior to day 1. Very quickly, it was evident that this experience would be one of the best life decisions I have ever made, and can say that the decision to spend this time under Bill’s mentorship is one that will forever be cherished. Bill’s thorough understanding of all things physiology, system interaction, and working models/principles, allowed me to accelerate my professional development in more ways than I could have imagined. After 8 weeks, I was to appreciate the complexity of humans and human behaviors, and implement strategies into my practice that better allow me to serve my own patients through all things sleep, rehab, performance, and more. As I found out through many mistakes and failures, learning occurs at the point of struggle. Be prepared to think, to be challenged, and to self-assess your thought processes.
Eric Oberst, PT, DPT