There are plenty of dietitians in Australia and while the number of those specialising in paediatrics is growing, so are the number of children and families needing help.
In this episode, I chat with expert paediatric dietitian and business owner, Miriam Raleigh, about the specialist nutrition sector, telehealth services and balancing private practice duties with family duties.
After studying at Monash University with a placement at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Miriam went on to work in adult health services and paediatric dietetics both in Australia and overseas in London.
Upon returning to Melbourne in 2009, she used her 16+ years of experience and her new experience as a parent to found Child Nutrition, a private practice providing expert nutritional advice for children and their families.
Since opening, Child Nutrition has grown with another 3 locations now open across Melbourne. The practice also offers Telehealth services to help reduce the wait time for such a prolific sector.
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Topics covered in this episode:
- What Child Nutrition is and what the practice offers
- Miriam’s background in paediatric dietetics
- What the first year of Child Nutrition looked like – making time to grow the business
- Learning to run a business – business workshops, SEOs
- Building a team over the years with the birth of Miriam’s children
- Baby-proofing the business – being selective about the hiring process
- Moving to Practice Management Software
- Taking the admin load off with a Virtual Assistant
- New projects for the year – an online course for parents of children with coeliac disease
- How Miriam built the online course – getting it out in front of GPs and families
- What will the course look like in 6 months’ time?
- Miriam’s grand vision for her private practice – what will it look like in 6 months’ time?
- Moving more towards Telehealth services
- How Miriam divides her time across the week – juggling admin, marketing, projects, clients, family
- How Child Nutrition fits in with other allied health services
- Fussy eaters vs children with oral aversions
- Dietetics and NDIS – a limited number of children are self-managed
- Miriam’s thoughts on NDIS
- Finding a dietitian – through the Dietitian Associations of Australia (DAA) website
- What it’s like running a private practice – hard work but more time for one-on-one to build a relationship with families
- What the business has taught Miriam
- Bringing other experts onboard – finding the balance and making better use of her time
- Miriam’s advice to budding dieticians
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