Today, September 28th, marks the ten year anniversary of the founding of Herman & Wallace! The Institute was founded on this day in 2005 by Holly Herman, PT, DPT, MS, OCS, WCS, BCB-PMD, PRPC and Kathe Wallace, PT, BCB-PMD with a mission of providing the very best evidence-based continuing education related to pelvic floor and pelvic girdle dysfunction in men and women throughout the life cycle.
Since our founding, it’s been our privilege to spread this mission through an ever-increasing number of course offerings, products, resources and certification so that therapists can meet their goals and patients can access trained practitioners who can address their needs.
In the past ten years, we’ve significantly expanded our course offerings. Currently-offered courses cover pediatrics and geriatrics, sexual health, yoga and Pilates, oncology, meditation and mindfulness, and a number of other topics instructed by some of the foremost experts in the field, with whom we are thrilled to work and provide a platform to spread their knowledge. In addition to our flagship Pelvic Floor series courses which were the first offered by the Institute, H&W now offers 46 live courses and 14 online courses on topics related to pelvic floor dysfunction, as well as related women’s health, men’s health and orthopedic topics.
We have also had the opportunity to take this mission abroad and have offered pelvic floor courses in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Chile, Brazil, the UK and Europe. In 2013, H&W launched the first-ever certification recognizing expertise in treating pelvic floor dysfunction in men and women throughout the life cycle, the Pelvic Rehabilitation Practitioner Certification. Since then, 84 practitioners have sat for and passed this exam and earned PRPC as a designation of their competence in evaluating and treating pelvic rehab patients. This coming year and beyond, we are looking forward to continuing with our mission of providing the very best education and resources for pelvic rehab therapists. We are continuing to expand our offerings of intermediate and advanced- level Pelvic Floor coursework for experienced therapists, as well as an increasing number of scheduled events for our introductory courses so that more practitioners can begin learning the skills needed to serve this growing patient population.
Over these years, the best part is hearing from therapists that our mission is changing lives for practitioners and for patients. This recent email we received from a course participant is the best birthday gift we received!:
“I always gain so much from your courses and they are the first ones I look to each year for simply excellent use of my education dollars and to further my knowledge of Women’s/Men’s/Children’s Pelvic Health. Kuddo’s to you, sincerely, for really making a difference in the lives of so many – that you, as therapists, work with directly, AND that you “work with” through each therapist that you train. What a huge ripple effect for making the difference in the lives of many…..and on such personal issues. And I give due credit to you with each patient I see for the training I have and am still receiving! Thank-you!!!!”