Bio
Susie Gronski graduated from Midwestern University in 2010. Susie worked in various settings including inpatient rehab, vestibular rehab, geriatric care, skilled nursing facility, and orthopedics, and finally transitioned to 100% pelvic rehabilitation in 2012. She opened her private practice in 2014 in Illinois. After closing the practice in Illinois practice she moved to Asheville, NC in 2016 and re-branded exclusively as a men’s urological physical therapist. Currently, she owns an interdisciplinary clinic that includes OT, PT, mental health, and nutrition therapy.
For over a decade, Dr. Susie Gronski has been a leading expert in men’s pelvic and sexual health. As a Licensed Doctor of Physical Therapy, Certified Pelvic Rehabilitation Practitioner, AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator, and author of “Pelvic Pain: The Ultimate Cock Block,” she has made significant contributions in this field. Dr. Susie is the founder of an interdisciplinary clinic exclusively focused on men’s urosexological care.
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Q&A with Susie Gronski
What made you decide to become a Rehab Professional in the first place?
My mother was born with Spina Bifida and acquired a BTK amputation at 15 years old. She was my inspiration to pursue rehabilitation. Her model of strength, resilience, and tenacity continues to fuel my passion for empowering others in a similar way. In high school, I met with an OT at a career fair and was hooked ever since.
What is your story behind the first sense of awareness that things weren’t quite right with your rehab career?
First sense that things weren’t quite right with my rehab career was at the end of my first year working as an inpatient pelvic therapist. I felt my professional and personal values were compromised. I was not able to be the clinician I wanted to be. (i.e., strict productivity requirements, unethical institutional practices with patient care, lack of autonomy for clinicians and patients alike, profit not patient-driven care).
After exploring various rehab settings and care models; the last being outpatient orthopedic at a chain PT practice. I tolerated it for 5 months, quit, and never looked back. It was at this time that I remained PRN for a day rehab program, and started the pelvic therapy program at their facility. In 2014, my husband quit his job to start his own business which inspired me to do the same. I opened up my practice in late 2014 while still working PRN. Once I had a robust caseload in my private practice, I quit my PRN gigs.
What was at stake if you didn’t take the risk of pursuing your alternative career?
I honestly believe it is my internal set of values of treating people with respect, and compassion, fostering healthy notions around building resilience, and not feeling that I have to be under pressure or treat an individual like a diagnosis or a number. I wanted to have the freedom to be able to offer the care that I wanted to receive. And while I do respect that, and I know that it’s part of establishing, you know, a business and model of care, there are ways to treat an individual with compassion, with respect, giving them time, listening, and genuinely being part of that therapeutic container and support and caring. In those traditional models, with restrictions and limitations and productivity requirements, I could not thrive as a human being, let alone a professional, who wanted to touch people’s minds and hearts.
What would you say are the practical, maybe non-obvious skills that make you a great fit for your work now?
Communication skills around difficult conversations. In my practice as a urological physical therapist, we talk about pooping, peeing, and sex. Those are things that are not comfortable for anyone to talk about. It’s taboo, and as a physical therapist, we didn’t have that training on how to do sexual health intake, or how to ask questions about sex or bladder or bowel function that pertain to someone’s activities of daily living and function. So it’s those skills of communication, being able to offer a comprehensive medical and sexual health intake. With that comes active listening skills, being in tune, genuine, and receptive in a session, and how to regulate your feelings that come up within the therapeutic session.
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