Like many physiotherapists, Sherrie Krampel APAM’s pathway into the profession began with sport. 

A talented table tennis player who represented Victoria and Australia, she first encountered physiotherapy as a 12-year-old after a knee injury. The experience proved formative.

Sherrie studied physiotherapy at La Trobe University and graduated in 2003, entering private practice immediately. 

Working in private practice and in sports were two of Sherrie’s goals as an undergraduate and she went on to work as a trainer with the AFL Melbourne Football Club and in musculoskeletal private practice, both of which she found amazing and demanding in equal measure. 

Sherrie enjoyed all aspects of the work but something was missing. 

‘I didn’t feel fulfilled in my role in private practice and I didn’t find my purpose. 

'If I had stayed in private practice, I probably would have left the profession.’

Having created an exit plan and undertaken studying a Diploma of Financial Services, Sherrie experienced a sudden change of heart. 

The truth was that she found great personal and professional satisfaction in working with older people. 

‘I connect with them. I look at them and I just want to help them.’ 

The idea for a mobile physiotherapy private practice, Total Physio (now Total Health Choice), was born.

The private practice landscape at the time looked vastly different from today. Structured mentoring, formal supervision and graduate support programs were less embedded than they are now, so setting up her own business was all a steep learning curve for Sherrie. 

The business began as a solo operation, focused primarily on meeting the physiotherapy needs of older adults.

The reality of business

Like many clinicians who step into business ownership, Sherrie discovered that physiotherapy training does not prepare new owners for invoicing, marketing, cash flow management, operation systems and the myriad other tasks involved in the day-to-day running of a business. 

‘All of a sudden I had to try to understand how to put together an invoice and manage extra administration time and all these things that you really are not prepared for.’

The early challenges were predictable: attracting referrals, building networks, establishing credibility and managing time. 

There was no grand growth strategy. Instead, there was a willingness to try.

‘I just thought, I’m going to give this a go and if [it doesn’t work out], I can always go back to private practice.’ 

That mindset – risk-aware but not risk-averse – is one many new business owners contemplate. 

Sherrie acknowledged that on this new journey, mistakes were inevitable.

The hardest issue for Sherrie was investing in her people. 

‘You’re going to make mistakes and you’re going to fail and at some point people are going to leave.

'No matter how much time you invest in them, they are going to leave.’ 

For clinicians accustomed to control and clinical outcomes, this can be confronting. 

Leadership, she says, demands a thicker skin than clinical practice alone. 

‘At times you have to put your boss hat on and make decisions that are in the best interest of the business. 

'That’s still hard to this day because you care so much for your team.’

Values come first

If systems underpin operations, values underpin culture, Sherrie believes. 

Creating the right culture is everything for Sherrie. 

It starts with five core values at Total Health Choice: smile a lot, work hard, provide excellence in service, have each other’s backs and make good choices. 

‘Values are everything to me. You have to be able to go to sleep at night knowing that your values underpin everything you do and what you stand for.’

To illustrate how values translate into decision-making, Sherrie describes an occasion when a senior occupational therapist arrived at the wrong address for a client and discovered that the correct location was another 15 minutes away. 

The clinician asked whether she should proceed to the new location or go home.

‘I said to her, “You’re 15 minutes away; you’ll still get home by 5pm. If you go you are going to be able to help someone.”’ 

The therapist attended reluctantly. The client was grateful and the clinician later reflected on how meaningful the interaction had been. 

‘That’s what making good choices is about and that’s one of our values.’

Sherrie says culture is not built through slogans but through actions and decisions demonstrated consistently. 

Sherrie is a big believer in ‘leading by example’.

Growing organically

Growth was not Sherrie’s original ambition. After she married in 2012 and had three children, the business expanded slowly
as she balanced motherhood and entrepreneurship. 

Sherrie at the Melbourne Disability Expo in 2019.

A turning point came when an aged care facility recognised her work and offered an in-house contract. 

Staff numbers increased. By 2019 the team had grown to eight.

Attending the APA national conference in Adelaide that same year, Sherrie was inspired by the private practice owners she met and the presentations she attended. 

She decided to put herself down to attend the Melbourne Disability Expo.

That decision marked the beginning of diversification into NDIS and expansion into providing occupational therapy and exercise physiology services.

Today the business employs 50 staff across physiotherapy, occupational therapy and exercise physiology, with plans to introduce speech pathology. 

Despite this expansion, Sherrie remains clear about her priorities. 

‘Quality is more important than growing at all costs; we must stay true to our purpose of making a difference to the lives of the vulnerable,’ she says, noting that there is a tension between growth and quality that private practice owners need to negotiate.

Focus on falls

While the Total Health Choice team provides care across the life span, Sherrie herself is particularly passionate about aged care and falls prevention. 

The economic and human cost of falls is high in Australia and Sherrie says falls prevention requires a proactive model of care.

‘If we can prevent those falls and be proactive rather than reactive, we can make such a big difference in people’s lives.’

Within the business, this translates to an explicit focus on balance, strength, mobility and confidence building for older clients – often before a fall has occurred. 

Sessions are structured around functional relevance rather than generic exercise prescription, with therapists linking interventions directly to activities such as making a cup of tea, navigating steps or getting in and out of a car.

Education is a core component of every visit. 

Clinicians spend time explaining why exercises matter, how strength changes with age and what warning signs families should be aware of. 

In many cases, this education extends beyond the client to their adult children or caregivers, helping them recognise early indicators of decline and how to engage proactively rather than waiting for a crisis.

‘Let’s start beforehand. If you’re over 50 you should be doing balance exercises and strength exercises; set yourself up for success.’

All systems go

As the business expanded across NDIS, aged care and private pathways, its systems had to evolve to meet the specific demands of this wide population. 

Community-based allied health requires more than efficient scheduling; it depends on coordination, continuity and communication across families, referrers and funding bodies.

Early administrative systems were simple but as the complexity of care increased, so too did the need for more robust infrastructure. 

Operational systems are constantly refined to support clinicians working across multiple homes each day, often with clients living
with psychosocial or physical disability, frailty, cognitive impairment or multiple comorbidities. 

Practice management software became a critical tool for tracking goals, documenting falls risk, coordinating follow-up and ensuring timely communication with family members, care coordinators and aged care providers.

Rather than being an administrative layer removed from care, these systems were deliberately shaped to reduce friction for clinicians and protect the quality of interactions with clients, families and referrers. 

‘I think it’s very important to continuously invest time in seeing what’s out there, assessing the market and finding ways to do things better.’

Sherrie says that in a mobile allied health model, efficiency is not about volume. It is about ensuring that clinicians arrive prepared, understand the client’s context and can focus on function, safety and engagement during each visit. 

Systems that support clear handover, accessible clinical notes and consistent reporting enable therapists to spend less time managing logistics and more on helping the client.

Leadership and beyond

Five years ago, following the birth of her third child, Sherrie stepped away from clinical practice. 

While she occasionally misses hands-on care, she now derives fulfilment from enabling her team’s impact. 

‘Through my team, I hear all these incredible, life-changing success stories. I have an amazing team. I genuinely love them.’

Leadership, however, is not romanticised. Sherrie describes ownership as ‘like having another baby’ that requires ‘blood, sweat and tears’. But it is something she relishes. 

‘I wake up in the morning with purpose and meaning and feel really lucky to be doing what I’m doing.’

Looking ahead, Sherrie hopes to double the size of the team while continuing to maintain quality and purpose. 

‘Continue to scale. Continue to grow. Add more services – but never at the expense of quality.’

Main image by Grant MacIntyre Photography.

*Article originally published under the title 'Values and connection at scale'.