Wellness Law Podcast

In this enlightening episode of the Wellness Law Podcast, host Barbara Zabawa welcomes Suzanne Hunt, Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, to explore the relationship between public health and wellness. Suzanne discusses her perspective on the distinction and overlap between these fields, emphasizing the importance of systemic approaches in public health and individual wellness. The conversation delves...

In this episode of the Wellness Law Podcast, Barbara Zabawa hosts Charlie Hodson, Vice President of Business Development at CPH Insurance. They delve into various types of liability insurance crucial for wellness practitioners, including general liability, professional liability, and cyber liability. Charlie clarifies common misunderstandings, elaborates on the distinction between claims-made and occurrence-based policies, and prov...

In this episode of the Wellness Law Podcast, host Barbara Zabawa enjoys a deep conversation with Pamela Miles, an internationally renowned reiki master and pioneer in bringing Reiki practice to conventional medicine. Pamela shares her intriguing journey into Reiki, her daily practice, and how she teaches others to harness self-healing. The discussion turns to the potential regulation of Reiki and similar alternative wellness practi...

In this episode of the Wellness Law Podcast, host Barbara Zabawa welcomes Dr. Amy Bantham, CEO and founder of Move to Live More, to discuss her journey and the importance of the PHIT Act. Dr. Bantham, who has a Doctor of Public Health from Harvard T. Chan School of Public Health, shares her experience as a fitness professional and advocate for integrating medical, public health, and fitness communities. The conversation delves into...

In this episode of the Wellness Law Podcast, host Barbara is joined by Dr. Rich Joseph and Rachele Pojednic, experts in both academia and the wellness industry. The discussion centers around their collaborative efforts to bridge the gap between traditional evidence-based medicine and the rapidly growing wellness industry. Dr. Pojednic, a director at Restore Hyper Wellness and a faculty member at Stanford, and Dr. Rich Joseph, a pri...

Meet Amy Boone Thompson, owner and CEO of IDEAFit, a longstanding membership organization in the wellness and fitness industry with an audience of over 303,000 individuals. These fitness and wellness professionals may be involved in personal training, yoga, health coaching, and many other wellness services. IDEAFit is a leader in the wellness space, belonging to an international wellness organization called World Active (learn more...

Leigh-Ann Webster served as the Executive Director for the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching from 2015 to 2024 where she led the effort to implement standards and a code of ethics for health and wellness coaches. In this episode, hear Leigh-Ann describe how she noticed a need for standards in coaching, why they are important, and what is next for wellness. To learn more about Leigh-Ann, connect with her on LinkedIn at...

Meet Brian Schroeder, founder of Preventia and Entrepreneur extraordinaire! Brian founded Preventia in 2017 after managing physician practices for many years. A heart condition experienced by his wife after their daughter was born inspired him to dive into the wellness side of care, eventually leading to Preventia. Listen to this latest Wellness Law Podcast to hear Brian's story and his vision for the future of wellness (it in...

Lesli Bitel, MBA, RDN, LDN, is a leading business strategist and coach renowned for her decade-long dedication to elevating the profiles and profitability of functional nutrition and medicine professionals. Listen as Lesli shares her wisdom about top legal issues she encounters when helping wellness professionals start and scale their businesses, and some tips to encourage you to make the leap into wellness entrepreneurship.  You c...

Meet Dr. Thomas Lewis, author of six books and medical scientist with advanced degrees from MIT and Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Lewis's mission is to examine what really causes disease and believes that is what wellness should be focusing on.  As a result, Dr. Lewis started Health Revival Partners to help clients get to the right causes of illness and poor wellbeing. This starts with running the right kind of labs, an...

Sherry Rais founded Enthea after spending years working for the United Nations and World Bank. It was there that she realized ending poverty is impossible without addressing mental illness. After learning about different mental health treatment modalities, it became apparent that at least for some people, existing treatments didn't work well. That's when she became aware of psychadelic treatment, and more particularly Ket...

Amanda Rieger Green founded Soul Pathology, LLC to bring a new approach to wellness. Soul Pathology, LLC attempts to get to know the humanity of employees and listen to them to understand their needs. In this interview, Amanda explains Soul Pathology's unique way of improving individual wellbeing and how that approach can positively impact a company's financial forecast. Moreover, engaging with employees can reduce legal ...

Mark Smith founded Avalon Behavioral Health Solutions several years ago to help people and companies avoid trial and error when it comes to finding the right pharmaceutical. Avalon uses "pharmacogenomics" or PGX, which is a genetic test that can help identify which drugs will be most effective for an individual based on their genetic predispositions. By understanding an individual's genetic make up, prescribers can p...

Meet Dr. Lara Salyer, a family physician turned burnout coach and inspirational leader. In this episode, Dr. Salyer shares her personal story of burnout and tips and tricks to help health professionals overcome feelings of hopelessness. The causes of burnout, such as regulatory and productivity demands are discussed, along with suggestions on how to forge a new path to feel reinvigorated about providing health and wellness services...

Meet Michelle Burke, an accountant who specializes in serving the health and wellness industries. I was so excited to learn about Michelle that I had to interview her for the Wellness Law podcast. In this episode, Michelle breaks down the pros and cons of LLC and S-Corp status, where to incorporate your business, and how S-Corp status even works. She answers a lot of tax-related questions that many wellness law clients have. You ca...

JoAnn Eickhoff-Shemek is founder of the Fitness Law Academy, Professor Emeritus of South Florida University, and author of several books, including most recently Law for Fitness Managers and Exercise Professionals. In this episode, JoAnn talks about the legal risks that fitness professionals and facilities face, standards that govern the fitness industry, and resources to help those who provide fitness services stay compliant and d...

Miriam Ball is Chief Insurance Officer for Alternative Balance insurance, which specializes in offering professional liability and other types of insurance needed by wellness professionals. Whether you are a health coach, massage therapist, acupuncturist or other type of health or wellness professional, liability insurance can protect you in the event something goes wrong or someone tries to sue you. In this fascinating conversatio...

Leigh-Ann Webster currently serves as Executive Director for the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC). NBHWC is leading the effort to create industry standards for health and wellness coaches as well as the effort to help health and wellness coaching gain recognition and greater access through obtaining CPT codes that can be used for insurance billing. Learn about how these efforts are slowly but surely marching ...

Meet Brad Cooper, founder of the Catalyst Coaching Institute, a health coaching training and education organization, and US Corporate Wellness, a coaching services company to help companies improve their employees' health outcomes through coaching. Brad was one of the early entrants into the wellness industry and brings his personal experience and education to wellness through offering high quality health coaching services and...