Breaking Down Barriers: How Fiona White Built a Healthcare Business That Comes to You
When Fiona White founded Own Body in 2010, she wasn't just launching another physiotherapy practice. She was challenging the assumption that patients should always fit around the healthcare system. As a physiotherapist who had worked in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and community health, Fiona recognized a critical gap: personable, affordable, and reliable in-home health services for people who couldn't access traditional clinics.
Today, Own Body employs over 100 clinicians and staff delivering mobile physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and podiatry services across Melbourne, regional Victoria, Sydney, and South East Queensland. Fiona's leadership earned her the 2019 Telstra Victorian Small Business Women's Award, but more importantly, her team has delivered over 27,000 services annually, bringing specialized care directly into people's homes.
In this conversation, Fiona shares how she scaled a values-driven business, why specializing in older adult wellness shaped her entire leadership philosophy, and what it really means to build a healthcare company where the system bends to fit the patient, not the other way around.
You founded Own Body after becoming frustrated with the quality and accessibility of existing mobile health services. What specific gaps did you see that traditional clinic-based care wasn't addressing?
When I started Own Body, I was seeing firsthand how difficult it was for many people, especially older adults, to get to a clinic. The barriers weren’t just about mobility or transport, but also about caring responsibilities, and the energy required to be out of the house for hours at a time. Traditional models assumed the client could “fit in” with the healthcare system, but what I saw was that the system wasn’t fitting around the client. By bringing care into people’s homes, we could reduce those barriers and meet people where they are most comfortable. That’s where the real potential for impact lies; delivering care that is accessible, personalised, and respectful of the realities of people’s lives.
Own Body now operates across four states with over 100 clinicians. How do you maintain that personal, holistic approach you started with as the business scales?
Scaling has meant being crystal clear on our values and culture from day one. For us, that means connection, holistic care, enablement, experience, and surrounding ourselves with remarkable people. Those aren’t just words on our website, they drive every hiring decision, every client interaction, and the way we support our team. We invest heavily in mentoring and training, and we build systems that allow clinicians to spend more time with clients and less time battling admin. I’ve learnt to use the language of our core values in our everyday language too - this helps us recognise when we're operating in a way to be proud of. It's important to remember that our systems have to reflect our personal approach too. Our clinicians will always be 1:1 with our clients - we can't scale that part. So hiring the right people and supporting their ability to deliver the best service possible is what drives us.
You’ve won the Telstra Victorian Small Business Women’s Award, have over 200 contracts with aged care providers and specialize in treating older adults. How has specializing in older adult wellness shaped your business philosophy?
Working with older adults has been a constant reminder that wellness is about so much more than the absence of illness - it’s about independence, dignity, and quality of life. This has shaped my leadership philosophy too. We don’t measure success only in clinical outcomes, but also in whether we’ve helped someone feel safer, more confident, or more connected in their own home. That focus on enabling people to live well where they want to live drives every decision at Own Body. It’s also influenced how I lead our team: by creating an environment where clinicians feel valued, supported, and able to bring their best selves to their work, we multiply the impact we can have in our communities. We have a habit of sharing success stories from our clients - remarkable outcomes of engaging in therapy. Each and every one of my team members are passionate about helping people live well at home. It's not about going through the motions of a rehab program - it's about getting to know people and getting the root of what makes them tick, so we can help them achieve the best outcome for their lives.
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