Episode 300: Happy New Year and 300 Episodes!!! with Hallie Bulkin, MA CCC-SLP, CMT®, CPFT™

Hello, friends, and welcome to episode 300 of the Untethered podcast. I cannot believe that we are 300 episodes deep. This is wild to me. And it's the last episode of 2024 to boot. So we're hitting episode number 300 on this is releasing on December 30th, 2024. We're about to go into a whole new year and I'm just sitting here and reflecting because, well, one, if you know me and you're used to my voice, you're like, hallie, this doesn't really sound like you. You're right. I'm just getting my voice back and I wanted to record this episode and not skip a week, especially with it being episode 300 and the end of the year. So while I am recording this about 12 days in advance. Holy cow. Oh my goodness. Like, where did this year go? Where did this year go? And how Is it almost 2025.

Quick disclaimer. All information, content and material of this pod are the opinions of the speakers and is for the informational purpose only and not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis and or medical treatment of a qualified health care provider. Welcome to the Untethered podcast. I am your host, Holly Balkan. I'm a certified myofunctional therapist, feeding specialist, podcaster, business owner and mentor. This podcast is all about getting your questions answered and collaborating with colleagues to bring you the most up to date information in the orofacial myofunctional therapy, airway, oral tissue, and pediatric feeding therapy space. If you're new here, I challenge you to keep an open mind and join my mission to spread this message far and wide. If you've been around since June 2019, thanks for being a loyal listener. As we jump into today's episode, remember to listen with correct oral rest.

Posture, tongue up, lips closed, teeth apart, breathe through your nose.

Let's get started.

All right, so what I wanted to do on this episode, this will be short and sweet. I really wanted this to be more celebratory because, well, episode 300. I have now been running this business since summer of 2019, where I first launched this podcast. That was the first thing I did in this business and I want to run through some of the analytics that my team shared with me that I think you might find fascinating. Maybe you will, maybe you won't, but I find it fascinating. So before we dive into the podcast itself and we talk about some of the most downloaded episodes and all that fun stuff, which I don't think will surprise you all because I think it's, I think it's probably pretty similar. You know, this podcast has now been downloaded over 600,000 times. I don't have the exact number in front of me. And this is just based on like, you know, what Apple tells, well, what a cast tells me. You know, Apple podcast is our biggest platform and then Spotify and then other is kind of there's others that are grouped together that are only like just under 4% of our list. You know, our downloads, 80% of our downloads are. Almost 81% of our downloads happens on ACAD or on Apple. So anyways, we will talk about that in a few moments. First I want to go through other numbers and it's just like five numbers that I want to go through that I think is really, really very, very cool. And that is how many times? Because I think it's very mind open, you know, mind blowing or mind boggling even to some people. How many times people will download things if you continue to market the same thing over and over. And I share this because wash, rinse, repeat, right? You create something valuable, you put it out into the marketplace. It's something that people want. So they start downloading it. You know, a freebie. So for example, my pediatric feeding screening packet. And from there we bring people into our email list and we educate them and we share things with them and we, you know, we give out helpful information until basically doors to my feeding course opens, right? And so that pediatric feeding screening packet has now been downloaded almost 113,000 times. That is insane to me. 113,000 downloads of one single screening packet. That was the first thing I ever launched. Since then I also have had over over 2300 SLPs and OTs go through the Feed the Peds course. We now have, I believe, I believe the numbers 2311 graduates effective at the date that I'm recording this because we just wrapped up our 15th round of Feed the Peds. Round 16 will launch in February of 2025. And that's crazy. That is so cool and crazy to me at the same time. Now on the Mayo side of things, my fast myo screening packet has been downloaded 40357 times. Now that has not been around as long as a pediatric feeding screening packet, but still incredible to have it. Almost 44,000 downloads and I have had about 480 people enroll in the MYO method course. Currently we also have about 420 monthly MYO membership members. Now I did not go back and count how many people have been in the Membership like lifetime, because obviously not everybody has come and stayed. Stayed. But that. That number is how many people we currently have right now inside the MYO membership and how many right now have. Have enrolled in my myo method course. 480. Now, we didn't go into all the certification stuff. I didn't have them pull numbers for the CMT and all that, but I can tell you that we've had dozens of therapists go through the cmt, the Certified Medical. Certified Medical Listening Certified Certified myofunctional Therapist, CMT certification, which again, you can only get through my company, not through the others to try to knock me off. And the Certified Pediatric Feeding Therapist certification is currently in its first round still. That won't wrap up until, I believe, March or so March of March or either April of 2025. And so at that point, we will have our first, I believe, 15 SLP and OT graduates, if you want to call them that, from the Certified Pediatric Feeding Therapist Certification program. So that's exciting as well. We will launch it that again, I believe in April, but we'll have more information coming on that much sooner. And the MYO course and the MYO certification are kind of ongoing, so you can always enroll in those anyways. Okay, so those numbers are fun. Numbers are fine because it's a great, A great way to look at, like, how you performed what you have, like, what you've done. And it's. It's good to celebrate once in a while, right? Like, many of us don't celebrate enough. And I actually talked about this recently on my other podcast in my other business that's more business focused on how we really need to, like, stop and smell the roses. Right? We really need to stop and celebrate these small moments in time. And then obviously our end goal when we get to the end goal as well. So yay. Yay for that. Patting myself on the back a little bit. But if, hey, if we don't celebrate ourselves, who else will, right? So, and I know actually a lot of you do celebrate me, so I do appreciate that. You celebrate what you've done. You celebrate the business. You celebrate everything we've brought to light, how many patients we've been able to help. And truly, at the end of the day, I am so grateful for all of you because it's your work, your time, your energy, your investments that allow us to help you so you can in turn go out and help your patients. And I love that for all of us. Okay, so what are the most downloaded episodes as of current? And I Did not compare this to last year. But if you're curious, I definitely, I think, did an episode on this last year around the same time. So you can go back and listen to that if you are, you know, intrigued to do so or feel so inclined, I guess would be the right thing to say. All right, so in looking at the most downloaded episodes of all time, episode two, the Tongue Tied episode, A Pesky Little String under the tongue with Dr. Richard Baxter is still holding strong at the most number of downloads on the podcast. Followed by episode174, which is tongue Tie Release in Airway Health and birth to the 3 population with Amy Ludeman Lazar, also a dentist. And then it's episode four with Autumn Reed Henning, where to start and end with Tots followed by episode82. This was such a great one. I mean these are all great. But bottle refusal is not always a feeding disorder with Jill Rabin. She is an SLP and IBCLC. And then I have an episode, episode 184 on why not all ties need to be released. So those are the top five. I could continue going because there are definitely some more and very interesting episodes we've had. But I wanted to go over some of the top episodes. Those are, those are the top five. Very interesting. They all are related well with, with one of them. Bottle refusal and feeding is separate, but four of the top five are related to tether oral tissues. So I hear you all you guys really want more tongue tie information. We will focus on more tongue tie episodes for you. And as you know, you can always DM me at Hallie Balkan on Instagram and let me know what questions you have that you want answered on the podcast. Are there certain providers that you want me to invite onto the podcast? Because when you tell me that we are happy to oblige and you know, make sure this podcast continues to go to continue forward, right? It continues forward so that it continues to be a source of, you know, information that is rooted in science and the research that does exist as well as the evidence based, you know, triangle of, you know, research and experience and the patients, you know, patients concerns as well, their experiences. So anyways, all that to say everything is rooted in, in that and we will continue to make sure it is. But if you want to hear specific people on the podcast, don't hesitate to let me know. Okay. Now the other thing that I thought was interesting too is some of the podcast episodes that have done really well in the past 30 days. I will share those with you because those Also seem to be, you know, top of the line. I'm going to give you episode numbers. So episode I'll give you the top. Let's see, let's do the top. Well, let's do the top five. So episode 76 is on Myo spots correcting oral rest posture one spot at a time with Dr. Shihab Faragala and Dr. Ibrahim L. His name is cut off, but I don't remember off the top of my head. That was from September of 2020. Actually. That has had 125% increase in the last 30 days in episode downloads and listens. So definitely worth a listen. Also episode 82, which I already shared, the bottle refusal one is not always a feeding disorder with Joe Rabin. You know, definitely go check that one out. Episode 81, Advocating for All children with tots. That one has had a 90, 98% increase. And let's see what else? Episode 182. Oh, another go in tongue tie development in pelvic floor health with Kelsey Daniels, who is a doctor of physical therapy that has had a big 7 to 72% increase in the last 30 days and downloads and then the last one, I'm just going to stick to five. Episode 57, cultural sensitivity. Our role as SLPs with Dominique Kennedy. That one was from June of 2020 and that one has had a 70% jump up in the past 30 days as well. So hey, these are. I love that there's a mix here because we've got oral rest posture, we've got bottle refusal, we've got advocating for children with tongue ties, we've got tongue tie development and pelvic floor floor health and we've got cultural sensitivity. So definitely a more well versed and rounded grouping of topics as far as the number of downloads within the last 30 days, not just over the past, you know, 12 months. I think that's really the most interesting thing. I do find it fascinating. 87% of my listeners are US based. About 5% are in Canada, 3% in Australia, 1% in the UK and then we're split amongst other countries on a much smaller percentage. But you know, still thousands of downloads in those other countries, which I love because I would not be able to reach all of you if I was not able to, if I didn't have this podcast. Right. The other thing that's interesting because we looked at our YouTube overview as well is I'm trying to see here actually the number of views that we have on certain things. Let's see episode 284. The gold standard and pacifiers. That one has had a high number of views. Treating the frontal lisp has had a high number of views week one. That was back when I was starting to work on Lily's lisp and I shared a little. A few little snippets here and there on what we were doing. And then let's see. Episode 279. So navigating different orthodontic and dental appliances. That one also has some good reach. And episode 181. Oh, this one doesn't surprise me. The four types of two patterns. Uh, yeah, that one. That one's a big one. There are some other ones as well, but these were our definitely, like, highest number of viewed episodes, with some of them being much higher than others. Um, but I found that fascinating, so I wanted to share those as well. All right, so you guys have some listening to do. I've given you some episodes to go back and listen to. If you haven't listened to them yet and you're like, what would be some other great episodes? What are the most popular episodes, the most downloaded, the most listened to in the last 30 days? Well, now you know, so go check out. Out episode two, four. 174. 82. 184. 76. What am I missing? 57 and 182. I think that an 81. I think that's all of them. All right, you guys, I totally went out of order there. But anyways, I think this is fascinating. I wanted to share all this information because I know some of you are curious and interested, and again, I just want to celebrate and thank you all for being here with me. We're going to continue with this podcast going forward. I have no plans to stop anytime soon. If you had asked me five years ago, six years ago, if I would still be doing this on a weekly basis, I couldn't have told you, but here we are. Enjoy me. Because on our first episode of 2025, we have Viviana Fouger da Silva joining us. And Viviana is brilliant. She has actually created three courses for us inside our certified pediatric Feeding therapist certification program. Um, and she's a Brazilian SLP who lives here in the United States. But she really brings a lot of the cultural sensitivity that we need as therapists to the topic. Right? We need to be aware, we need to be sensitive. We need to be, you know, actively having conversations with our patients and making sure that we are really providing the best therapy. That is our job, right? To provide the best therapy. That is most conducive to every single individual in front of us. And so I do look, we don't we jump into autism and some other stuff too based around some of the courses she's created. But but she really dives into some of these really very important topics. And so I want to make sure that you all are here and listening to that episode and we'll share about, you know, all about her courses as well following her episode. But that's all I've got. I hope everybody has a Happy New Year, Happy end of 2024, happy beginning to 2025, and I will speak with you after we cross the midnight, not right after, but while we're well into the New Year. So everybody have a happy New Year and we'll ch soon. Bye.

Thanks for listening to this podcast. If you found value in this episode and want to hear more of these Myotots, Airway and Feeding related episodes, be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share this episode on your social media platforms. You can access free resources and all I offer@hallebulcken.com or pop over to Hollybalken on Instagram to get all the latest updates.