The Refinery Podcast
#44 Beyond the Symptoms: Finding the Root Cause with Autumn Henning
What if the problem you’re treating isn’t actually the problem? In Episode 44 of The Refinery Podcast, Rick Burris talks with Autumn Henning, founder of Chrysalis Orofacial®, about what can happen when we stop looking at health issues in isolation and start looking at the entire system. Autumn is a speech-language pathologist who found her specialty in orofacial myology—the function of the muscles of the mouth and face. Her work explores connections between issues that can appear unrelated: breathing, sleep, feeding, speech, swallowing, orthodontics, TMJ pain, teeth grinding and more. For Autumn, one question keeps driving the work: Why? Why is the symptom happening in the first place? That curiosity led her to collaborate with professionals outside her own discipline, develop a specialized model of care, teach other clinicians, and ultimately build Chrysalis Orofacial with her husband, Zach. Autumn also shares the entrepreneurial story behind the company—from launching a two-day course as a side hustle in 2016, to opening a brick-and-mortar clinic just before COVID, to building a debt-free business that now combines patient care, professional education, consulting and speaking. Along the way, Rick and Autumn explore specialization, systems thinking, private-pay healthcare, interdisciplinary collaboration, entrepreneurship, leadership and the challenge of creating a business that can eventually operate without its founders handling every problem. And then there’s the story behind the name Chrysalis : sometimes the struggle required to get free is the very thing that gives us the strength to fly. Connect with Autumn and Chrysalis Orofacial: Website: https://www.chrysalisorofacial.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrysalisorofacial1/ Listen, follow The Refinery Podcast, and share this episode with someone who might benefit from seeing the bigger picture.
