More Money Podcast - Redefining Recovery in Healthcare - Founder of ReYu, Bean Gill & Nancy Morrow

Episode Date: September 17, 2025

This is a special mini-series of the More Money Podcast sponsored by Visa Canada to highlight the latest winners of the Visa She’s Next Grant Program.In the final episode of this special series, I interview Bean Gill and Nancy Morrow, co-founders of ReYu, a neuro-recovery center based in Edmonton, Alberta. ReYu helps kids and adults with neurological conditions retrain their nervous systems through expert rehab and one-on-one therapy. Inspired by Bean's personal journey after she was paralyzed, she not only discovered the benefits of activity-based therapy but also met her co-founder, Nancy, a kinesiology student at the time. Together, they realized the immense need for a centre like this to help others beyond traditional physiotherapy and have since helped nearly 500 people, with clients travelling from places as far as Switzerland to access their services. Bean and Nancy share their journey opening a new business, the challenge of dealing with the Canadian healthcare system, and their hopes to open more centres throughout Canada in the future.For full episode show notes visit jessicamoorhouse.com/441Learn moreLearn more about ReYuLearn more about Visa's grant programFollow meInstagram @jessicaimoorhouseThreads @jessicaimoorhouseTikTok @jessicaimoorhouseFacebook @jessicaimoorhouseYouTube @jessicamoorhouseLinkedIn - Jessica MoorhouseFinancial resourcesMy websiteMy bestselling book Everything but MoneyFree resource libraryBudget spreadsheetWealth Building Blueprint for Canadians course Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, this is Landis from What the F, the podcast that's about adulting, but with epilepsy and all the what the F moments that come with it. From those awkward days in the office to dating disasters, med side effects to the latest science, there's nothing that's too weird to talk about here. So if you ever thought, what the F is happening with my brain, you're in the right place. New episodes drop Tuesdays. Pull up a seat. It's going to be good. Hello, hello, hello. Jessica Morehouse here and welcome to a special mini-series of the More Money podcast, sponsored by Visa Canada. In this series, we're shining a light on some of the latest recipients of the Visa She's Next Grant program by speaking with incredible Canadian women to learn about their inspiring entrepreneurial journeys. Each year, the Visa She's Next Grant program selects 20 recipients to receive $10,000 in funding, along with access to an accelerated coaching and mentorship program through Wisepace at York University. Since the program's inception, Visa has provided more than $900,000 in funding to help empower women-owned businesses from coast to coast with the tools and resources they need to grow. Now, as a

woman entrepreneur myself, I wanted to do something a bit different with my podcast and use my platform to share the stories of these women. So we can all get to know and support the incredible Canadian businesses they're building. And if you'd like to learn more, about the Visa Shoesnecks Grant Program, head over to visa.ca.ca slash grant program. Please note the views and opinions expressed on this podcast are solely my own and those of the guests and do not reflect the views of Visa or his affiliates. For this episode, I'll be interviewing two founders, Bean Gill and Nancy Morrow, both based in Edmonton, Alberta. Bean and Nancy are the founders of Ryu, a company that helps kids and

adults with neurological conditions retrain their nervous systems through expert rehab, and and one-on-one therapy, empowering recovery and redefining possibilities for individuals. And with that, let's get to that interview. Welcome to the More Money Podcast, Bean and Nancy. I'm so excited to have both of you on the show with me today. Thanks so much. Yeah, thank you for having us. I am so fascinated by the story of the company that you founded at Ryu.

It's so inspiring. But for listeners who don't already know it, maybe they're not familiar with it yet, but they will be after this episode. Can you share a little bit more about it? Bean, I want to start with you. Yeah, sure. So Ryu kind of came about after I was paralyzed almost 13 years ago in July of 2012. I kind of, obviously, my life got flipped upside down and I didn't know, you know, what anything looked like, but I knew that I needed to do physio. I needed to start working out. And so I did. And I found out about activity-based therapy centers, which are designed for neurorecovery.

And I ended up in one in California. And I absolutely loved the program. The recovery I saw was amazing after one week being there. And so I've contacted the University of Alberta here and found Nancy. She was a student in kinesiology. And I hired her to help me through my home program that I got from California. And yeah, that's how Nancy and I met. And a couple of years into it, we really saw that there was a need for a center here.

And then we decided to become business partners. I always knew I wanted to do what I'm doing now, which is activity-based therapy. I just didn't know I could do it in Canada. So I was originally headed to the U.S. That was kind of my career path and my goal. And then I met Bean. And it kind of started the ball rolling of maybe I can do this here in Canada. So we were working together for probably a good year, year.

and a half. And then I started working with other people in the community. So that kind of started to see, oh, there's a need here. There's maybe a possibility and potential of us actually doing this more long term in Canada. So at that time, I think there was only one or two other centers in Canada as well. So what we had here in Emerton was nothing. So that's part of the story behind why we actually opened a center here. And yeah, there was just a, growing demand. So I was traveling to people's houses and just driving all over the greater at Eminton area. So it spanned all the way from kind of like Spruce Grove to Stony Plain and out to Sherwood Park. So it was drive, a lot of driving. And I'm not a big fan of driving. So the idea

of opening an actual center was really, really exciting. Riu, kind of like you touched on, is the only neuro recovery center of its kind in Alberta. And it sounds like there aren't actually that many in Canada at all, which is wild to me when you think about that because of, you know, the sheer need that you hear about. Can you shed some light on what Riu provides specifically why it's so unique and why you hope to see more centers just like it open up across the country? You know, myself being a client and having lived experience, I think it changed like what we, the culture that we created. For us, it was really important to, you know, treat people like normal people. With disability or not, you're going to get treated like a normal person.

And I think, you know, one of the things that really sets us apart is that we choose to see the potential of everybody who walks, rolls, or dances through our doors, and we refuse to talk about limitations. Whereas the health care system mainly focuses on limitations. And when we're constantly talking about the things we can't do, it's very detrimental to your mental health and to your self-esteem and to your confidence in yourself. And so really, like, what does it matter what you can't do, right? We want to know, what can you do? What do you want to do? And how can we help you do it? Because that's what's going to give you that will to like keep coming back, get up every bed day out of bed because life with disability is really hard. Nancy, was there anything

you wanted to share? Yeah, I'll just add on to that. So, I mean, I think, This just speaks to the gap in what's available and what's out there, kind of what we alluded to earlier and that exists across our country, but specifically within our own region. And then our program, I think, is a little bit more unique in that it's very, very hands-on. It's considered intensive. Some would say aggressive. I like intensive just because it's all well-rounded. It's all centered on the client. It's all in potential, like Bean was saying, but it's all rooted in science, which is the neuroplasticity side of things, that the brain is spinal,

have the ability to rewire and recover through movement, repetition, and lots of sensory input. So there's so much limitless potential out there and why we say it's limitless is because we don't actually know that our field is constantly evolving and growing and we're just scratching the surface of what's possible, I think, with neurorecovery. And there's new advances being made constantly in the scientific community and in that realm. So another piece that makes us a little bit more unique is that we're all kinesiologists, not they were opposed to physios or other professions, but right now we're all kinesiologists trained in different modalities. So we've kind of gone out and found a lot of the different modalities out there and brought them in.

So activity-based therapy being the main one, but on the kids side, we have dynamic movement intervention. So we're always looking and growing and we don't have a stagnant program. I think that's something where we kind of stand out in our field a little bit as well is because we're always seeing what's next, what's out there, and how can we best serve our clients. And it's not about ego. It's not about where we are and how good we are. It's about what's best for the clients. So it's not clinical, but it's empowering and it's community oriented, very much driven by the individual who's coming through our doors to be able to reclaim their potential. And it's where hope is restored through the progress and creativity within the center and the

walls. So it's more than just a rehab program. It's a community as well. So it's the environment itself that helps people thrive because we've always said the only thing that we guarantee is an increase in quality of life. So that's just a big thing within the walls of Riu. Yeah. And that's, I mean, that's a pretty amazing thing to even say quality of life is so important. And, you know, sometimes you aren't given that maybe a piece of hope that, yeah, your life can be, it'll be different, but it can still be better than what it is. Do you want to, for anyone, especially me, who doesn't know much about rehab, recovery, especially neurorecovery, what can that look like? It sounds like it is different depending on who the client is.

and what they're going through. But can you give an example of, you know, someone comes into the center and what kind of program you could potentially kind of create what that could look like? Yeah, so it's a few different things, but it's all exercise based and meeting you where you're at. So if you come in, let's say, without head control, the focus is going to be on your head, neck, and the muscles that help move that area. But we're not going to neglect anything else, right? So a lot of programs do focus on what you know is immediate to the injured area so if you imagine like you broke your arm you would work the muscles of your arm so for our clients you know if you have a spinal cord injury let's say it's

you know up in your neck your arms your legs your core is affected so the last thing most people think about is your legs but we're still going to include it because it's still a part of you and still part of your body and the cool thing is science has advanced to the point of if we actually use your arms and your legs together we see more recovery um so that's just kind of one of, you know, we're not going to not go walking on the treadmill, but it might not be to get to the goal of walking right away, but it's going to help you with your core strength. It's going to help you with your arm strength. But it all comes back to what's important to you with your recovery journey. We've definitely seen people like give their kids hugs for the first time. We've seen

people put their hair in the ponytail for the first time. So again, it looks different for different people, but there's a lot of really meaningful goals. I think Bean, do you want to comment on some of the other ones you've kind of heard. You know, there are big goals and there are small goals for people. And sometimes when we think about spinal cord injuries, we think about walking, how everybody wants to get back up walking. And that's true. Like a lot of us do want to walk. But for some people, there's bigger things, higher things on the priority list like bowel, bladder and sexual function, right? Hand function, if you don't have it, that's more important than, you know, walking for a lot of people. And so things that we've helped people with is, you know, holding a pen and signing your

name. How many of us take for granted the ability to scratch our nose, right? We've had clients who were able to focus with their eyes and now, you know, they're wearing watches and they're able to tell the time and they're able to get back on social media because now they can actually focus and they can use a tablet or a computer again. We've had people, you know, just learn how to stand. I think Nancy, seven kids that have taken their first steps in our building that were told they're never going to sit up, never going to roll over. So when we hear that word never, we say challenge accepted, because let us show you what the human will can do. It's, yeah, because there's so many stories out there, especially when people said, you know, they told me no and I proved them wrong.

And I think there is something to say, maybe it's even beyond science that, you know, willpower and just having people that believe in you and being in that community, that environment of other people also striving for it to reach their goals is so impactful. I'm curious because I know you are just one center and you've been around for just a little bit. How many people have you worked with so far? Last summer we did a final count and it was about 450 people last summer. And so I think we might be close to 500. I'm not 100% sure. That's massive. Yeah, it's a lot, you know because the need is there and um i think it's our attitude that you know people really love i mean we've been told a number of times like thank you for treating me like a human yeah

you know and that's kind of sad because you know how they're getting treated out there exactly or do you find a lot of people are traveling to go to your center just because there isn't access there isn't any other options around the country yeah we get a lot of people flying in uh or driving in around from around Edmonton. We had somebody moved from northern B.C. to access our services. And we actually have families flying in from Switzerland to access our services, which is when they found us on Instagram. So it's wild. Really? That's incredible. So I'm curious, how long has your business, when did it launch? And kind of how has the journey been from, you know, having the conversation, let's partner together, creating a business.

together and then actually making it happen. So we opened on April 3rd, 2017. It was our very first day of operation. And it's been, you know, in the beginning, because when we are in true alignment with what we are, our purpose is, to be quite honest, it was fairly easy, right? All the right doors opened. We met the right people.

All the, just the right things happened in order for us to actually open our doors. And then, you know, from then on, it's been a bumpy road. It was pretty uphill until 2020. And then when, you know, the whole world kind of shut down, it did hit us pretty hard. And we had to pivot and change direction and really lean into our innovation to see how we can still serve our clients with these new restrictions that we were facing. So, yeah, I'm curious, Nancy, from your perspective, what were some of the big obstacles along the way? I know COVID is affected, even though it's, you know, in my mind, it's still, you know, like yesterday, but it was five years ago. And everyone I've talked to on this series, COVID has had some impact or effect

on their business. I'm curious what your experience was like. Yeah, absolutely. So I think one of the biggest obstacles from the beginning we faced, though, with Ryu was navigating a system that didn't fully recognize or kind of fund the work that we do. So we were kind of up against, you know, a big battle with the whole current medical system. So because we are not a traditional medical model, we're not a hospital, we're not a physioclinic. We were this whole new brand of a business and a center.

So we were, I guess, very much two young female entrepreneurs going into this very male dominated, and not just old boys club, but old ladies club too, where a lot of people were just saying, you're doing it wrong, you're not doing the right way.

So there was a lot of that as well in the beginning. So it made you question. You're like, are we doing this right? Because we're doing a lot of things, which is very much not the traditional way. So that was just like a bit of a struggle in the beginning, I would say. And then the other big challenge in the beginning was just awareness because we were so brand new,

just trying to create the break into the medical system and just have our name out there known, but known in a positive way and not a negative way. So we were definitely fighting against a system that was built against us in the beginning, for sure. So there was a lot of perseverance required in the beginning. And then as we got more well known and more well accepted, and that just came through experience and through clients coming to us and then by our clients also then sharing back into that same community

because it is very small and very intertwined. Like what's one person is saying is going to go kind of get spread to everybody. So thankfully, we had a lot of good things being said about us in the beginning, and they still are going and saying good things. But it was a threat. It was a threat to the current system because it was change. And change is hard for a lot of people and a lot of organizations, and we've been kind of making waves since the beginning. So, you know, we've been changing the game within our own community, and we've definitely had some resistance to that change. But it's definitely being more accepted now, and we're eight years in.

and still seeing a little resistance but not nearly as much as the beginning and every time we do something a little bit different or a little bit new there's definitely questions that pop up but I think we now have the backing to be able to stand a little firmer stand a little stronger

be a little more confident when that comes back to us COVID definitely was interesting it definitely changed the game a little bit for us I think it opened up some cool doors though at the same point so it opened up the ability

to move everything online and showed us how adaptable we truly were as an organization, like within a week we had pivoted and shifted and gone online and did what we needed to do to continue to survive. I wouldn't say thrive, but we were surviving. So I think that was a pretty cool opportunity. And it allowed us to open the doors to creating our online courses and just showing us different ways of moving the business forward and having impact greater than just what we do one-on-one with clients. So that opened doors to people that were not just within our center.

The other cool thing it did was it allowed clients to show them that they can have more control and empower them more over their own recovery journey because when you're doing something virtual, I'm not there, my hands aren't on you, helping you recover. So that, I think, gave a lot of people a lot more possibilities, I think. It's hard to sometimes translate what you do in one session into your home environment. And this was all in your home environment. So that was a really cool, I think, thing that. came out of COVID. And we've still kept the virtual sessions going when clients can't make it.

They need to cancel last minute. You can just go online. You don't actually have to, you know, forfeit your session time. So a lot of cool things came out of it. I'd say the recession post-COVID, that has got us a lot harder than the actual COVID itself. Yeah. So I think we didn't feel the full effects of COVID until probably about 2022. Yeah. But again, if you can survive those waves of not great times, then you're going to really succeed during those good times. And not every business is able to say that. And again, I think it says a lot that your business really started to kind of grow because of the word of mouth and the work that you're doing. And that's just, you know, sounds like it's continuing with, you know, people talking about it or finding it on social

media, which is really, really exciting just to, again, how you can kind of get the word spread there. Now, I know both of you are the recipients of the visa. She's next grant program. So congratulations to you both on that. I'd love to know, like, how did that all come about? And, you know, what was your experience like? Because I know part of it, you get some funding, you get some mentorship. What have you kind of learned or gained so far? Sure, I can start that. So it's actually kind of a little bit of a funny story how we found out about this grant. It was our finance manager, Tash. you know, we were just chatting at the end of the day one day, and she's like, oh, hey, I saw this on Instagram last night. And it was the application for this visa. She's next grant. And so when we looked at it, we're like, we have 12 hours to apply before the deadline. Oh, my gosh. So we're like, okay, I guess we're doing this right now. And so, you know, luckily, Nancy and I have a lot of experience writing grant applications. So we filled it out

and did all the requirements really quickly. and submitted it. And then, Nads, you want to tell the rest? Yeah, so, I mean, that was the grant application. I mean, I think to this point, obviously we were super excited to get chosen for this grant. Very grateful. We were at a point in kind of revamping our business where we felt like we needed a little extra help at this point, and just where we are at our growth that are phasing.

So just kind of like everything else in our business has kind of come at the right time, and we're very excited. We've been matched with a mentor. we've already met and already have some good ideas going for where we're going to go. So very excited about the possibilities. And we can already start to see, I guess, the changes that we're going to be making with our business. I'm curious, what are some of the areas that you want to get that kind of additional support or how, was it, you know, how to, you know, was it marketing it? Was it, you know, what were the things? So you're like, ooh, we needed a second pair of eyes from someone

who might know a little bit more than we do at this point. Yeah. So there's a few different areas. is that, you know, our business was currently just struggling with, just in our growth and transition phase. And one of it is just like sustainability. So sustainability, just in terms of our operations, our staffing, you know, human resources is your biggest asset, but can be one of your biggest challenges as well. So that was a big one. Bean, do you want to talk about the other one? Yeah. So another area that we wanted help with was with marketing. It's not something really neither than that's your I excel in. And because our business has been spread by word of mouth, we really haven't had to put them much into marketing. And we've also received a lot of like, you know,

news media attention. So that has always helped. But now we're kind of at this phase where like it would really be beneficial for us to market, especially the All Core 360 program that we offer. So having some help with that in some direction in that field is like invaluable to us. Absolutely. Now, I know it sounds, you know, we've kind of discussed, there's been a lot of ups and downs over the past eight years of your business, and I'm sure eight years kind of flew by for both of you during this entrepreneurial journey that you've both been on together, which is amazing. But, you know, for anyone listening, you know, maybe they're in a situation very similar to years. They've met their potential business partner or they want to go off on their own

and they have a great business idea. From your experience over this past year, almost a decade, you know, what are some of your kind of pieces of advice that you would give to someone? who wants to start, but they may not know exactly how to start or where to start. Try to have a general idea or a plan of where you want this to go. And, you know, you have to firmly believe in your idea. You have to love it more than anything and you really have to believe in it for it to come to fruition because there's always going to be challenges in no matter what kind of business you're going to open, there's always going to be challenges.

So are you resilient enough to overcome that? Are you, you know, have enough courage and bravery? to like, you know, still go through it when you're in the lows of the lows. I also think having a business partner with opposite strengths and weaknesses than you is very beneficial too, just because it's so much life is easier and business is easier when you have somebody to bounce ideas off of and that you know will be straight up honest with you with no judgment. I think that's, that's been huge for us. Absolutely. And, you know, we're getting to time before I let you go.

Is there anything that we haven't touched on that you want to make sure listeners know, whether it's about your entrepreneurial journey or more about your organization? I think I'd just say if there's one thing we'd love to leave anyone listening with who's thinking about starting their business, it's you don't need to have it all figured out to begin. We definitely didn't. We just knew there was a gap and a need and a fire to make a difference. So that's where it started. Entrepreneurship is messy.

It's humbling. It'll stretch you in every single direction. but if you're building something rooted in purpose, something that solves a real problem and serves people, it's worth every obstacle. So surround yourself with good people. You don't have to be the expert in everything. In fact, it's actually helpful if you're not the expert in everything. Just stay connected to your vision, stay willing to learn, and keep showing up. Every business that exists today starts as an idea and maybe yours is next. Well, thank you so much Bean and Nancy for coming on the podcast. It was such a pleasure or getting to know you both and your

journey and especially Ryu. I think it's going to help so many people. And I can't wait to hear news that it's expanding in different locations across the country and hopefully the world because I know this is a big need. And I know a lot of people that hear about are going to want to learn a lot more about it. So thank you so much for joining me. Thank you so much for having us. And that was my interview with Bean Gill and Nancy Morrow, founders of Ryu. You can learn more about their company at reu.ca. That's rey-y-u.ca. And and follow their company on Instagram and Facebook at Ryu PRC. And if you've been inspired by being a Nancy Story

and are a women entrepreneur interested in learning more about this grant program, you can find more information at vizza.ca slash grant program. A big thank you to Visa for funding this amazing grant program, supporting Canadian women entrepreneurs, and sponsoring this special series of the More Money Podcast. Thanks for listening and watching on YouTube. Until next time. The More Money Podcast would not be possible.

without the amazing talents of video editor, Justice Carrar, and podcast producer Matt Rightout, who you can find at MRAVCanada.com.