Welcome back to Holly the OT podcast for 2024. This episode I am unpacking the Ins and Outs for OT’s for 2024 (as submitted by you!!!).
Happy Listening!
G'day guys and welcome to Holly the OT podcast. My name is Holly and I am an occupational therapist looking to create a judgement free zone for all OT students, new grads and early year therapists. Join me as I give my honest opinions on the highs and the lows and the ins and the outs of being an OT. Before I start today's episode, I'd like to acknowledge the Wujak Nongar people who are the traditional custodians of the land this episode was recorded. Hey guys, happy new year, happy 2024. That is the first time I've said the year out loud and it feels weird, weird, crazy, just disbelief that we are in 2024. You know all those usual things you say at the start of the new year, but it actually is crazy to me that a whole year has gone by. Yeah, I guess that's how a calendar works. Anyway, welcome back to Holly the OT pod. First episode of 2024 and it's just a bit of a catch up episode today. And we're also doing ins and outs because I just love that trend. It's one of my favourite trends and I'm sharing my ins and outs and your ins and outs of 2024. I popped a story box up and I'm going to share all your guys. Answers Crucky, that was a big bang. If you heard that, that was my elbow. That hurt, yes, but before we get into that, let's do a little bit of a life update, a little bit of a why things are out, what I'm doing, what's coming for the pod, what's coming for me. Yeah, I'll give you guys a little rundown. It's been a little while since there's been an episode I actually secretly posted. Well, not secretly, it wasn't intentionally a secret. I posted an episode at the end of last year and then just forgot to post it on Instagram and it's just wild to me that so many of you still listen to it. I just appreciate that so much that people are listening without even needing to be reminded to go and listen. It makes me very happy. But that was a questionable episode. If you haven't listened to that, go and check it out. It had some good feedback too. So thank you everyone that sent through some feedback for that.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I've been super busy. I have been back home in New South Wales for about four weeks and, when it's new to the pod, moved over to Perth, but from New South Wales originally, and yeah, I just had so many fun events on. It was my cousin's wedding. It was my grandma's 90th birthday Christmas, of course, and one of my best friends' engagement parties all within those few weeks. And then it was my and Kane's and nephew's first Christmas and then, obviously, on my side of the family, my niece and nephew's just they've had a few Christmases now, but it's still very, very fun. So Christmas was a blast.
Speaker 1:My grandma was in hospital until Christmas day, so I picked her up from the hospital Christmas day, brought her to Chrissy lunch and it was like delivering the matriarch to the family and it was obviously the best out of a bad situation. So glad that she was able to be there. But we ended up getting really sick. In the last week that we were home, kane flew back to work and I still had a week and I had so many things planned like so many more people to catch up with, but I just got so sick. But it actually ended up being really nice because I just spent that whole time with my mum and dad at home, like at my childhood home, and every time we've come home like it's been so busy, like obviously we see them, but it's never been like that quality time of like sitting on the couch each night, each night cooking dinner. It was just so wholesome and so nice and it's actually made it really hard to leave because it just sort of felt like like a whole time. You know.
Speaker 1:But back in Perth, back into it. I started back up at work this week. So if you're listening beyond, right now it's like the second week of January. So, yeah, getting back into it, I went on outreach and I'm doing a photo shoot this Sunday which is going to be really fun, just to get like my headshots and stuff done and then get a bit of content for the gram and stuff and a bit of content for some things that I'm releasing, which is going to be really cool. Gonna be a bit out of my comfort zone. I'll let you know how it goes. I might even film it. That could be fun. If you don't see a video of my photo shoot, assume it didn't go well and I didn't enjoy myself. But if you see a video, it was good, it went well. But hopefully I get some nice, nice pickies, nice shots. That'd be fun. I haven't had any updated headshots since I've worked for myself, so that's going to be great.
Speaker 1:I thought I'd do a little bit of rundown of what my work is looking like at the moment. I've had a few questions about sort of what I'm doing and, yeah, I'm fully self employed now and just doing outreach. So I do outreach two days a week. My partner works two weeks on one week off. So the two weeks he's away I do my outreach and then he's saying, oh my God, it's kind of been so big, it's been so long. When he's home, I have that week off. So, yeah, working two weeks on one week off, my outreach days are long, so they're like 24 hours in like two days. I could do two 12 hour days and then, yeah, the rest of the week is podcasting, social media, making my things that I'm releasing soon, which is going to be so fun, and supervision. So, like, friday's my dedicated supervision day and I've just been loving supervision. It's just been a blast, yeah, so if you are looking for Supervisor 2024, get amongst it, send me a message, happy to have a chat, no strings attached. And yeah, I'm just absolutely loving that.
Speaker 1:My products that I'm releasing I'm not going to tell you one of them just because I've got to make sure I actually am committed to it first, but the other one is the Feel Good OT project. So I spoke about it on the podcast sort of in the middle of the year and it was where I had like a Google doc and I got you guys to, I guess, give me your advice, give me your rundown and answer a few questions. And then I've put a lot of my own quotes and questions into this beautiful little flip book that's going to sit on our desks, that I've been drawing away. I got an iPad with Procreate so I've been doing all the doodles and illustrations that are going to go in this book. It's been a labor of love. It's probably taken seven months, longer than what I anticipated, but I never want creative projects like that to be like a chore or to like rush myself, so I've just been doing it when I've been wanting to do it and it is coming. I had someone ask the other day like hey, I submitted for my Feel Good OT project. Are you still doing that? Yes, I am still doing it, it is coming. I'm just not rushing it, but that's been fun to work on. I've been doing a lot of that in the background.
Speaker 1:The other thing I'm working on is and it's completely non OT related and I'm probably not going to go into it because I still feel like not in posture syndrome, but I just almost feel like people are only here for OT. So I'm not going to speak about anything other than OT. But my partner and I are starting a business together, which has been an absolute blast. If, um, yeah, I just love challenging myself and doing something new and it's completely out of both of our comfort zones. And God, I've said I'm a lot. I almost want to start this whole thing again because of how much I've said. I feel like I've gotten so good at not saying and now I'm arming, I'm all right, that's all my arms gone. Yes, so we are starting a business together. If you guys are curious about that, let me know and I can sort of delve a little bit more into it. I've been really loving sort of expanding myself business wise and going into new uncharted areas. I feel like OT. I'm so comfortable and confident in OT that it can get a bit monotonous sometimes and I'm one of those people that really needs to be challenged. So, yeah, this is something completely out of our comfort zones.
Speaker 1:Happy to share more if needed. If you don't care, that's okay, I will share it, no worries. Oh, I've done it again. I've said, um, all right, we're going to end the podcast here. No, we won't.
Speaker 1:So today's episode is Inns and Outs for 2024. I did an Instagram video a real, if you will look at me being a millennial saying video. I popped a reel up and it was my Inns and Outs for 2024. I am going to very, very quickly tell you what they were and if you would like to see the full video, head on over to the gram. But my Inns are Inns standing up for ourselves, writing notes on time, reflex integration bubbles, doing one recommendation at a time, working the hours you were paid for and pen and paper to do lists. My Outs are getting annoyed when people don't know what OT is standardized assessments, skipping lunch breaks, messy therapy bags and working clinically five days a week.
Speaker 1:Now, before I get into everyone else's Inns and Outs, I would like to address the elephant in the room, and it might not be an elephant for anyone other than me, but one of my Outs was standardized assessments and I this is something I'm feeling very passionately about at the moment and I chatted in that reel very willingly, very casually. I was just like, eh, outstander as assessments and I guess you could say I copped some hate. I had some very constructive conversations with people and I think constructive conversations are really, really powerful. But yeah, I copped my first hate message and it made me so sad and I almost was like, no, I can't do this, I can't share my opinions ever again. But obviously I got over that. But yeah, someone like it went a bit viral and you know when things go viral, it reaches audiences that aren't your own Like.
Speaker 1:I feel like the majority of people that follow me know what I'm about, know the journey that I'm on clinically. I feel like I talk about it on the pot a little bit. But yeah, someone that doesn't follow me shared it to their story and was like do not follow this page, this is misinformation, standardized assessments, blah, blah, blah, anyway. So I'm going to address it. I addressed it on my stories as well, but I thought I'd give another rundown because I've had a lot of conversations with people about it.
Speaker 1:Now, keeping in mind, my caseload that I work with is predominantly neurodiverse children that are young, I'm thinking like six and under. So children who are autistic, adhd, trauma, odd, pda, all of those things that are typically under six. So that's my predominant caseload. So when I made this comment, I made the comment thinking of my predominant caseload in mind. I stand by the opinion that I don't think that neurodivergent children should be compared to a norm sample in things such as gross motor, fine motor, visual motor, physical things. I love the Vineland assessment, I love the sensory profile assessment. I think they are so valuable and I also think assessments like the M fund, the Peabody, the Bot I think they have their place. They just don't have a place in what I do majority of the time. So again, this is my bad for making such a throwaway comment on a topic that probably is a little bit more serious than just being like not doing it anymore.
Speaker 1:I don't like to assess children when I first meet them. In fact, I will not assess a child when I first meet them. There is so much anxiety that goes into meeting a therapist or going to a clinic or having someone come into your home. There is so much anxiety that goes with that and your performance is naturally not going to be as good as it probably is going to be in two weeks, three weeks time with the exact same person. So I will never assess as soon as I meet someone In the instance of an FCA.
Speaker 1:Obviously there are sometimes time constraints and if it's an FCA for a client that you are just meeting, sometimes you don't have that choice. In that situation I will do observation and I will guide my observation off the guidelines of the assessment that's most relevant for their age. Or I will just use the Fire Motor, gross Motor, subponents, subcomponents, components, whatever of the violent, because I think that gives great information If it is someone who I have known longer and I have a relationship with and this is the key here relationship. Children will do their best when they're comfortable and they have a relationship with you. In that situation I will typically follow the structure of a standardized assessment, but I won't deliver it in a standardized way. I won't follow it to a T, I won't read the instructions, how they're designed to be instructed, and I will allow more prompts. I will allow more time, I will allow more opportunity for trial and error. I think that's really important. I have seen kids who you will ask them to thread some beads on a string and if you're watching them, they won't do it. If they're under time pressure, they won't do it. If they turn around and think that no one's watching them, they will do it in 10 seconds. And that's the point that I sort of want to get across is that standardized assessments absolutely have their place. You can't just go in blind and go in really nilly.
Speaker 1:I've been doing assessments for a long time when I was an AHA, as an OT, as a business owner. I've been doing assessments for a long time so I know that I can guide my clinical observations with an evidence based lens. I totally, totally incompetent that I can do that. I would hate for someone who is just starting out to think that they shouldn't be doing standardized assessments at all. And if that's how my comments came across, I do apologize. But yeah, I just want people to consider when and how they are delivering a standardized assessment.
Speaker 1:When I made that comment on my story, like when I was sort of justifying my comment, someone asked like oh, it's all well and good to do the standardized assessments with extra prompts and stuff, but obviously that makes it non-standardized. How do you then comment that in a report and I just literally have got like a two sentence quote that I just say like this assessment wasn't completed in the standardized manner, like the scores are still accurate, the scores still give an accurate representation of this child's ability. But there's no Zed scores, there's no standardized scores, there's no scoured scores, blah, blah, blah. I'm giving that rating but I'm not giving that score. If that makes sense. Anyway, if you would like me to go into that more, I can. This is very personal preference. It's very based on the population that you're working with. If I was working with predominantly physical disabilities where their main goals were around things like handwriting and gross motor skills and stuff like that, it would be more relevant. But keeping in mind younger kids, early years, most of them non-speaking, most of them with main goals around sensory regulation and just participating, that's the key component that I want you all to consider. Anyway, got that out of the way.
Speaker 1:I will still continue to share my thoughts with you guys. I was a little bit taken back, but that is what happens when you share your opinions on social media. I'm okay with it. I'll move on. Anyway, that was a bit of a downer.
Speaker 1:Let's get into the highs and lows. I absolutely love everyone that sent through their highs and lows. Absolutely loved it. So I'm going to start with the oh, not highs and lows. What is wrong with me? Ins and outs. Ins and outs of 2024. Sorry guys, it's been a while I've been on holidays, forgive me. Forgive me Ins and outs of 2024. So I'm just going to rattle through them. The ones that I want to elaborate more on I will. We have got all right, not these are the ins ins.
Speaker 1:First, not being judgmental of yourself when you make mistakes. This is so good for new grads Any new grads listening newsflash you're going to make mistakes. I still make mistakes all the time. Therapists with 20 years of experience still make mistakes all the time. You go into make mistakes and it's not an accurate representation of your clinical skills. Keep that in mind.
Speaker 1:Accepting and making space for the big emotions that come with working in healthcare I love this one In we are acknowledging that healthcare is a rollercoaster. When you're working with people's lives, it's a rollercoaster and I know me personally. I sometimes will. I'm probably too good at shutting it out and I don't allow myself time to process those things that are quite confronting, especially working with families that come from challenging backgrounds. You almost you have to block it out, but I also think it's important to process it and talk about it and unpack it as well. So I absolutely love that one and that's going to be important for new grads as well Allowing yourself to be sad when you are confronted with sad situations, allowing yourself to feel frustrated when things don't go the way they should be going. Allowing yourself all those emotions. This is a good one.
Speaker 1:Embracing a messy schedule that changes based on the demands of the day. If you are someone who is a bit of a control freak, it's not the right word, but it's going to paint the right picture. So let's stick with control freak and you like your day set out a certain way and in some caseloads that can change at the drop of a hat, things that are more urgent might come up, people might change Admin, might book in someone that you weren't expecting, and that's a whole nother kettle of fish. But sometimes it happens and sometimes you have to roll with the punches and deal with the fallout later. So embracing the messy calendar is always fun, but the thing I do like about working for myself is I can have my calendar as messy or as meticulously planned as I like and it's all dependent on my mood. So that's fun. This is a really lovely one More family time because baby number three is due in winter. I love that Any of these ends that are non OT related are particularly my favorite, because being a good OT is about being a good person outside of OT as well, and that comes with balance of all your occupations.
Speaker 1:So I love that one. This is another one and I know she's not going to mind me saying who this is OT with Joey, and if you don't follow OT with Joey, definitely go and follow her. But she has said that her in for 2024 is mandatory dance breaks between sessions, and I love that. I'm a dancer. Not, I'm not a dancer. I do not dance professionally. I'm a dancer in that Like, if there's music playing, I'm going to bust a move, I'm going to bring out a two minute interpretive choreographed piece that you think that I've rehearsed my whole life, but it just come to me. I'm one of those people, so I absolutely love that.
Speaker 1:This is another one from Joey learning to laugh at yourself and embrace the chaos of PEDS-OT and I think that goes with one before about embracing your calendar as well. But just don't take yourself too seriously, guys. Like, especially if you're a PEDS-OT, it's fun, like have a laugh and if you enjoy yourself, that energy will be infectious and that will rub off on people around you, but those who aren't working in PEDS-OT as well. I think you can absolutely laugh and have fun and just yeah, enjoy yourself. That's what it's all about. This is another really good one in matching your kid's energy. This may mean lowering your volume, your effect or your expectations, which is so important, and I am a fellow big energy person and I used to come into all of my sessions with big energy and for most kids that was really really good and most kids that got them participating in, eager and engaged. But every now and then there'd be that child that had a little bit more lower arousal and were a little bit more internal with their feelings and just not in the mood for a big personality. And I think that's a skill that you learn is being able to adjust that, and you can be enthusiastic and have good effect, but in really minimal ways as well, so you can still keep that child engaged without overwhelming their auditory system or just their overall sensory system. I think that's a really, really important one In. This is a big one.
Speaker 1:Therapists billing appropriately for non face-to-face time and not feeling guilty. It is not in our nature as therapists, as OTs, to care about the money. It is not in our nature to want to yeah, even worry you about the money that we're making. But essentially, if you're in private practice, it's important and it's going to contribute to your billable target as well. And if you have a high billable target and you're not appropriately putting in your indirect time, then it is going to make you need to see more clients. Essentially, the less billable time that's in your calendar, the more billables that will be put in your calendar. That doesn't make sense, but I know you guys know what I mean. Yes, I love that. I think it's going to be really interesting over the next coming months. This is a bit of a side note, but just in terms of billables and NDIS and there's lots of change happening with the NDIS, but it doesn't mean that we should be changing what we're doing in the meantime.
Speaker 1:So trust yourself. Trust that things take long for a reason not because you're slow, not because you're not doing a good job. Our jobs are hard. Reports take a long time. Notes can take a long time. Resources take a long time. Bill it Another in that came through was as a now second year PZOT.
Speaker 1:I want to trust my knowledge and say goodbye to imposter syndrome, I reckon. And then this is a great one, I love this one. But I reckon the most prevalent time for burnout is not in your first year but in your second year, and I'm not meaning to raise the alarms for anyone in the second year. But it's like, alright, you're not a new grad anymore, technically, like you sort of jumped into that early year therapist space, and that's when you see a lot of businesses that are like, alright, you finish a new grad year, supports have stopped Off, you go on your own. So it's really important to, yeah, be aware of your skills, be aware of your knowledge and just trust yourself. But also trust your gut and if you're not feeling supported, still stand up for yourself. There's not like a magical cure of like, alright, I've been in a tea for 12 months in one day, now I must know everything and I can do it all by myself is not the case. You still need support. So I love that. Trust yourself. And how do imposter syndrome see later? Imposter syndrome when, not about that.
Speaker 1:Next one is having a life after work during the week. I love this. I love, love, love, love, love this. I hate that people Only doing things on the weekend and I know that that's like a privilege thing for me to be saying, but I just think there's so much value in Making some sort of routine where you're not just in and out of like for work during a weekday, like having time for yourself during the week, going to the gym, bit of self care, going on walks, whatever that might be catching up with people, even Wednesday night for you not is an absolute Hoot, wherever you are. It's really, really important to not let your week be confined by Monday to Friday and then enjoying yourself on the weekend. Life is so very enjoyed all the time, not just Saturdays and Sunday.
Speaker 1:Next one mental health days and work from home when possible. I love this. If you need a mental health, take a mental health day and stop feeling like you have to justify yourself every time you take a day off. People will survive if you're not at work for a day. People will survive if you have to do a late cancellation because you really cannot get yourself to work. It is not the end of the world. If you need to take a work from home day, do it. If you need to take a mental health day, do it, do it, do it, do it.
Speaker 1:This is another good one in the twenty twenty four doing PD early. I this written all of these. I love this. Doing PD early. I'm the worst. I get like this rush of excitement and I'll buy a PD and if it's not like a do it by this date or do it on this date like a live one. I just want to do it like I'll do it eventually, but like I just forget about it and then I just don't have the motivation. And yet doing it early is very, very good. And last one for the ends is prioritizing myself and my family and not working all the time. Such switching off from work. Now I know this person is another soul trader like myself and that can be really hard to draw the line between when I work, when don't I work, especially if you work from home for your admin time. So prioritizing even setting yourself work hours as if you are employed by someone and you've got your work hours going home. I love that. Oh, my god, I lied. It's not the only in this. This for more in another, in these funny ones.
Speaker 1:Another in is washing my body. So I love that. I'm getting much better watching my body. So I used to forget all the time and then it would start getting a little bit smelly. So, yes, wash your body. So wash all your toys. I feel like we all got really good during covert and then it sort of dropped off the wagon a little bit. So don't forget to wash your toys. Next one is bubbles. This is I had bubbles in mind and this person said they agree with having bubbles as one of their ends. Bubbles are so good guys, bubbles for everyone. I just. Every time I get bubbles out, like with an older kid for the first time and they're so excited I literally hate myself. So I'm like why didn't I bring these out earlier? Everyone loves bubbles.
Speaker 1:Another in is using voice notes for doing notes. Voice notes are doing notes or voice to text, or I read that wrong. Using voice to text for doing notes great idea, great idea, especially if you're a mobile therapist, like if you're. If you've got a 20 minute drive between clients or 15 minutes, whatever, get in the car do your. This is a disaster. Why can I not speak? Hook your phone up to your car hands-free, because we're safe out here. We're not touching our phones, babies. And you're going to use voice to text. I use the app Otter O-T-E-R. I put my voice note in and it sends me an email when I'm done, and then I get back to my office and I just copy and paste it in. Very, very life-saving. It saves a lot of time.
Speaker 1:And the final in is, if I like this one, keeping a clean desk. Yes, keeping a clean desk, a clean slate, a clean room, a clean therapy bag, all of those things. It's just so good for the mind. I'm about it. Good stuff, all right time for the outs of 2024. And you guys did not hold back. I am about it Out.
Speaker 1:Number one staying at work over time. Yes, yes, yes, yes. If you are rusted to finish at five, go home at five. Obviously, once in a blue moon it's fine. To stay back and finish is one thing off, but when it becomes a pattern and a habit, it is so unhealthy. Prioritize your own life, prioritize your own well-being and leave your job. No job is worth sacrificing that crucial time at the end of the day to wind down, stop going to work two hours early too. Stop going to work when you're not rusted on. Stop working overtime. I'm not about it Out.
Speaker 1:Taking work home with you mentally got to switch off Absolutely. If you are someone that works from home, have a separate space, close your door when the day is over to have that disconnect. But if you are someone that's like, yep, I'm going to do these resources at home, no, no, no, no Again, place of privilege. I know that not everyone has the time to do all these extra things that they want to do, do all of these little nitty-gritty things that just get lost during the day. But it's not healthy to be taking things home. It's not healthy to not have a switch off between your work life and your home life.
Speaker 1:Next out, working for employers who only care about money. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Now, obviously, within reason, every private practice needs to care about money. If they want to pay your wage, you have to earn the money. But when that starts rippling in and affecting your clinical work and affecting your clinical judgment and persuading how you are servicing someone, that is not okay. That is not okay. And when it's a constant pressure of you're not reaching your billables, you're not reaching your billables. We need more money, we need more clients, blah, blah, blah. I hate that, I'm not about it. So absolutely do not work for people who only care about the money, but also I think it's important to have a realistic understanding of the ins and outs and costs of a business Don't worry yourself too much over it, but just that general understanding of when you do need to be generating income versus not generating income.
Speaker 1:It's nice to have a balance Changing your therapy to suit appearance, expectations, table-based when not appropriate. And this comes I think I love this one comes with being confident in your clinical ability and confident in your clinical reasoning. Sometimes we make the mistake of like if a parent has an intervention they want you to do, sometimes they just don't know any different and they saw someone do it somewhere and they think that's the only way. Sometimes it's just a matter of educating a little bit longer or through a different approach to make that parent understand why you're doing your therapy the way you're doing your therapy. Love that Thinking clients are better off with another OT having self-doubt Get it out, throw it out, it's out the door, stop doubting yourself.
Speaker 1:Obviously, if it's a situation and I don't know why I keep justifying, I know you guys know what these are all about Obviously, if you're a pediatric OT and someone gets referred for a major home mod, potentially you should think they're better off with another OT in that situation where they're two very, very complexly different areas. But you need to back yourself. You need to trust yourself and you need to allow yourself time to grow with your client. You will have those clients that challenge you. You will have clients where you do not know every answer straight away. Just because that's the case doesn't mean you're not the OT for them. Learn with them, work with them and expand with them and go on the journey. It's not to say that you are not the OT for them. You've got to trust yourself. Love that.
Speaker 1:Another one. Did I already read this one? Overworking, oh no, similar to taking work home and all those ones. There's a lot of similarities between these. But yes, overworking, we are not about that Self-doubt and imposter syndrome. It's out, it's out of here. It's another self-doubt one. There's a couple of self-doubts ones. Actually, love that.
Speaker 1:Another out is answering emails and texts on the weekend. God, I could have written this in. I am getting better If you have your work emails hooked up to your phone and you swipe down on your notifications and you can see your work emails. We're out of here, gross. We're not about that. You do not want to be seeing your work emails on a Saturday afternoon when you're sitting with your friends drinking adult apple juice and doing all that stuff you don't want to know. The email will still be there on Monday. That person is not going to hate you or not appreciate you or whatever if you don't reply to them straight away on the weekend and if they are pressuring you.
Speaker 1:Reconsider that therapeutic relationship in whatever it may be. Do not answer emails and texts on the weekends. No, no, no, no, no. And again, this was someone who was self-implemented. So set the boundary and stick to the boundary. Stress is out. Stress. I love this one. Stress is inevitable. It's always going to happen. But stressing over things that are out of our control, I think, is really important to put in the bin for 2024. See you later.
Speaker 1:This person has written clients who won't leave services if all possible goals are met. Slash. Another profession is more suitable. This is another can of worms which I think I might chat a little bit about in an episode. Just add it to my list of episodes that I want to do.
Speaker 1:But it can be really, really tricky in discharging clients, particularly again in the pediatric space non-pediatricities, I'm sorry, but yeah, some people just really, really struggle with letting therapists go and it comes back to, I guess, that deep-seated fear of being on a wait list and knowing that if you've got a spot, you don't want to let that spot go. And even though right now you don't need therapeutic services, what about in six months time? What about when they start high school? Like, what am I going to do then? Parents are genuinely fearful about being on wait lists and I think it's a greater systematic issue about how much demand there is for OTs and I think a lot of that's going to change with the NDIS review and the fund foundational supports that they're thinking of introducing. But it is really really tricky. But again, sticking to your boundaries and redirecting when necessary and re-educating when necessary as well. I also have been telling some of my Super Vasee clients, my new grad OTs, that it is OK to offer alternative services and if you've got a weekly client, don't just say all right, you're done. Transition them to fortnightly, transition them then to monthly. Do a telehealth every in between appointment to let that family know that they will be OK without you and that they can do it. Sometimes they just need that confidence. This is a good one Out, not unpacking my therapy bag.
Speaker 1:I like that. I think there's two types of OTs in the world and there's the OT that will unpack their therapy bag as soon as they get back to the office. And there's the OT that leaves the therapy bag in the car and frantically looks for the resources the next day, remembering they're still in the car. That's great that you want to be messy out, tidy up, sorry with your therapy bag and unpacking it. I think that's very important. It is a skill that I do not have, but I'm trying my best. My motivation comes from like. At the moment, I like will walk in from an outreach trip and I'll just put my therapy bag in the hallway, and then obviously, it's late at night when I get home, and then the next morning it's like, oh, I'm too tired. And then it's like Saturday and I'm staring at my therapy resources and I just don't want to be staring at my therapy resources. I don't want to do that. So if I pack them away in their spot where they go, in their cupboard, then I don't have to see them and I can have good work life balance. I love that.
Speaker 1:This next out is uncomfortable uniforms. Whoever sent this one in. I'd love to see what your uniform is and why it's uncomfortable. I, yeah, great one. Obviously you want to be comfy at work. I used to be very much like a dress pants and would wear my RMS and wear like a button-up shirt, and nah, not about that. Now I'm very much like comfy, flowy pants. I wear a T-shirt most days and I've been wearing my Birx lately, which has been so much fun.
Speaker 1:If I'm going into schools, I probably won't wear my Birx and Stalks. I feel like you could get away with it, but I think some schools have rules against it and you have to have closed-toe shoes. But if I'm just going to homes, you best believe I'm wearing my Birx and Stalks. It's comfy, I can flick them off easily and, yeah, obviously it's got to make sure I've got a pedicure, because no one wants to see those honkers with no paint on them.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you and the final out is pre-session anxiety you got some good ones. These are all really good out and some of these are things that are going to happen and you have to sort of work through them. But yeah, pre-session anxiety is an absolute killer sometimes and I feel like that's when the imposter syndrome creeps in the most. So if you're experiencing that, just remember you are the OT, you are the bee's knees and they will love you and you will figure it out. Like I said, go on that journey with them, with those complex clients, learn with them, try new things and don't let that anxiety stop you from being the best OT that you are.
Speaker 1:Alrighty guys, that's a wrapied-appie of the first episode of 2024. Thanks for tuning in a little fun one. I'm gonna take a little bit serious at the start. I do apologize, but thank you for tuning in. I am excited to get back into the podcast and, yeah, bring some great interviews and ideas and thoughts and have some more thought-provoking conversations with you guys. Newgrads if you're listening, particularly pediatric newgrads I'm going to start releasing a series focused on those first few months of being an OT and just giving a little bit more of that clinical insight that you guys have been so desperately asking me for. I, like I have always said I've always been hesitant about doing that clinical insight stuff, but the time is now, I'm doing it and I hope you guys enjoy them when they come out.
Speaker 1:Before we wrap this episode up, you guys know we finished with a fun fact. My fun fact is themed around Japan because I just booked a holiday to Japan. It will be my third time going back, but I'm going with some friends and my boyfriend and it's their first time, so I'm very excited to see it through their eyes and yeah, it's just going to be a hoot, but yeah, it's a Japan focused fact. My whole TikTok for you page is just Japan, Japan, japan at the moment, and this one came through there and it was that in Japan there is a vending machine for every 24 people, and if you've been to Japan, you know that there are vending machines everywhere Drink machines with hot drinks in them, cold drinks in them, there's fairy plus machines, there's cigarette machines, there's alcohol vending machines, there's food, there's just umbrellas. Everything that you could need is an vending machine, and Japan's a populated place. So one in 24 is a pretty big deal. So I'll let you guys know.
Speaker 1:Wait, I feel like maybe I've already told you guys I'm going to Japan. Was that on another episode? Anyway, I've just booked flight, so it's official. Anyway, relevant, it doesn't matter. Yes, thank you for tuning in, thank you for dealing with all my arms and my stutters and my jitters of getting back into podcasting for like five weeks. So hope you enjoyed. Thank you everyone that submitted answers and thank you everyone that's listening. I just love you guys and I can't wait for a Rupa 2024 with you guys. Enjoy and goodbye. Something amazing just next week.