Ep 84: Come have a yap with me!

It has been a hot minute, so today’s episode is a good old-fashioned catch-up. I’m chatting about the new Allied Health Assistant role at Eucalypt OT, why I’ve been cautious about growing the business, supervising OT students, reopening my books for supervision and the importance of building an OT community outside of your workplace.

It is so good to be back behind the mic, so I hope you enjoy this ep!

For more on the AHA Role --> https://www.eucalyptot.com.au/general-4

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

G'day guys and welcome to Holly the OT Podcast. My name is Holly, and I am an occupational therapist looking to create a judgment-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 Larakia people who are the traditional custodians of the land. This episode was recorded. G'day guys, and welcome back to Holly the OT Podcast. Typical Holly story, but I've gone to record this episode probably like three times now, and there's a thing on in Darwin at the moment called Pitch Black. I can't really, I don't really know what it is, but all I know is there's a lot of jets. There's a lot of planes, there's a lot of jets. It's like an Air Force thing. They're from all over the world. I don't know. It's like an exercise. But they're very, very loud, and my house is over the flight path. So that's so fabulous. And I recorded my intro and then boom, big jet over the top. So if you hear any jets in the background, I've decided I'm just gonna push through and then I'm gonna try and edit them out later. And then if I can't, whatever, it's okay. Um but welcome back to the potty, guys. Been another hot minute since I've spoken, and I always say I'm not going to, but here we are with a delay. Um today's episode is just a fun little catch-up one, basically. I feel like I've had a few new things happening, and I just honestly wanted to sit and chat about it. Really. Um so if you're here for a bit of a bit of a yap, then fabulous. If you're here to get something really like insightful, switch off now. It's just me yapping. Um but I hope everyone is going well. I feel like it's been a crazy time, particularly those working in the NGIS space. Like there's just lots happening at the moment, lots of commentary, lots of changes, and I just hope that whatever role you're in, you're feeling good and you're not feeling overwhelmed by everything that is happening because it's very easy to let all of that outside noise creep in. So if you're feeling overwhelmed, this is your reminder to just take some time for yourself, take a break, enjoy listening to me yap, and and just look after yourself because it can be it can be tricky. Um, but I have a few fun, exciting things I wanted to share. As I literally just mentioned. The first I'm gonna start with, I think I got four things. I did a little bit of a list. I never usually do a list, so that's a bit of structure we're not used to. So this is gonna be a great episode, I'm sure, of it. But the first thing I wanted to talk about is a new role we're hiring for at Euclipt OT. And I feel like a lot of you might be maybe listening into that because I'm gonna put it on the on the socials and say, if you want to know more about the role, come and listen to it. But before I do that, I had a bit of like an epiphany. Is epiphany the right word? No idea. But I I have this like fear being a business owner of growing too quickly and then losing like the roots of what the business was always meant to be. And I've just I've seen it, I've seen how it can happen as a business owner in the position that I'm in. But I've also been on like the receiving end of it of like being in a really small workplace that then overnight has like five new employees and the impact that has on everyone is crazy. And if the systems aren't in place and the right management isn't in place, it just like the trickle effect, trickle effect, ripple effect, trickle ripple, whatever, the ripple effect that that has on yeah, the workplace and and the quality of work that's put out, like it's really hard to ignore that. And I remember this really clearly happening in a workplace that I was in, and and it was, I mean, exciting growth because at that stage getting therapists was really, really hard. It was in that really big demand phase of if you're a therapist, you could get whatever job you wanted. And we're seeing that sort of sway a little bit now. But at that stage, you know, if you had someone apply, you you offered them a job, which meant all of a sudden we went from three therapists to, I think it was like eight therapists. And I don't know, you could just see it was, you know, systems playing catch up and management support playing catch up. And I feel like that's never the position you want to be in. Anyway, the reason I'm sharing this is because like this is the first time I've advertised since I expanded in literally September 2024 was when I posted my first and only job ad. Um, and I had another girl join, Lily, one of my OTs. She joined about six months later, but that was through word of mouth and she emailed right at the the perfect time. Um, but other than that, I haven't advertised. And, you know, we have a huge wait list. We have such a need for therapists, but I just think just because you can grow doesn't mean you should grow. And I don't want my clinical business to be huge. I don't want 20 therapists. Like I want a small team. I love my small team. But then there are situations where it's like, no, now is the right time to grow. The support is in place, the systems are in place, and that's led us here to hiring an AHA, which is gonna be really exciting because I think first and foremost, it's gonna help my girls out and it's gonna help them make their life easier, give them, you know, more time and let them do the things they want to do. I think at the moment, you know, outreach is busy. Any any community therapist is busy, but when you're on outreach, even just the logistics of like you don't have a printer when you're on the road, you don't have a laminator when you're on the road. I know the girls have randomly sometimes brought laminators with them, but it's not, it's not as easy as just, oh, when I get back to my room this afternoon, I'll make that resource for someone tomorrow. So having an extension of them, someone who is their dedicated role is to make those things for them. That's what I'm really excited about. Um, but yeah, I guess a little bit about the role. Like if you are here to learn a little bit more about it, it essentially is like that extension of the girls and getting in Canva and and making visual schedules. But the client has requested that it's Spider-Man themed, so making it look really cool. And then they've got a session next week where they've got to make a few recipes and finding the recipes for the girls and making the visuals for them and having like that clear session structure for them and helping with social media. I think social media is such a funny thing for me in business because I have seen firsthand the positive effect that social media can have. And through the podcast Instagram page, my business would not be where it is without that community. And having the time to consistently post four business pages is so tricky. And I I haven't found the sweet spot. And we all know collectively as a team that there's so much benefit to posting consistently. So having an AHA who is able to support with that marketing and support with creating content and editing things and having that really strong social presence, which we want. We really want that. We want it for our community, we want it for rural health, we want to advocate for what we're doing, but it's just that first thing that sort of goes out the window when things are busy. So we'd love for someone to be able to help with that. And, you know, as it progresses, having someone who can help the girls with reports and, you know, pre-filling NDIS goals into reports and pre-filling assessment scores and getting the background information in, like that stuff that, you know, this was what I what I did in my role when I was first in AHA. And it truly was like instrumental. Like that foundation knowledge. If you can get that foundation knowledge, whether you apply for this job or any allied health assistant job, if you are a student and you are listening to this, I promise you, there is nothing that will prepare you more for when you graduate quite like an allied health assistant job. Yes, there are other jobs that are fabulous, a lot of them like disability support work, fabulous. I also worked as a teacher's aide, fabulous. Um, people who work as swim instructors, like that's really hands-on skills if you're wanting to work in um pediatrics. But, you know, they're great jobs, but truly nothing quite like being in the thick of an allied health business is gonna prepare you for that, particularly if you're wanting to go into private practice. Even if you go into different areas, like they're still really awesome skills and those soft skills and those understanding the back-end things of businesses and workplaces, like they're the skills that you don't want to be learning on your first days in New Grad. You want to have that already. Quick pause because there's a jet coming. Okay, we're back. The jet is gone. Um, but yeah, someone who who is an extension and it's a completely work from home role. And I actually get a lot of people asking, like, how does that actually work? Like, we've got six people in the team, three different states, New South Wales and TWA, like, how does that work? And let me tell you, like, we are a connected team. But one of the things that we're we're constantly trying to come up with is different ways that we can, you know, body double, or um, we call them knock-knock times, where I just put a uh video link in, and anyone who wants to jump on and ask me a question, they're able to jump in. And it's not like a scheduled meeting or anything, it's just more that incidental hallway stuff that you'd have in a workplace. Like we have things around that. Um, and everything is completely online. We use Google. Oh, I love Google, Google Docs, Google mail, Gmail, Google Mail, God, that sounds so vintage. But yeah, everything is accessible online. So when I say work from home, like I mean work from anywhere. And there's been times where the girls have gone to Bali and they've done all their admin in Bali. And yeah, there's there's lots of different ways that we we sort of lean into that flexibility. So it's 10 hours a week at the moment. But if you are, yeah, like at uni or you have another job, you could do two hours on a Monday and then four hours on a Tuesday, and then when you're in placement, like if you want to work in the evenings or over the weekends, like I'm totally flexible with that. And I think I often think like, what would I have wanted when I was a student and what flexibility would have looked like? And I think I think we've nailed it personally. Um, but we're a really, really great team, if I'm being so honest with you. They're very, very close knit. The girls are lots of fun, the girls are really excited to have an assistant. So you've got four, five, including me, OTs, that are, yeah, bursting at the scenes, ready to have someone join and just be that extension and you know, have have the opportunity for you to um learn off our therapists and and assist them and just be a part of the team. We're really, really excited for. So that's a little bit about the job. But if you have any other questions, send me a message. Happy to sort of go through anything if you want to know more specifics about it. But all the details are on the website, so www.ucalyptot.com.au, and then there's the careers tab. But I'm gonna be so helpful and I'm gonna put the link in the bio so you can just click on it and it's there for you. I will say if you want any advice from me, if you want a little podcast scoop, read the job description because there are some things in the job description that uh highlight what I am wanting in the application. If you miss that, then you're not showing attention to detail, and that's what we want. So that's my little tip for you. If you if you're here on the potty, you got the inside scoop, read the application carefully. But I'm so excited. It's really exciting. And we've also decided that we're going to expand the OT team as well. So we're just gonna hire our AHA first, and then there'll be a drop out up for an OT soon, which that is really exciting because I've had lots of emails asking, Holly, how can we work for you? And it's like, it's so beautiful, and I like it, you know, I pinch myself all the time that people are wanting to work for me. So yeah, watch this base. Which also leads to another exciting thing we're doing. I have recently started supervising students on project placements, which is really exciting. I have six students. This is their first official week. Um, I'm having meetings with them. Sorry, that was a big stutter. Meetings with them later in the week to sort of do that initial like project planning. And I'm really excited. So we've got two big like resources that we're making for within the workplace that are just gonna be so helpful just for that everyday session planning. And I'm just I'm really, really excited for that. Which then leads me to like another question. And I don't know why I'm asking a question because I know you guys can't answer me, but send me a message on Instagram. But are project placements, is that a compulsory thing for all unis? Because I thought it was. I thought you had to do some sort of quality improvement, innovation in practice, something like that project. Because I know at Western City University it was, it was in our second year, and everyone had to do a project. And same with, I know obviously CDU, so these are CDU students, but then Caitlin, one of my OTs that works for me, she was at CDU in Port Macquarie. Um, she had to do a placement. And them all were speaking within the team. And my other girls are from like Curtin Uni and Edith Cowan Uni in Perth. And they didn't have to do a project. So I'm wondering whether it's just like certain unis, and it was just a myth in my mind that everyone had to do one. But I did a really cool project placement. Mine was at Campbelltown Hospital. Hold on, pause, another jet coming. Okay, I'm back. Yeah, mine was at Campbelltown Hospital and it was on the acute neuro ward, but it was particularly for patients with dementia. And our job was making it more sensory friendly and cognitively friendly, and we helped with things like different coloured toilet seats and job stations and calendars and photos from what Campbelltown used to look like because it was one of those outskirts Sydney towns that used to be dairy farms and now is absolute suburbia units everywhere, like crazy different. So just, you know, helping with that orientation. And it was really, really fun. And I worked really closely with another OT who's still one of my close OT colleagues to this day. And the other really cool thing, I've probably even spoken about it on the pod for so if you're hearing this for the second time, I'm sorry. But I went back to Cambertown Hospital in my final year placement. I was only there for two weeks, but then it got cancer because of COVID. Anyway, irrelevant. Um, but they had ha like heaps of the things that we had suggested in a project three years earlier, they actually had put into place, which was really, really cool. Um, but yeah, if you had to do a project placement, send me a message, let me know. Or if you're in academia and you know the answer to this question, also let me know. Because I was I was always under the impression that everyone had to do a project. But that's so interesting anyway. Um The other thing that I've started doing again, which I'm so excited for. God, this just feels like uh me talking about me and all the things I'm doing. Which I guess is what the point of an update podcast is, Holly. It's okay. People if they're listening now, people want to hear. Um, but I've opened up my books for supervision work again. I've had to recently scale back my clinical work. I'm still working clinically, but nowhere near as much as what I was, and that's I'll get into that in another episode, I think. But yeah, it's meant I've got more time for clinical supervision and like business mentoring as well, which I really, really love. I I did a lot of it sort of before the business expanded, and it was just me soul trading. And I had quite a few on my caseload of, yeah, sort of early year therapists or those who have just started out in their business, and I I genuinely loved it. So getting back into that again has been really cool. And I think it's yeah, always helpful having external supervision, having someone, you know, completely separate from the business. There's no other talk other than just what you need in that moment. Like there's no ulterior thoughts behind it or motives or anything. So yeah, I'm a big, big fan of external supervision. So getting back into offering that has been really cool. And I also think it's a really great way. If you're like sort of those early years, um, like I'm still very conscious that I don't have years and years and years of experience. Like I'm only five years out. I feel confident in my practice and I feel confident in how I run my business. But there's nothing like being able to pass that knowledge on to other people. And so often we're so great at convincing ourselves that we don't really know anything and everyone knows it, and it's all common sense because we do it so often and it's really regular for us. But having that opportunity to have people ask questions and you share an answer and they're like, wow, I'd never thought of that, it's really good for the confidence and it just validates that, oh, I I do know what I'm talking about, and oh, I do run a good business and um I do support my team well. And I don't know, it's just it's that nice validation of being able to yeah, feel confident in what you're doing and what you're offering. So if you're in a situation where you can do supervision and you feel like you've got the the knowledge in whatever area it might be, like I absolutely think you should jump on the opportunity because it's yeah, just a really cool way to feel confident in what you're doing, which I've said seven times now, so I don't need to say it again. I'm out of practice. I'm out of practice with the podcast. The other thing that's happened recently, which is so fun, is the Darwin. So I live in Darwin, Northern Territory, and I started almost probably 12 months ago now, maybe a little bit less, um, doing like community catch-up. So they're meant to be once a month, but God, you guys know me. They're definitely not happening once a month. But the last few months they've been on the reg. But it's literally just Friday afternoon. I pick a new place in Darwin, and whatever OTs or OT students are in town, they come and have a drink and we catch up. And it's just been so nice. So, so nice because it's it's just such a great way for people to expand their circle, connect with other OTs, learn about what other OTs are doing, and just have a wider OT network, which I think is so important because I think what happens so often is you've got your uni OT friends and then you've got your OT friends in the workplace. And often for whatever reason, like you lose touch with uni friends, and that's so fine. Like everyone's going through pretty big transitions, moving into full-time work and all that jazz or moving away, whatever that looks like. But so often I see OTs and the only other OTs they have interaction with are within their workplace. And it's almost like a protected thing of like, oh, we can't, we can't fraternize with the enemy, and like I can only work internally and I can't seek thoughts from other people and get other OTs advice, which is all well and good. Well, it's not well and good, actually. I don't like it at all. But often it's not, you don't see it as a bad thing until you maybe have come into a bit of mishap in the workplace, or maybe you've got a gut feeling that you're not being supported as well as you should, or maybe there's been a change in management and God forbid I hate when this happens, but like workplace drama, and the only people you can talk about that workplace drama with are within your workplace. And then it turns into this bigger thing, and it's almost like a trauma bond in a way, and I don't mean to dismiss that in any way, because obviously trauma is so broad and can can mean so much, and and a trauma bond is a pretty significant claim. But when you're only interacting within your workplace and when things do start to go pear-shaped, you need to have externalizing, you need to have connections with other OTs so you can get that third, fourth, fifth opinion on situations and just help with that clarity. Because I see so many people who don't have the opportunity to network outside of their immediate OT circle. And it just like means things get a blind eye turn to them, and it, yeah, you can see that there's not been that opportunity to brainstorm. Which is why I love this catch-up that we do in Darwin so much, because there's been people who have moved around jobs and and gotten new opportunities and and gotten a leg up to get a job at the hospital or or transferred to like a management role because of the connections they've been able to make within Darwin and within other OTs and people that they wouldn't have had the chance to meet with. And it's not like a, hey, come here and get another job situation. But it's just, yeah, it's been really, really cool to see the positive effects of having a wider OT circle. Um, and there's a really nice like Instagram group, and if people need referrals or whatever, they pop it in there and it's just so nice. So if you are in a situation where you don't have the opportunity to connect with other OTs, I really encourage you to try and do so. And whether that's, you know, catching up for coffee with with other therapists or, you know, expanding, you know, through MDT meetings and and keeping that connection and just yeah, just general catch-ups. Like it's just so nice and it's so, so important. So yeah, I think that's so great. I think that's all I really had today. How long have I been yapping for? 22 minutes, and I haven't even cut out the jet sounds yet. Grocky. Me thinking that's only been five minutes and it's gonna be a short app, like that's still a lot of yapping, Holly. Um, but some potty updates for you. I've got three interviews booked in in the next week with some absolute OT legends. So interview apps are coming back, and yeah, I've got a lot of projects on in the works. As I always say, Holly, boring. Unless you can tell us what the project is, don't tell us. I'm here. I'm gonna stop talking about it. But yeah, there's exciting things happening. But thank you for tuning in, thank you for being here. I love just getting on and yapping sometimes, so there's gonna be more of it. But hope everyone is well. I hope everyone is loving OT, and I can't wait to get back in your ears again soon. Thanks for tuning in, guys. Goodbye. Wow, that was a great note.