MY STRUGGLES AS AN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY STUDENT
Because of the nature of the setting there were many staff members that had been employed in this setting for a number of years. As a ‘new’ person coming in to this tightly formed group, there are many group dynamics to be aware of.
In relation to the case study, I was aware of the other staff members working with her, and I made a conscientious decision to keep communication lines clearly open with other health professionals. This meant telling the client’s primary nurse interventions that I was planning, and checking the client’s behaviour and arousal levels before my interaction with her.
As a student in this environment I felt like I had ‘eyes’ on me at all times, especially when I was working with clients. I had discussions around this with my supervising therapist, and came to the conclusion that it was ok to feel this way, and that they probably were watching my every move.
This presentation will look at a paediatric mental health case study that I was involved in during an Otago Polytechnic, Occupational Therapy placement. It aims to give an overview of the case, and outlines the challenges I faced as an Occupational Therapy Student whilst going through the Occupational Therapy process. Some sections have comments, so please feel free to explore these. Created by Megan Moffat Occupational Therapy Student Otago Polytechnic
2 comments:
Hi Megan,
You talk about your main struggles as an occupational therapy student working in this setting, but could you describe what has been your most valuable learning experience in regard to working with your client, and in the setting overall?
Good positive question nicky, thanks for asking!
My most valuable learning experience when working with this client would have been to understand her reasoning around shutting off to the external environment, in other words her 'daydreaming' state. During our initial conversations whilst assessing with the OCAIRS tool, she gave me a lot on insight into what she was feeling and why.
My most valuable learning experience in the setting overall was working with such a diverse age range of children and lots of different conditions. These ranged from autism, to bipolar, to ADHD. It gave me a good insight on how these conditions impacted on the everyday functioning of the individual.
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