March 19, 2024 • 21 mins
Join Gina and Ryan, an OT couple, in their podcast "Animals and Aquatics" as they delve into the world of continuing education. From workshops to conferences, they explore the importance of expanding one's horizons and stepping outside of comfort zones. With a mix of personal experiences and professional insights, they discuss the diverse range of learning opportunities available to therapists. From niche certifications to practical skills, they share strategies for lifelong learning and overcoming learning paralysis. Tune in to gain valuable insights and navigate your own journey of professional development with Gina and Ryan.
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Microphone (2- Logitech USB (00:01):
So this week, we're talking about
continuing education.
And if you listen in, you'llhear that Ryan is clearly the
star of the show.
And we are still working out areco-hosting audio, but I hope you
can listen in.
Microphone (Logi USB Headse (00:28):
Hi, welcome to animals and aquatics.
I'm Gina.
And I'm Ryan.
And tonight we're going to sharea little bit about our
continuing education journey.
If you've listened to us beforeyou know that we are an OT
couple.
And so we can use just about anyexcuse to justify our
ever-growing continuingeducation budget.
(00:50):
From new things we want toexplore or things that we are
already familiar with, but wantto expand our base of knowledge.
Continuing education is a reallyimportant.
Part of expanding your horizonsand really just getting outside
of your comfort zone.
If you've listened to thepodcast two episodes ago, you
(01:11):
also heard episode onconferences.
And this month in March has justbeen a really big month for
conferences with the Americanhippotherapy, association
conference and the Americanoccupational therapy association
conference.
And that's a big part of ourcontinuing education budget for
this year as well.
(01:32):
Now it hasn't been every year.
But certainly for this year.
Both the opportunity to networkwith others and to get some
really new information aboutwhat's been going on.
Both in the world ofhippotherapy, and in the OT
world.
That is really been a bigbuilding block for us.
(01:52):
And now that we.
gone through the conferences,we'll be taking that information
and really building it into ourbusiness going forward this
year.
And I think to share a littlebit about our continuing
education journey.
It's important to start withsome of the things that we've
(02:12):
really enjoyed.
And maybe some of the thingsthat we've really struggled with
continuing education.
Yeah.
So I consume a lot of podcaststyle learning audible learning.
So, I'd say that.
A lot of my continuing educationhas done on the fly.
Through occupationaltherapy.com.
(02:34):
And that's a great resource.
If I want to look and see ifthere's anything.
Oh, T based that is speakingabout a specific diagnosis or a
particular type of setting.
Or if there's just somethinggoing on in the field that I
want to learn a bit more about.
Alright, shameless plug anddisclosure.
I have been paid by occupationaltherapy.com the workshops that
(03:00):
I've done for them.
So I've done one onhippotherapy,, one on horses in
mental health, and one onShinran Yoko.
And I definitely agree withRyan.
I love.
Occupational therapy.com becauseit allows me to explore.
New areas of practice or.
Topics without the additionalfinancial expense.
(03:21):
Going to maybe a specificcontinuing education course for.
Like that topic.
And so I look at it like a,almost like a Chinese food
buffet and it's I think I payone price and I can go and pick
and have a little bit ofwhatever I want.
So I really liked that I cantake, a seating and mobility.
Workshop.
(03:42):
With that I would never ever goto if I had to pay for that
individually, because I just, Idon't see that many clients it's
not.
That relevant to the types ofclients that I see now, but, I
think it's interesting and Ithink it supports me overall as
a clinician.
So I would say.
This same thing for ot.com.
(04:04):
I love.
The variety.
I would say of topics offered.
Yeah.
And I think one of the othergreat things about it is that
you don't have to get tooheavily time invested either.
It's we've taken some continuinged that took like an entire
weekend to get through or to getmost of the way through.
Some that we haven't finishedyet.
(04:25):
But I think we'll get to that.
It is a goal.
It is a goal.
But the great thing about.
OT.com is you can invest 45minutes an hour.
Get some CPU's and eitherreinforce what you already know
and what you're already doing.
Or maybe even give some languageto things that you're already
doing, but you're, you don't.
(04:45):
Really.
Like for me early as a newerclinician.
Having language for Theexplaining the why of what I'm
doing is really helpful.
I think that sometimes we takethings for granted and we don't
really think about You know thewhy of things sometimes.
And so even if it's somethingthat we are already familiar
(05:06):
with or have it alreadyincorporated it doesn't really
hurt to reinforce the knowledgebase that we have.
Yeah.
That made me think of that NBCOT navigator.
So if you have your C or youhave your far, you can do
continuing education on the NBCOT platform.
And they're definitely not asquick or efficient.
(05:29):
As.
Course.
But just see you cases areactually very good.
And they remind me of thesimucases that my students have
to take.
So I actually, I like doing someof them, because not only are
they more in depth than theygive you some clinical reasoning
feedback?
But it also allows me to stepinto the shoes of some of my OTA
(05:51):
students.
That are doing simucases so I'ma little bit more familiar with
the style and the format, and Ican give them some guidance when
they come up with a challengewith that, with the simucase.
So I do like that.
The NBCOT navigator also allowsus to track continuing education
hours.
It has some, relatively quickquizzes that you can take as
(06:14):
well.
So that's another good resource.
If you have your C or your ARand you're getting ready to
track hours, you can go in andlog some hours there as well.
And Ryan alluded to some of ourheavier denser.
Continuing education forays thatwe've really struggled with and
(06:34):
it's high on our list to finish.
Because a we invested in it.
B.
We think that there will be somemarketing return on it.
And I think probably what ourbiggest challenge with that was
is that we enjoyed a lot of thecontents.
I think there's 20 hours.
(06:56):
So, and I think we're about.
15 or more.
We're pretty close.
Yeah.
And I think we have maybe three,three learning blocks left.
Yeah.
So we hit a couple that didn'treally resonate with us and
you're gonna get that whenyou're listening to a variety of
different speakers on one topicand it just really bogged us
(07:17):
down on it.
It took a little bit of themotivation out of doing it.
So.
It's we ha we have to get backon the horse.
Yeah, there, there was somethings in there that were really
interesting and we're like, wow.
Like that.
But then there's other thingsthat just.
Like I said, didn't resonate or.
Contradicted.
Are not part of, are not part ofour philosophy.
(07:39):
Yeah.
So.
So I, being able to just takethat in.
Acknowledge, it's not part ofour treatment philosophy.
Move on.
And finish it, I think isimportant.
Because like we're.
Midway through and I don't knowonce every few weeks where Hey.
And we should really finishthat.
And.
(07:59):
It's one of those.
It was really nice because wewere taking it together.
And so we were playing at eachon our device, but then we could
chit chat about.
What we were seeing what wethought if we needed, like we
could stop and have a discussionabout.
So one of us would mute there.
together.
Because you had we each had tobe logged in since we're both
(08:20):
getting the continuing educationfor.
Then have the opportunity todiscuss.
What we thought about, or if itjob, which that probably also
made it take longer.
'cause we, we would have spenton hold on.
You have to stop.
We're having these spinoffconversations.
And.
I think that can lead into alittle bit about certifications
(08:42):
and continuing education,because you think as therapists,
we love to collectcertifications like, and I do
tell that to my students.
I'm like, your.
Best bang for your buck is toget a certification rather than
another degree.
It's so much more applicable.
It's so much more useful.
(09:02):
But with a lot ofcertifications, they have their
own continuing educationrequirements.
So it becomes this this machinethat you're sort of caught in.
So you have like, Your stateand, most states have continuing
education requirements forlicensure.
Our state does not.
But we maintain our continuingeducation for our NBC OT.
(09:24):
so we're doing them anyway.
If we moved to another state.
It's not going to be a big deal,but then as I hippotherapy
clinical specialists, I havecontinuing education
requirements there.
Like each certification youhave, you have continuing
education to maintain thecertification.
And for quite a long while I wascertified as an infant massage
(09:45):
instructor.
And that was one of thecertifications that I've
actually.
I lapsed the continuingeducation requirement on because
although using the infantmassage techniques is really
helpful.
And just, I wasn't teachingclasses, I wasn't teaching
parent groups on infant massageand it just, again, it was like
(10:05):
another sort of niche side areathat I would have to take, like
massage, continuing educationclasses and just.
Didn't do it.
Yeah.
I guess we should.
Should we get into the.
Did we cover everything?
The bigger block.
I think we talked about thesmaller block trainings, like
(10:27):
the one-offs, which are great.
And there's some reallyinteresting, bigger block ones.
And there's like you said, theletters after name and all that.
There's, there's also some otherPrograms that I would really
like to explore.
I'd really like to get into atherapeutic listening.
And I'd really like to get acertification in that especially
(10:47):
given the settings that we workin.
I think that it would be.
Applicable, I guess the only.
Thing that we're trying tonavigate is the juice worth the
squeeze and.
They do tend to be a sizeablemonetary commitment on an annual
basis.
For that.
And so we're trying to figureout.
(11:08):
I'm really what would be thebest?
The best way to go forward withthat.
So that's another area thatwe're exploring for this year,
potentially.
Do we have enough clientsthroughout the year to justify
the subscription costs like thetraining, totally doable, but
the subscription costs.
For the program.
Is that area of it's not likeyou own the music anymore.
(11:31):
It's not like you own the audioanymore.
You have to subscribe everyyear.
And that's our concern rightnow.
Is are we going to have enoughfamilies that are either
interested in paying extra orwould we just.
Incorporate it in.
To our base pricing.
And so again, something that's alittle bit more in depth, that
(11:52):
would be another in our toolbox.
And we would be excited to bringin.
And I think that's one of thethings about continuing
education, right?
It can.
Open doors to bring in newtools, new treatment strategies.
New things to offer to familiesthat you're working with.
And.
Then it's just figuring out.
(12:13):
Either how you're going to fundit, or is the return on
investment going to be reallygood for that?
The other thing that I can'thelp, but think of and I don't
want to go too far off topichere, but Continuing education
or certifications outside of thetherapy world.
So.
For example I have a, I'm a redcross certified lifeguard, and I
(12:34):
feel that maintaining that is.
Pretty important backstopping asfar as working in an aquatic
environment That's kind of abare minimum, but there's other
certifications out there.
There's water safety instructor.
There are the.
The red cross, you used to havean adaptive swim certification,
but they did away with that.
(12:55):
That was my understanding, but,there's some non therapy
specific.
I mean, even if we want to talkabout the basics.
First aid CPR.
You know that.
That's a pretty.
And if you're, you.
It's one thing if you're workingsomewhere, because if you're
working for somebody else, thenthey're more than likely footing
the bill every year for you totake the CPR course and maintain
(13:16):
your certification.
But.
You know if if you're theprivate practitioner, then,
these are the things you've gotto think about.
As additional safety measuresfor your clients.
And I think putting that outthere too, there's nothing wrong
with putting that out there andletting the clients know that.
You're CPR certified becausethat's going to give them an
(13:38):
additional level of comfort withyou.
That you'd be there in caseanything were to happen.
Where those skills are needed.
I think that brings up.
A really interesting pointbecause you were talking about
it in the aquatic setting.
So if we talk about it and thatequine setting, a lot of people
will immediately ask, do theyneed to become a path?
Riding instructor and.
(14:01):
Unless your intention is to goand teach horseback riding.
Then that's probably not thebest avenue for you because it
is very lumpy.
The horsemanship requirement issignificant.
And if your intention is toincorporate horses into
occupational therapy.
Then becoming a horseback ridinginstructor is really like a
separate.
Half.
(14:21):
No pun intended on that.
But you also do need to have abasic level of horsemanship
skills to be safe in theenvironment.
So a lot of times I think thatcomes into the.
Non-formal continuing education.
So things like mentoring,networking, coaching
Volunteering.
(14:42):
I think those.
All fall in that, like it iscontinuing education.
And some of the coaching clientsthat I've worked with, we have
set up a plan for them so thatthey can get NDC.
Continuing education units bysetting up a mentoring plan.
So I think there are the thingsthat are outside of.
AOTA approved continuingeducation provider status that
(15:06):
also contribute greatly to yourskills and competency at a
particular, when you are workingin a niche area.
Well, I would say I'm looking atthe other.
Area of practice that we work inis the nature based.
And so even.
Some continuing ed and thatdepartment, I think that can be
(15:28):
very handy if you're if you'renot really an outdoors type.
Some basic plantidentifications.
Safety measures for.
The natural environment ifyou're on a.
Two mile hike and something goeswrong.
You know what.
What do you do in a.
What are the types of.
(15:49):
The resources that would beavailable to help.
And now nowadays with cellphones and, And that's not as
much of a concern I guess, butI'm still having a solid safety
plan.
In places pretty important.
And really what that's about isidentifying skill gaps is I
think the best way to look atthat as to, Look at all.
(16:09):
Right.
What, what skills am I lackingto meet?
The demands of whateverpotential scenario you could
likely find yourself in.
But then there's other things Ithink that you could work to get
smarter on orienteering or youhave been basically.
I guess what I'm trying to sayis that.
If you're working in one ofthese outside of the box.
(16:31):
Niche settings.
Like we work in.
Looking around and kind ofseeing what you could use, not
just in therapeutic training,but also, outside of that what
could be helpful, then.
And not being afraid to expandyour knowledge base in those
areas as well.
Yeah.
I like that idea of a skillsgap, because it can be clinical
(16:56):
skills.
It can be practical skills or itcould be safety skills.
Any of those areas.
There are continuing educationopportunities to fill those
again, not everything fallsunder that AOTA approved
provider of continuingeducation.
But if you are going to work inin a niche area if you're going
to be successful well, Anotherarea that we didn't talk about
(17:19):
is like business business.
Um, I didn't want to cut youoff, but I wasn't gonna say
business.
Yeah, that's right.
So.
I guess that's why our joke islike, The continuing education
budget we can go way down therabbit hole.
We both enjoy learning andlearning new skills and learning
new things.
(17:39):
And so.
I think.
On that you can also get caughtup in.
Learning and not doing like.
Can be the bandaid.
Instead of doing the hard thingtoo.
Yeah.
And maybe like, well, I justneed to do this.
Like one more.
(18:00):
Once I get these letters at theend of my name, then I'll be.
Yeah.
Then I'll do the thing.
Well, that's it.
And like, you're, you're goingto learn so much more by doing.
And, and I think you're going tomake mistakes.
That's kind of inevitable, but Ithink if you have some core
values that you can hold onto inyour in your practice and in
(18:21):
your treatment methodology.
And your approach.
If you can hold on to thosethings and you understand why
they're.
Your core values then.
The mistakes that you make.
Won't.
I don't really matter all thatmuch.
Yeah, I think once you'veidentified The safety skills,
the practical skills, and you'recovered in there.
(18:41):
Because continuing education andbeing in the therapy world is a
lifelong learning process.
There's always going to be anarea that we're going to focus
on or watch improve on.
If you are working in privatepractice for yourself.
The business skills are neverending.
And what we can learn and growand business certainly is
changing.
(19:02):
And what opportunities we haveavailable to us.
So, we have all these things atour disposal.
And it's amazing that we canconnect with people like all
around the world.
Really.
And tap into their expertise andsometimes we can do it for free
on social media.
Sometimes it's through.
I'm using paid coachingprograms.
And other times it's throughthat networking that we do at
(19:24):
conferences and face-to-facecommunities, but there's a lot
of opportunities for continuingeducation out there.
I guess I would just say.
Don't let it stop you from doingthe thing.
Don't let it stop you fromactually moving forward with
what it is you want to do.
Yeah.
I think if you have a vision ofwhat it is that you're supposed
(19:46):
to be doing.
And you go after that.
It is really easy to.
Let that fear take, hold andthink.
Well, I need.
I need X, Y, or Z.
And it could be more training.
It could be.
The perfect setting.
It could be.
I think we can come up with anynumber of excuses not to get
(20:09):
that forward movement happening,but at the end of the day, I
think.
We hold ourselves back a lot.
So I think as we come towrapping up today, talking about
continuing education.
We covered different formats ofcourses from really short.
The face style.
Learning to really deep diveswhere you're going to come away
(20:32):
with a certification after it.
And, we.
Ryan brought up the skills gaparea.
And how you can look to fill inskills gap areas, whether they,
those are practical skills,safety skills, or therapeutic
skills.
And then we kind of stumbledinto the.
(20:55):
Learning paralysis and gettingtripped up on all the
opportunities that are out theretoo.
Learn and grow and letting thatstop us from going out and
actually serving the people thatwe're meant to serve.
Well, we hope this gave you someinsight into the way that we
look at continuing ed and theway that we approach it.
(21:17):
And Maybe.
Ask some of those questions ofyourself and take a look at.
The way that you've beenapproaching it and As always, if
you appreciated listening tothis podcast, you can like share
and subscribe and we wouldappreciate it.
So this week, we're talking about
continuing education.
And if you listen in, you'llhear that Ryan is clearly the
star of the show.
And we are still working out areco-hosting audio, but I hope you
can listen in.
Microphone (Logi USB Headse (00:28):
Hi, welcome to animals and aquatics.
I'm Gina.
And I'm Ryan.
And tonight we're going to sharea little bit about our
continuing education journey.
If you've listened to us beforeyou know that we are an OT
couple.
And so we can use just about anyexcuse to justify our
ever-growing continuingeducation budget.
(00:50):
From new things we want toexplore or things that we are
already familiar with, but wantto expand our base of knowledge.
Continuing education is a reallyimportant.
Part of expanding your horizonsand really just getting outside
of your comfort zone.
If you've listened to thepodcast two episodes ago, you
(01:11):
also heard episode onconferences.
And this month in March has justbeen a really big month for
conferences with the Americanhippotherapy, association
conference and the Americanoccupational therapy association
conference.
And that's a big part of ourcontinuing education budget for
this year as well.
(01:32):
Now it hasn't been every year.
But certainly for this year.
Both the opportunity to networkwith others and to get some
really new information aboutwhat's been going on.
Both in the world ofhippotherapy, and in the OT
world.
That is really been a bigbuilding block for us.
(01:52):
And now that we.
gone through the conferences,we'll be taking that information
and really building it into ourbusiness going forward this
year.
And I think to share a littlebit about our continuing
education journey.
It's important to start withsome of the things that we've
(02:12):
really enjoyed.
And maybe some of the thingsthat we've really struggled with
continuing education.
Yeah.
So I consume a lot of podcaststyle learning audible learning.
So, I'd say that.
A lot of my continuing educationhas done on the fly.
Through occupationaltherapy.com.
(02:34):
And that's a great resource.
If I want to look and see ifthere's anything.
Oh, T based that is speakingabout a specific diagnosis or a
particular type of setting.
Or if there's just somethinggoing on in the field that I
want to learn a bit more about.
Alright, shameless plug anddisclosure.
I have been paid by occupationaltherapy.com the workshops that
(03:00):
I've done for them.
So I've done one onhippotherapy,, one on horses in
mental health, and one onShinran Yoko.
And I definitely agree withRyan.
I love.
Occupational therapy.com becauseit allows me to explore.
New areas of practice or.
Topics without the additionalfinancial expense.
(03:21):
Going to maybe a specificcontinuing education course for.
Like that topic.
And so I look at it like a,almost like a Chinese food
buffet and it's I think I payone price and I can go and pick
and have a little bit ofwhatever I want.
So I really liked that I cantake, a seating and mobility.
Workshop.
(03:42):
With that I would never ever goto if I had to pay for that
individually, because I just, Idon't see that many clients it's
not.
That relevant to the types ofclients that I see now, but, I
think it's interesting and Ithink it supports me overall as
a clinician.
So I would say.
This same thing for ot.com.
(04:04):
I love.
The variety.
I would say of topics offered.
Yeah.
And I think one of the othergreat things about it is that
you don't have to get tooheavily time invested either.
It's we've taken some continuinged that took like an entire
weekend to get through or to getmost of the way through.
Some that we haven't finishedyet.
(04:25):
But I think we'll get to that.
It is a goal.
It is a goal.
But the great thing about.
OT.com is you can invest 45minutes an hour.
Get some CPU's and eitherreinforce what you already know
and what you're already doing.
Or maybe even give some languageto things that you're already
doing, but you're, you don't.
(04:45):
Really.
Like for me early as a newerclinician.
Having language for Theexplaining the why of what I'm
doing is really helpful.
I think that sometimes we takethings for granted and we don't
really think about You know thewhy of things sometimes.
And so even if it's somethingthat we are already familiar
(05:06):
with or have it alreadyincorporated it doesn't really
hurt to reinforce the knowledgebase that we have.
Yeah.
That made me think of that NBCOT navigator.
So if you have your C or youhave your far, you can do
continuing education on the NBCOT platform.
And they're definitely not asquick or efficient.
(05:29):
As.
Course.
But just see you cases areactually very good.
And they remind me of thesimucases that my students have
to take.
So I actually, I like doing someof them, because not only are
they more in depth than theygive you some clinical reasoning
feedback?
But it also allows me to stepinto the shoes of some of my OTA
(05:51):
students.
That are doing simucases so I'ma little bit more familiar with
the style and the format, and Ican give them some guidance when
they come up with a challengewith that, with the simucase.
So I do like that.
The NBCOT navigator also allowsus to track continuing education
hours.
It has some, relatively quickquizzes that you can take as
(06:14):
well.
So that's another good resource.
If you have your C or your ARand you're getting ready to
track hours, you can go in andlog some hours there as well.
And Ryan alluded to some of ourheavier denser.
Continuing education forays thatwe've really struggled with and
(06:34):
it's high on our list to finish.
Because a we invested in it.
B.
We think that there will be somemarketing return on it.
And I think probably what ourbiggest challenge with that was
is that we enjoyed a lot of thecontents.
I think there's 20 hours.
(06:56):
So, and I think we're about.
15 or more.
We're pretty close.
Yeah.
And I think we have maybe three,three learning blocks left.
Yeah.
So we hit a couple that didn'treally resonate with us and
you're gonna get that whenyou're listening to a variety of
different speakers on one topicand it just really bogged us
(07:17):
down on it.
It took a little bit of themotivation out of doing it.
So.
It's we ha we have to get backon the horse.
Yeah, there, there was somethings in there that were really
interesting and we're like, wow.
Like that.
But then there's other thingsthat just.
Like I said, didn't resonate or.
Contradicted.
Are not part of, are not part ofour philosophy.
(07:39):
Yeah.
So.
So I, being able to just takethat in.
Acknowledge, it's not part ofour treatment philosophy.
Move on.
And finish it, I think isimportant.
Because like we're.
Midway through and I don't knowonce every few weeks where Hey.
And we should really finishthat.
And.
(07:59):
It's one of those.
It was really nice because wewere taking it together.
And so we were playing at eachon our device, but then we could
chit chat about.
What we were seeing what wethought if we needed, like we
could stop and have a discussionabout.
So one of us would mute there.
together.
Because you had we each had tobe logged in since we're both
(08:20):
getting the continuing educationfor.
Then have the opportunity todiscuss.
What we thought about, or if itjob, which that probably also
made it take longer.
'cause we, we would have spenton hold on.
You have to stop.
We're having these spinoffconversations.
And.
I think that can lead into alittle bit about certifications
(08:42):
and continuing education,because you think as therapists,
we love to collectcertifications like, and I do
tell that to my students.
I'm like, your.
Best bang for your buck is toget a certification rather than
another degree.
It's so much more applicable.
It's so much more useful.
(09:02):
But with a lot ofcertifications, they have their
own continuing educationrequirements.
So it becomes this this machinethat you're sort of caught in.
So you have like, Your stateand, most states have continuing
education requirements forlicensure.
Our state does not.
But we maintain our continuingeducation for our NBC OT.
(09:24):
so we're doing them anyway.
If we moved to another state.
It's not going to be a big deal,but then as I hippotherapy
clinical specialists, I havecontinuing education
requirements there.
Like each certification youhave, you have continuing
education to maintain thecertification.
And for quite a long while I wascertified as an infant massage
(09:45):
instructor.
And that was one of thecertifications that I've
actually.
I lapsed the continuingeducation requirement on because
although using the infantmassage techniques is really
helpful.
And just, I wasn't teachingclasses, I wasn't teaching
parent groups on infant massageand it just, again, it was like
(10:05):
another sort of niche side areathat I would have to take, like
massage, continuing educationclasses and just.
Didn't do it.
Yeah.
I guess we should.
Should we get into the.
Did we cover everything?
The bigger block.
I think we talked about thesmaller block trainings, like
(10:27):
the one-offs, which are great.
And there's some reallyinteresting, bigger block ones.
And there's like you said, theletters after name and all that.
There's, there's also some otherPrograms that I would really
like to explore.
I'd really like to get into atherapeutic listening.
And I'd really like to get acertification in that especially
(10:47):
given the settings that we workin.
I think that it would be.
Applicable, I guess the only.
Thing that we're trying tonavigate is the juice worth the
squeeze and.
They do tend to be a sizeablemonetary commitment on an annual
basis.
For that.
And so we're trying to figureout.
(11:08):
I'm really what would be thebest?
The best way to go forward withthat.
So that's another area thatwe're exploring for this year,
potentially.
Do we have enough clientsthroughout the year to justify
the subscription costs like thetraining, totally doable, but
the subscription costs.
For the program.
Is that area of it's not likeyou own the music anymore.
(11:31):
It's not like you own the audioanymore.
You have to subscribe everyyear.
And that's our concern rightnow.
Is are we going to have enoughfamilies that are either
interested in paying extra orwould we just.
Incorporate it in.
To our base pricing.
And so again, something that's alittle bit more in depth, that
(11:52):
would be another in our toolbox.
And we would be excited to bringin.
And I think that's one of thethings about continuing
education, right?
It can.
Open doors to bring in newtools, new treatment strategies.
New things to offer to familiesthat you're working with.
And.
Then it's just figuring out.
(12:13):
Either how you're going to fundit, or is the return on
investment going to be reallygood for that?
The other thing that I can'thelp, but think of and I don't
want to go too far off topichere, but Continuing education
or certifications outside of thetherapy world.
So.
For example I have a, I'm a redcross certified lifeguard, and I
(12:34):
feel that maintaining that is.
Pretty important backstopping asfar as working in an aquatic
environment That's kind of abare minimum, but there's other
certifications out there.
There's water safety instructor.
There are the.
The red cross, you used to havean adaptive swim certification,
but they did away with that.
(12:55):
That was my understanding, but,there's some non therapy
specific.
I mean, even if we want to talkabout the basics.
First aid CPR.
You know that.
That's a pretty.
And if you're, you.
It's one thing if you're workingsomewhere, because if you're
working for somebody else, thenthey're more than likely footing
the bill every year for you totake the CPR course and maintain
(13:16):
your certification.
But.
You know if if you're theprivate practitioner, then,
these are the things you've gotto think about.
As additional safety measuresfor your clients.
And I think putting that outthere too, there's nothing wrong
with putting that out there andletting the clients know that.
You're CPR certified becausethat's going to give them an
(13:38):
additional level of comfort withyou.
That you'd be there in caseanything were to happen.
Where those skills are needed.
I think that brings up.
A really interesting pointbecause you were talking about
it in the aquatic setting.
So if we talk about it and thatequine setting, a lot of people
will immediately ask, do theyneed to become a path?
Riding instructor and.
(14:01):
Unless your intention is to goand teach horseback riding.
Then that's probably not thebest avenue for you because it
is very lumpy.
The horsemanship requirement issignificant.
And if your intention is toincorporate horses into
occupational therapy.
Then becoming a horseback ridinginstructor is really like a
separate.
Half.
(14:21):
No pun intended on that.
But you also do need to have abasic level of horsemanship
skills to be safe in theenvironment.
So a lot of times I think thatcomes into the.
Non-formal continuing education.
So things like mentoring,networking, coaching
Volunteering.
(14:42):
I think those.
All fall in that, like it iscontinuing education.
And some of the coaching clientsthat I've worked with, we have
set up a plan for them so thatthey can get NDC.
Continuing education units bysetting up a mentoring plan.
So I think there are the thingsthat are outside of.
AOTA approved continuingeducation provider status that
(15:06):
also contribute greatly to yourskills and competency at a
particular, when you are workingin a niche area.
Well, I would say I'm looking atthe other.
Area of practice that we work inis the nature based.
And so even.
Some continuing ed and thatdepartment, I think that can be
(15:28):
very handy if you're if you'renot really an outdoors type.
Some basic plantidentifications.
Safety measures for.
The natural environment ifyou're on a.
Two mile hike and something goeswrong.
You know what.
What do you do in a.
What are the types of.
(15:49):
The resources that would beavailable to help.
And now nowadays with cellphones and, And that's not as
much of a concern I guess, butI'm still having a solid safety
plan.
In places pretty important.
And really what that's about isidentifying skill gaps is I
think the best way to look atthat as to, Look at all.
(16:09):
Right.
What, what skills am I lackingto meet?
The demands of whateverpotential scenario you could
likely find yourself in.
But then there's other things Ithink that you could work to get
smarter on orienteering or youhave been basically.
I guess what I'm trying to sayis that.
If you're working in one ofthese outside of the box.
(16:31):
Niche settings.
Like we work in.
Looking around and kind ofseeing what you could use, not
just in therapeutic training,but also, outside of that what
could be helpful, then.
And not being afraid to expandyour knowledge base in those
areas as well.
Yeah.
I like that idea of a skillsgap, because it can be clinical
(16:56):
skills.
It can be practical skills or itcould be safety skills.
Any of those areas.
There are continuing educationopportunities to fill those
again, not everything fallsunder that AOTA approved
provider of continuingeducation.
But if you are going to work inin a niche area if you're going
to be successful well, Anotherarea that we didn't talk about
(17:19):
is like business business.
Um, I didn't want to cut youoff, but I wasn't gonna say
business.
Yeah, that's right.
So.
I guess that's why our joke islike, The continuing education
budget we can go way down therabbit hole.
We both enjoy learning andlearning new skills and learning
new things.
(17:39):
And so.
I think.
On that you can also get caughtup in.
Learning and not doing like.
Can be the bandaid.
Instead of doing the hard thingtoo.
Yeah.
And maybe like, well, I justneed to do this.
Like one more.
(18:00):
Once I get these letters at theend of my name, then I'll be.
Yeah.
Then I'll do the thing.
Well, that's it.
And like, you're, you're goingto learn so much more by doing.
And, and I think you're going tomake mistakes.
That's kind of inevitable, but Ithink if you have some core
values that you can hold onto inyour in your practice and in
(18:21):
your treatment methodology.
And your approach.
If you can hold on to thosethings and you understand why
they're.
Your core values then.
The mistakes that you make.
Won't.
I don't really matter all thatmuch.
Yeah, I think once you'veidentified The safety skills,
the practical skills, and you'recovered in there.
(18:41):
Because continuing education andbeing in the therapy world is a
lifelong learning process.
There's always going to be anarea that we're going to focus
on or watch improve on.
If you are working in privatepractice for yourself.
The business skills are neverending.
And what we can learn and growand business certainly is
changing.
(19:02):
And what opportunities we haveavailable to us.
So, we have all these things atour disposal.
And it's amazing that we canconnect with people like all
around the world.
Really.
And tap into their expertise andsometimes we can do it for free
on social media.
Sometimes it's through.
I'm using paid coachingprograms.
And other times it's throughthat networking that we do at
(19:24):
conferences and face-to-facecommunities, but there's a lot
of opportunities for continuingeducation out there.
I guess I would just say.
Don't let it stop you from doingthe thing.
Don't let it stop you fromactually moving forward with
what it is you want to do.
Yeah.
I think if you have a vision ofwhat it is that you're supposed
(19:46):
to be doing.
And you go after that.
It is really easy to.
Let that fear take, hold andthink.
Well, I need.
I need X, Y, or Z.
And it could be more training.
It could be.
The perfect setting.
It could be.
I think we can come up with anynumber of excuses not to get
(20:09):
that forward movement happening,but at the end of the day, I
think.
We hold ourselves back a lot.
So I think as we come towrapping up today, talking about
continuing education.
We covered different formats ofcourses from really short.
The face style.
Learning to really deep diveswhere you're going to come away
(20:32):
with a certification after it.
And, we.
Ryan brought up the skills gaparea.
And how you can look to fill inskills gap areas, whether they,
those are practical skills,safety skills, or therapeutic
skills.
And then we kind of stumbledinto the.
(20:55):
Learning paralysis and gettingtripped up on all the
opportunities that are out theretoo.
Learn and grow and letting thatstop us from going out and
actually serving the people thatwe're meant to serve.
Well, we hope this gave you someinsight into the way that we
look at continuing ed and theway that we approach it.
(21:17):
And Maybe.
Ask some of those questions ofyourself and take a look at.
The way that you've beenapproaching it and As always, if
you appreciated listening tothis podcast, you can like share
and subscribe and we wouldappreciate it.
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