NHS V Social Services

In January I began work for Local Government, a switch from my previous experience working for the NHS.  So what I noticed is different?

Organisation:
Even before my first day, it was evident how organised they were compared to my previous experience in the NHS.  Now, maybe this can be attributed to better management, but I also think this has a lot to do with the systems in place.  From my first day, I had computer access, an email account, diary, printer access and training booked for the computer system.  THE FIRST DAY! It took month to get half this stuff within the NHS!

Training opportunities:
Maybe this is bias due to my NHS career being on rotation, however I got no training barr mandatory at all.  I think this impacted my confidence as an OT because we weren't given the skills to add to our tool box so to speak.  Since starting at Social Services I have been on really excellent training which have really helped me to gain confidence in my role, for example basic and advanced adaptations.  These two courses taught me about looking at and drawing scale drawings for extensions, bathrooms and whole houses in order to be able to meet client's needs.  For some people this probably sounds a bit technical or boring but I love it! I can't wait to put this skill into practice and have actually just picked up a complex case involving a 1st floor extension so I cannot wait to get stuck in.

Attitude:
Interestingly, people working for the NHS seem to recognize the fact it is a National Service, so although they tend to moan about situations, they also seem to let the service off a bit, almost understanding why things are so bad.  I've noticed within Social Services that people tend to moan. A lot.  I have come to think that people have perhaps had it so so SO good in the past, that they don't know how lucky they were! I personally, find it really hard to see how they moan as much as they do because for me things seem heaps better than they are in the NHS. 

Reflection: Anxiety

There are a fair few good olde posts on Mental Health floating around at the mo including the lovely Jennifer's series on peoples' stories.  These, plus the fact I have just rotated into a Mental Health role within my job have got me thinking about my own journey.

Today I got to attend our weekly supervision with the Psychologist and this week was about a few new types of therapy, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy and Compassionate Therapy.  I won't go into them because that isn't what this post is about but what the session made me realise a few things about myself:

1. How far I have come managing my anxiety.
2. Recognise objectively how and why Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can make things worse and how it did infact make me worse.
3. That number two is not actually necessary a reflection on the person themselves but a reminder that different things work differently for different people.
4. That mindfulness really was what galvanized my recovery. 
5. The fact that alongside mindfulness I learnt to use compassionate therapy to get rid of the things that were negatively impacting my anxiety and working harder on the things that positively impact.


 

A reflection on 10 months into a Rotation

I'm very aware that I have not updated this poor blog for quite sometime.  I think a large part of the reason for this is that I have been largely uninspired for the last ten months.  I have spent the last ten months working two rotations in an acute hospital, covering Respiratory and Orthopedics.

I'm not going to lie, I had a feeling acute hospital working would not be for me but having had no experience of it on placement I was up for "giving it a go".  My first gut feeling was right.

Don't get me wrong, there are some aspects of it I quite like but unfortunately these don't outweigh the pitfalls.  The last ten months have taught me an awful lot, such as how to work quickly and problem solve on the spot.  I have even enjoyed the thrill of working quickly and balancing my caseload, prioritizing.  I have not enjoyed the lack of respect for the OT role within the setting, no matter how much education or promotion we do and consequently the amount of unsafe discharges that are done daily/hourly/minutely due to professionals wanting to get people out as quickly as possible to avoid "breaching".  This leads me onto a mini rant, medical professionals so obsessed with treating the medical issue and forgetting that it was likely a social issue that lead to that medical issue bringing the patient into hospital in the first place.   

End rant.

I have thus spent the majority of the last ten months moaning at my work mates, who are also frustrated due to lack of staff and so unable to do their job to full potential.  I also find the setting lacking my two favourite things about OT: Rapport and person centredness.  I have always been great with people, this is something all my educators have commented on and so to be in a job lacking both, has been quite unfullfilling!

Until now.  On Friday I went to visit my next rotation and I felt immediately in my element! Even setting up a cross stitch group and building rapport with my caseload already! THIS is where I want to be! Creative freedom, time to get to know and support patients: Older Persons Mental Health.

I'm sure some of you are probably thinking "Well you never should've done the rotation then, if you knew where you wanted to go".  Life is just not that simple i'm afraid, at the end of the day, we just don't have the options to wait around for our perfect job.  Alongside this, I wasn't entirely sure if I would be able to handle a career in Mental Health, due to the risk of burn out.  This is where a rotation is key, it really does help you find your way to where you want to be, whether it is by doing a rotation and knowing it's your calling/worst nightmare or if it's piecing together your favourite bits from the jigsaw from different rotations to make the perfect job.

Benefits of baking

On the plane on the way back from holiday the other day (just had to get that in there;-)), I stumbled across a rather interesting article . 
The article really was interesting, almost doing a mini activity analysis when talking about self identity and worth.
I've seen a few things along these lines recently and I'm rather torn about it.

On one hand I genuinely got rather excited about the fact a newspaper was publishing the therapeutic benefits of things and even grabbed the boyfriend's arm to drag him into my excitement.  In case you're wondering his response was equivalent to "that's nice dear". 

On the other hand, I am rather sad that firstly, OT was not mentioned at all (prime opportunity to highlight what OT is, no?) and this leads me onto the other finger, I feel like people are onto our OT secret and so it no longer makes us special!

Mental health and sport.

This post comes very soon after the death of a well loved and highly talented sportsman, Gary Speed.  The reason this comes dangerously close to his death, is because the whole situation has curated strong feelings for me.

Firstly, it reminded me how mental health still remains a well hidden black dog, this gentleman's death came to a complete shock to all surrounding him.  This has lead to a very public calling of utter bewilderment and confusion as to how this smiley, charismatic, talented man could've a)been in such despair b) hidden it so deep.  To those in mental health services,this is sounds all too familiar because it seems people still have difficulty noticing the subtle signs of depression and what it really is.  I read in the newspaper this evening that even his wife had no idea of any issues and they had a happy  marriage, friends saying he had made plans with them for next week.
This really highlighted to me how there are probably many more sportsmen out there suffering varying levels of mental health issues, yet where is the help? I'm not talking  about high profile spells in the priory, I'm talking about monitoring of their needs and goal setting to help them in order to help them achieve the high standard they are expected to.  I would love to get involved in helping in this  area, focused work for football clubs/sports to try to help people feel that there ARE other options and ways to get through situations and feelings.

The working world: A beginning of sorts

I am a newly qualified Occupational therapist who has landed herself a job working on a rotation in my local city.  Beating 150 people to the post is a pretty impressive feeling and a lot of added pressure-must live up to it!

So today I went to visit what will be the place I spend 37 hours of my week for the next six months.

It. Was. Scary.

No word of a lie, I felt so clueless and out of my depth.  I think i'm meant to feel like this though, because the girl who i'm taking over from said that she felt the same.

I'm going to be based mainly on two wards, although will duty cover other wards in the hospital once a week.  The current OT gave me a tour of the wards and such, the hospital is ridiculously massive and if someone left me in a corridor, I'm not entirely sure anyone would see me ever again because id be lost for eternity!  Apparently this happens to everyone, so I shall be given a map on my first day.

I'm feeling so completely overwhelmed yet excited; I really do love a challenge and working hard (which is lucky really!).  I also feel incredibly lucky to have landed myself on a rotation within months of leaving University.

This space will be used to document my journey through my six months of this rotation, and probably other rotations.  It will be used as a place for reflections and lessons, looking back at the end of the rotation I am sure that I will have developed profoundly.