Ella Sutton was putting her best foot forward to follow in her mum’s career path of exercise physiologist at Bendigo Health. When a chance encounter with an Occupational Therapist at LaTrobe University Open Day changed her track.
“I was speaking with Carol McKinstry, a professor of occupational therapy in the La Trobe Rural Health School, and she explained how much it helps people improve their everyday lives and I thought that sounds like something I would really like to do,” said Ella.
Like a lot of Ella’s patients when she greets them for the first time for treatment, Ella wasn’t entirely sure what Occupational Therapy (OT) was at first.
OT is a healthcare profession that focuses on helping patients do the activities they want and need to do in their day-to-day lives at home and out in the community. The profession is celebrating OT week October 23-29 with the theme ‘Unity Through Community’.
“Everyone’s different and I think that’s why I love it so much, it’s good to work on a different goal everyday with each person,” said Ella.
“It might be going fishing, or using a knife and fork, or writing with a pen, or returning to an occupation. There are lots of functions that are meaningful to different people, it may be a small thing that we take for granted but is so important to them.
“When patients are finally able to achieve their goal, after overcoming barriers that are there through illness, you feel like you’ve really made a difference to people’s quality of life. It’s so rewarding.”
In turn, Ella says she feels really supported to excel in her graduate role through both an Early Career Support Program and ongoing clinical supervision throughout. They provide Ella the opportunity to improve processes for other graduates, gain knowledge and practical strategies firsthand, maintain emotional wellbeing, and learn directly from her more experienced colleagues.
As a Grade 1 OT, Ella’s now on her second of a possible 14, six-month rotations of the hospital departments, including outpatients or in the community. When Ella eventually opts for a Grade 2 position in a particular specialty, she can apply when a position becomes available.
“At the moment I’m just enjoying the opportunity to learn about all the different areas,” said Ella. “As an OT I get to collaborate mostly with the physiotherapists, but also social workers, speech therapists, doctors and nurses.”
The clinical supervision aspect of her role is extremely helpful in these early career stages.
“Instead of just reading it from a textbook, you can see it ‘hands-on’ with your own eyes; how to do screenings or use different equipment or machines.”
A different Grade 2 supervisor guides Ella on each rotation so she has the opportunity to observe and learn from them, and each week has an hour 1-1 supervision “where you can talk about emotional wellbeing, clinical skills you want to work on, or feedback…it’s really useful,” said Ella.
“We are offered a lot of Continuing Personal Development. Once a month we get two hours where we learn something different about OT; for example, the palliative care OT will come in and talk to us, or maybe someone from outpatients or even someone external, just to teach you something new.
“It often sparks ideas and interests and I think ‘I can’t wait to do that rotation; that sounds really fun’, so I feel really supported in figuring out exactly my final career goal. It’s a really great opportunity to discover where you want to be.”
Ella has always looked up to her mum who was an exercise physiologist at Bendigo Health for several years. “Mum worked on the same rehabilitation ward that I am on right now,” said Ella.
“It’s been useful having someone that I’m so close with give me advice about things at work because she has that healthcare lens when I explain something that has been hard for me or troubling, she can look at it also from a patient’s point of view. She has been really supportive in helping me be my best,” said Ella.
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