Fieldwork Lessons from an Experienced COTA

 In this episode, we kick off our back-to-school series by talking with Kim Meaney, a seasoned Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA) and current master's student in occupational therapy. Kim shares her unique journey from being a COTA to returning to school for her Master's degree in OT. She provides valuable insights into balancing work, family, and education, and reflects on her summer fieldwork experience at a OT clinic incorporating hippotherapy. We discuss the challenges and rewards of working in a non-traditional fieldwork setting, the importance of asking questions, and the benefits of immersing oneself in new experiences. Kim’s advice is a must-listen for any OT student preparing for their fieldwork placements. 

Transcript

Microphone (3- Logitech USB Headset) & Integrated Camera-1 0:14

Hi, welcome to animals and aquatics I'm Gina, your host. And we're starting our back to school series with the field work diaries from our summer fieldwork students. This is for all our OT and OTA students out there who might be interested in a career in a nontraditional placement, like hippotherapy, aquatic therapy or nature-based therapy. This is to give you some insight into what our field work students' experiences were and to share with you some of their advice. Now let's get started.

gina 0:42

All right, guys, we are going to have a wonderful talk here for our student month, where we are talking to some students who had a level one fieldwork placement over the summer. And we're starting this off with Kim Meaney. And she was a level one fieldwork student and Kim, we're so happy to have you on tonight. We'd like to know a little bit and let's just get started with where you're currently attending school and like where you're at in the education process.

Kim 1:12

Sure. As Gina said, my name is Kim. So thank you for having me tonight. I'm currently. A master's occupational therapy student at Grand Valley State University, which is in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I am entering my last didactic semester which is exciting and I will be doing level two starting in January.

gina 1:35

Excellent. And one of the things that's really unique about Kim is she's already a CODA. And so she comes with a wealth of experience. And Kim, do you want to talk a little bit either about like the bridge? component or just your experience of being a CODA for a really long time and then going back to school?

Kim 1:52

Sure. So, being a CODA for a really long time and going back to school was very hard. I graduated, I'm going to really date myself. I graduated from the first CODA school in Connecticut and graduated back in 1998. So since then, I have obtained a bachelor's degree, and then I decided to go back and get my master's in OT. School based and PEDS is really my wheelhouse and my love, and as crazy as it sounds, I really like doing evaluations like the Peabody and things like that. So as a COTA you can assist with some of that. You can definitely do standardized assessments. You can help with parts of an evaluation, but I really like looking at the data and then being able to see Where your client is, where they're going and how to get them there. So I decided to go back and get my master's, which at the time sounded great. It's been, it's been rough. I'm not going to lie, working full time, you know, being an older student having a family and then full time school is, it's rough. It's hard to juggle, but. I've managed it and I'm almost done.

gina 3:02

I was just going to say, you're almost there. So you can like see the light at the end of the tunnel now. It's

Kim 3:08

super bright.

gina 3:11

Like a moth to a flame. Yes. So this summer you had a fieldwork placement with Epona Therapy Services. And what was your most impactful field work experience during that?

Kim 3:26

So as I stated, PEDS and school based sensory clinic is pretty much my wheelhouse. I've never experienced hippotherapy. I've never participated with hippotherapy. I know about hippotherapy because of you but never really was able to submerge myself. So being able to understand how hippotherapy works and actually see the clients and how it affects them mentally, physically, emotionally. sensory was actually really cool to see that happen. Especially with a couple of the clients that we had really see them come in and be totally over the top, overstimulated, didn't want to participate. And then once they got on the horse and they had that movement, whether it was the horse movement or we were playing, rhythmic sounds, to watch them really kind of, Go from so hyper to melting into the horse and like really being attentive and being able to, whether it's one or two word, stop, go really being able to participate was really amazing to see and really try to hone in on how that really affects their system. And then getting off the horse and being able to do a simple table game and having them attend. Was amazing as well. So it was a really cool experience.

gina 4:50

Yeah, I think it's a great example of like dynamic systems theory because you really, you can see it in action. We have different systems. We have the horses system, the team, because it's never, just the therapist and the client. And then you can see the client systems. change as well. Now coming into this, did you have a particular expectation or anything that made you nervous prior to actually showing up the first day?

Kim 5:15

How did you know? Um, I've never been around horses. Never worked with any animals in therapy. So like no animal assisted therapy or anything like that. So coming into hippotherapy and not knowing where to stand with the horse or what to do or what not to do. Kind of had me a little bit nervous but after being there, a couple times, it was, it was better and then it was better. It's nice to be able to interact with the horse and like actually pet them and not have to worry about getting stomped or spit at. So it was, it was nice.

gina 5:47

Yeah, I think most students if they didn't choose this placement because it's an area of interest for them, then they do have some things that they're concerned about and whether it's, The outdoor climate and being in a, a non climate controlled environment, or bugs, or the horses themselves, right? I think every student that has come through that, this wasn't like a choice placement that, that has been part of that experience. So that's one of the reasons why I always ask, because it's interesting to hear Prior to coming, what some of those concerns were. And then, like you said, as you got to the end, like feeling like, Oh, I can go up and pet the horses. Like I feel comfortable doing that. So what advice would you give to other students who would be going into a non traditional field work placement or want to work in a niche area of practice based on your experience?

Kim 6:40

I definitely would have them do a lot of. Research on the setting is so like, for example, hippotherapy, like, what exactly are you doing? How does it benefit your clients? How would you? Be better able to assist your clients in what their goals are, talking to the parents, talking, if you're able to talk to the clients, if they're able to verbalize. Being able to really look at that holistically, as we are as OTs, being able to look at it holistically and how does that one session then affect the them, their occupations, their environment, their social interactions. And then just kind of immerse yourself. I mean, it is a level one, it's not a level two, immerse yourself, ask questions. And really, if you make a mistake, you make a mistake and you learn from that mistake and you grow, but definitely ask questions. And what I liked was I was not the only student there. So I was able to really collaborate with the other students that were there ask questions and then kind of bounce ideas back and forth off of each other. Um, we actually had a group chat, so we were able to, talk like, hey, we have so and so this week, or hey, what are you thinking about? So it was nice to be able to have that collaboration between all of the students. And I think it made it more comfortable for all of us knowing that. We all kind of had the same question. So no question was a stupid question kind of thing. So,

gina 8:08

yeah, I think you brought up a really good point about understanding how what you see in the treatment session is then going to impact. the occupation, the occupational performance, or, their social participation in other settings, because I think it's one of the challenges of hippotherapy in particular, is that it's very theoretical. You're, looking at like, okay, they're able to function better during this kind of window that we've created from the movement and the sensory input. And then what, right? And we do our functional activities, but still there is that gap of okay, but I'm not actually home with them. And that was one of the things I really loved about early intervention. It's your child has trouble. Bathing? Let's go to the tub. They're having trouble with eating? Let's, I'll be there during breakfast. And it was so occupation based because you could be right there in the home, right there in the moment. And when you're in a more non traditional setting, even if that's, nature based or aquatics or incorporating the horses, you're putting together the pieces and the skills. But often we're, we're not going to get to see how they're going to perform that morning routine, that morning routine that we've been working on.

Kim 9:23

Right.

gina 9:24

And so, as a student, was that a challenging aspect to it? Or. Was it kind of interesting?

Kim 9:36

To me, it was interesting because it made you think okay, so like mom is here or dad is here and they're watching. Now, what are they doing at home to carry this over? Or if the client left and they were, mellow, how then do they bring them home and keep that? Like, what are they doing at home to carry that over? So it was interesting, especially when we did the occupational profile to understand how that clients, what they're doing at home and then what their goals were. With us and how that really translated from the therapy session over to home and how it affected their occupations and their emotional stability and their mental challenges emotional regulation. So it was interesting to, to kind of tie that together.

gina 10:28

Yeah, and a lot of times. You know, like you said, we see sometimes they're coming in really, really high and they're not really having that regulation piece in place. Other times they're coming in and they, they look pretty good. They're happy to be there. They're happy to engage. And so sometimes we're not seeing some of the challenges the parent is seeing. And then it's like, okay, how can we still give mom or dad those tools that they're going to need? When they get at home and I think for me as a business owner, that's a really nice opportunity for having students because you guys get that opportunity sometimes to create handouts or home programs, things like that, that the families can then take home and use because we do need to fill that gap from what happens in the session where no one is going home with a horse. They're not going home with that tool in their back pocket. And so bringing in a lot of the other OT tools that we use in the clinic in other settings and helping that family then translate them. back to home or back to school and back into the community is really where it's important for a lot of those clients that we're working with. So as we wrap up this episode, is there anything else that you would like to share either about your experience or as kind of a word to students, since you have a lot of experience in that area?

Kim 11:48

So I would say don't be afraid, even if it's an area that you're not familiar with. Like I said, do your research and then just immerse yourself, just kind of throw yourself in and, see what happens. I think that what happens is people get nervous and then they kind of put that wall up and then they're not learning or they're not giving themselves that opportunity to learn. Just go in and just do it. And don't be fearful. I mean, you have good clinical supervisors, they'll guide you and ask questions. No question is ever stupid. If you don't ask it, then it's stupid.

gina 12:26

Yeah, yeah, I would definitely rather the question be asked than that opportunity missed and whether that's something that could eventually, especially in the niche areas, like could cause a safety issue. Because the person just didn't know and they were afraid to ask about something that the horse might do or, horses have a lot of weird quirks about things and it's like, if you haven't been around horses, you have no idea. And so it's always better to have people ask. And then the clinical questions, that they come up as well, because it's always a different. Experience, the clients are coming in at a different place each week. And so there's a lot of moving parts. And I think that point of going ahead and asking questions is a really good advice to students who are going out on clinicals, whether it's a level 1 or level 2 placement, that they're ready to jump in, have a full experience, ask those questions because they're going to have a better learning experience that way.

Kim 13:20

I agree.

gina 13:22

So Kim, it was wonderful having you as a Fieldwork student, and I thank you so much for joining us on the podcast and sharing a little bit about your experience and giving some advice to future Fieldwork students. Thanks. Thanks for having me. Bye.