Category: occupational therapy

Posted on in occupational therapy

Three Weeks Down as a Pediatric Occupational Therapist!

Hello Renrenspeakers! How is everyone doing? Long time, no type! I am so glad that the weather has FINALLY cooled off. I have returned my fuzzy socks and sweats as my go-to loungewear. I am about three weeks in as an official OTR/L in an outpatient pediatric clinic with some home health. So far, it has been such a wonderful experience! Lemme update yall on my journey as a new grad thus far.

As a new grad OT, there is a huge learning curve in general. I am constantly consulting other peds OTs I know and look up to, handy dandy Google/ChatGPT, and my old notes/resources from my fieldwork experience and school to refresh my mind on things that I am less familiar with or need additional information on. Heck, the other day, I even pulled out my TherapyEd book I used briefly to study for the NBCOT to verify various developmental milestones and primitive reflexes. Either I blacked it out, but I don’t remember studying as frequently – or might I rephrase, as diligently – when I was in school. I think that I am more willing to seek out this information because first, my license is on the line; and second, I am so new to this, so I want to be the best therapist I can be! I actually do enjoy researching things and discovering how I can spice up my sessions, apply the knowledge that I learn to my tool kit, and educate parents and caregivers for increased carryover (via HEPs, education, etc).

I know my mind is young and fresh, but here are some of the reasons I enjoy the pediatric population thus far:

  1. I always have a story I can recall at the end of the day. My clients say and do the funniest, cutest, and interesting things. I recently had a client who was eating cherry tomatoes for her snack, and she had some remaining juice on her fingers. I laid my jacket down on my chair prior to session starting, and out of nowhere, I saw her walk up to my jacket to wipe her fingers like she would do if she were using a napkin, lol.
  2. I get to be in touch with the youth and channel my inner kid. There are so many things I have discovered that kids like these days, like Ms. Rachel. I also felt super cool working with a client who liked Roblox because I know exactly what that is and could converse about it (shoutout to my little sister, Claudine, for the exposure lol).
  3. I can do a ton of arts and crafts – and they are used therapeutically! First, arts and crafts are my thing. Plus, they can target so many performance areas such as fine motor skills, sensory (tactile), bilateral coordination – the list goes on and on! So far, I have enjoyed finding themed printables or even just creating templates on my iPad and printing them out to use in sessions. I can also upgrade/downgrade them to my discretion. For instance, I can cut pieces of a craft out and have the child bear crawl to them, picking them up 1 by 1 all over the room to also target gross motor skills or any other skills they are working on.
  4. Each client is so different from the next. The variability of clients allow me to get to know many different personalities and learn how to navigate hardships I come across more effectively.
  5. I am constantly on my toes. I never know how the day is going to go as much as I may plan for it, truthfully. Of course, I always hope for a positive, productive session. However, sometimes my clients just might not be feeling an activity as much as I am. I have to be flexible and adaptable so that I am also meeting the client’s needs. This is a skill I am definitely growing in, but knowing that I constantly have to modify my creativity forces me to learn, and therefore, grow as a clinician.

I am thankful that I have a great work environment that supports me and accommodates my needs well. I hear many new grad first job horror stories, and I hate that for us because we are just trying to learn and be our best selves in this new life transition.

The hardest transition for me honestly has been getting used to being an OT. When I first started, I was very anxious because I just did not know what to expect. I had many worries – What is my kids don’t like me? What if my clients and I don’t connect? What is the right way to do therapy? First, there is no right way to do therapy, because everyone’s style is different! Of course, some days are harder than others, but I have to remember to give myself grace. I am three weeks in, NOT 30 years in. And no matter where I am in my years of experience, I will always have room to grow and improve. That is what striving to be a great clinician is all about – recognizing what you don’t know and addressing those gaps. I’ve learned so far that it is okay and even encouraged to ask for help! As much as I try to figure things out on my own, there are going to be so many things that I merely do not know. Again – that is OKAY! I am new to this life! After all, clinicians always say that it took them a year before they finally started really feeling confident and comfortable in what they were doing, so I still have 49 weeks to get there, haha. Fieldwork was a good way to get my feet wet, but that was only the foundation. I get to constantly add to my foundation as a life-long learner. I try to stay grounded as a new grad OT by continuously giving myself grace because again – I am new! I can mess up, I will make mistakes, I will learn from them, and I will grow because of that. Being a peds OT has required me to quickly adopt a Type B personality – one that is more relaxed, easygoing, and flexible when needed.

One thing I noticed that is so easy to fall prey to is going to the store and being tempted to buy anything that I can use for my session, lol. Yesterday, I went to the Dollar Tree and found a TON of items that I could use with my clients to target their goals (shoutout the Dollar Tree for inexpensive stuff, though I do have to side eye a little bit because everything was really marked $1.25. Inflation I guess). My next destination is Goodwill, haha. Currently, there are multiple go-to games stashed away in my car that I did not even touch until starting my job, and I believe that this list will continue to grow at the rate I’m going. I also have a Peds wishlist on Amazon and a growing checklist on my Notes app. Sometimes, it is hard to resist buying new items that my clients might enjoy or benefit from (so help me out with this, fellow peds OTs lol).

The largest downside I’ve faced so far – the getting sick part, eh, not my favorite. I am currently recovering from a bad cold – ah, the joys of working with kids, lol. I remember when I did my first fieldwork at an outpatient peds clinic. I literally lasted 2 weeks, and then BAM. I got COVID for the first time. I was out all week. My immune system is not up to par yet, but I know I will have a beast immune system in no time. 😉 I guess I’ll have to stock up on my vitamins extra hard to try to avoid being sick at all costs.

On my to do list is to continue researching, taking CEUs on my weaker knowledge areas (ex. sensory integration), and honestly just striving to do the best that I can do every day. I also want to work on work-life balance. I want to improve my documentation efficiency, as I notice that I can be a little long-winded when it comes to notes (I blog after all, so writing is inherently a part of my personality trait, lol). If yall have advice or an example of the most efficient notes you’ve written that you’d like to share with me (respect HIPAA, obviously), I am all here for it. 🙂

Thanks for riding this journey with me thus far!

Peace and love,

Irene

Posted on in new grad, occupational therapy, occupational therapy practitioner

New Grad Season – What a WEIRD Place to Be In!

Hello, Renrenspeakers! I hope all is well with you. Happy October – spooky season is upon us! I don’t know about you all, but I am so ready to watch some Halloween DCOMs this month!

Let me catch y’all up to speed with my life as of late since completely shedding the remains of my “student” identity. My entire month of August was a really fun one! I felt so blessed. I traveled home to San Diego, my hometown, and visited family and friends for a little bit. I also had a delayed but wonderful grad party to celebrate finishing OT school and passing my exam. Then, I flew to Miami for the first time and reconnected with my lovely college girl gang for a few days. And to top it all off, at the end of August, I was blessed to go on a very relaxing, peaceful, much needed vacation via a cruise sailing around the Caribbean sea! It was one of the best trips of my life (shout out to my partner for making it all happen <3). I am officially a cruise advocate now! I wish I could travel forever!

As amazing and necessary as vacation was, after coming back to AZ, reality hit me like a brick. I officially processed that I am now in my new grad season – what a weird place to be in! My entire September has consisted of a whirlwind of emotions. I think these emotions were suppressed because after taking my exam, all I could focus on was how much fun August was going to be at the time. Not going to lie, September has been simultaneously anxiety-inducing, reflective, and introspective. I was super blessed to have a job lined up for me even before taking my board exams, so the process of applying to jobs was one less stressor I did not have to worry about (side note – the power of networking is tremendous. Word of advice? Hold on tight to those connections you make throughout life because this is exactly how I was able to land my first job!). However, when there is a drastic shift from constantly studying, writing papers, and just trying to survive grad school to now having no routine, nothing pressing to do, and no money, I found myself having a LOT of time to think and even ruminate on my future (maybe too much time, honestly). School did not warn me adequately about the many emotions and feelings that come with this new grad season.

The more and more I waited around, the more my nerves started to kick in about EVERYTHING. Perhaps this is the beginning of imposter syndrome creeping up. It is a genuine feeling of wondering if you know enough, are qualified for the job, and are ready to be your own boss. Though I have had extensive training in OT, it is still a feeling that is hard to shake off completely.

What I really think augmented my worries about starting this next chapter of my life is the fear of the unknown, and the realization that I am really now a full-blown adult. I now have to think about and strategically plan for all of the other responsibilities that come with growing up – finding the best health insurance plan for myself, rent, car payments, investing in a 401k and other retirement accounts, maintaining relationships, the list goes on and on. Oh, not to mention the dreaded massive student loan debt I have (and am still slowly coming to terms with). There is no best answer to what I SHOULD do because everyone’s situation is so different. As a student, these were aspects of adulting that I knew were ahead of me. Yet, they were still a pretty abstract concept because I did not have to tackle these things head on. Now, I think about the rising cost of living and overall responsibilities. Sometimes, it makes me spiral worrying about whether or not I will actually be able to afford to live comfortably and merely enjoy life because that is something I really do value. I don’t want to look back 20 years from now and realize that I am continuously in a situation in which I am just going through the motions of life and slowly losing myself and my values because of the overall stressors of adulthood.

Truthfully, September was hard mentally and emotionally for me because I realized that to me, change is scary. It is much harder for me to embrace change than I initially thought. There are so many moving parts and components about change that a person just simply cannot fully control. For some time, I really just felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders, and it made me feel like I had to have everything figured out – especially being a Type A girlie like myself.

Now that October is here, I’ve done a lot of processing of my emotions, and it has launched a catalyst for me to seek a complete mindset shift. Me constantly stressing about the future, especially when everyone goes through some kind of trial or tribulation period in their life, was not making me feel better about myself – just worse. Relying on the strength of merely myself clearly wasn’t cutting it, and it never will be enough. BUT stepping into faith and casting my anxiety and worries with God helped me to start developing an inner strength to work through these feelings of exasperation and negativity I was battling. Of course, it is still very much a work in progress, but remembering to keep my faith in all that I do has helped keep me grounded and not completely go off the deep end. Giving myself grace has been so important because I am just simply trying to do my best. I also have to remember that I am not the only one in the world going through this major life transition!

So, how am I taking care of myself and working on my mindset shift as I transition to this next stage of life? The single best thing that I have prioritized to keep my sanity is going on my daily walks! My mom and I used to power walk frequently growing up, and it is a practice that I am very grateful she instilled in me. Honestly, the gym is not my go-to choice of fitness, so I knew that wouldn’t be the way I better myself physically. The weather is still blazing hot (100º+, to be exact), but I refuse to let the hot sun prevent me from staying on my fitness journey! I’ve made it a point to exercise early before peak heat, and it has given me some kind of routine to adhere to. I have upped my daily power walks to 4 miles a day first thing in the morning, and it has helped me a ton with providing clarity and practicing gratitude. This is also a time where I listen to my cherished podcasts to work on bettering myself. I also opened a library card to get back into my reading era, as well as bought a coloring book! Of course, I am still consistent with juicing, so that has been fun and tasty. Additionally, I started to journal again. Not frequently as of late, but I made it a point to keep a regular journal and a gratitude journal. I think I like my gratitude journal much more because even if I am feeling overwhelmed and down, I try to name at least one thing in my life that I am currently happy with and grateful for. I, like most people, find it super easy to fixate on the negative aspects of life, even if they are very few, rather than the numerous, wonderful positive aspects of life that I should strive to focus on.

As of right now, I am (still) patiently waiting for my license to come in, which is the last step I have to achieve before being able to finally practice. By the way, I will be starting off my career in outpatient pediatrics if I have not mentioned that already, whoohoo! Additionally, I have also been trying to increase my financial literacy like crazy while I do have this time so that I am not completely blind-sighted by all of the additional financial responsibilities to come. Even though I consider myself to be a novice in the financial world, I am very proud of myself for finally starting to understand things such as a Roth IRA, a high yields savings account, and even the differences between all the student loan repayment plans. These little action steps are great and should be celebrated because it brings me one step closer to financial peace and freedom. Eventually, I will do a whole finance post because I have a lot to say about the student debt crisis, lol.

I primarily wrote this post as a reminder to myself that everything will be OKAY and will work out! This is a shared experience that I know happens to many people, especially young new professionals who have sacrificed other life opportunities such as traveling, working, etc. to pursue grad school in hopes of fulfilling their own professional ambitions.

I am a new OT grad, so any tips and advice on navigating this new grad season and feeling more confident about starting adulthood (for real this time) as a young professional are SO invited. Thanks for allowing me to be vulnerable within this space today, Renrenspeakers! 🙂

Peace and love,

Irene

Posted on in occupational therapy

It is Done! From OT Student to Officially Becoming an OTR – Reflections on Passing the NBCOT Exam

Hello Renrenspeakers! I am feeling like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders! I have amazing news to share. After 9 days of some grueling waiting, I found out that I passed the last, huge hurdle to becoming an OT – the NBCOT board exam, whoohoo! Last Wednesday at 7 am, I begrudgingly opened my computer and nervously logged into my account, just to be pleasantly gifted with the words, Welcome, Irene! and saw my certification status as ACTIVE. I immediately began bawling and praising God for this achievement, because I can tell yall that I literally had no idea how to feel about the exam that I took. I ran upstairs, woke everyone up with my excitement, and cried with joy alongside my family. I am so thankful I had the support of my family to be with me regardless of the outcomes, but boy was I thrilled to not have to ever think about repeating the exam ever again. Let me take yall through my pre-NBCOT and post-NBCOT experience because I think I learned a lot about myself throughout these vigorous few weeks of intense studying. It required a LOT of introspection and self-reflection to make it to the other side. I have a ton to share about this experience, so brace yourselves.

Graduation is such a beautiful and fun time to celebrate the wonderful achievement of being done with school and obtaining a degree that I longed to achieve for so long. However, I quickly had to shift my focus on prepping my mind for the last hurdle – the NBCOT exam. As we know, standardized tests are never fun and easy because half of it is about knowing the content, and half of it is about knowing how to take the exam. I like to consider myself an average standardized test taker – not the best, not the worst. However, being a Type A girlie like myself (I know, it is something I need to work on), I wanted to ensure that I used my last brain cells to give my all to the NBCOT exam. To me, that meant making sure that I aimed to overstudy rather than understudy. The exam itself is daunting because it is a 180 question test with an allotted time of 4 hours to complete it. Thus, test takers must read diligently and swiftly to ensure that they finish the test. This is a lot to do, especially when still coming off the high of graduation!

So, what did I do to prepare for the NBCOT exam? I kick started my pre-NBCOT exam period by first taking a week long break after graduating before starting up my studying because I was SO mentally tired. I took this week to lounge around and find comfort in doing absolutely nothing. I was able to do this for about 75% of the week, not gonna lie. Yes, I know I said I needed to give myself a week off, but I guess I was itching to start studying so I could just get the test over with sooner rather than later and move onto bigger and better things. During my “week” off, I did start to reach out to friends I knew who passed their exams relatively recently to get a gage for how they went about bracing themselves for studying. I also did a lot of Googling and joining Facebook groups to compare and contrast the best study materials that would equip me for successful study sessions. Man, there is a LOT of material out there, so the choices were overwhelming. Pro-tip for current OT students out there – save about a good cushion of $800 – $1000 after graduation to pay for the cost of the exam itself, possible study materials, AND the licensing process because I was very surprised to see how expensive study materials became.

The Saturday after graduation, I attempted to get into the studying mindset by taking my first TherapyEd practice exam without any prior preparation and got a 53%. My initial goal was to get a 50% to see where I was at content-wise, so I was rather pleased with reaching my benchmark lol. I heard from many people that TherapyEd is very difficult, and as long as I scored around the 60% range I would be good, so this checked out for me haha. With that, I created a study schedule via Google Docs that broke down my day and content that I wanted to review each week. Before creating my schedule, at the top of my document, I wrote down an affirmation to refer back to that I knew I was going to need as the weeks went by. It stated, You are a DOCTOR so you can do anything! Just focus, concentrate, and be confident. Take this studying as a fun time! Now truthfully looking back – did I refer to my affirmation frequently? Unfortunately, no. Was studying fun? Nah, not really lol. BUT when I wrote it at the time, it did help me reframe my mindset going into this exam. I refused to see it as this catastrophic event that was waiting to happen, but instead as one last step to getting closer to finally becoming an OT. After I typed out the sentence, I included three links from my fav, OT Miri about inspiring/motivating passing stories from other people who’ve taken the NBCOT once, twice, or multiple times. Reading these stories and reflecting on their advice actually helped to take away nerves and worries that began to creep up going into my pre-NBCOT study period.

After setting a skeletal outline of my study plan, I ended up deciding to dedicate about 6 weeks of full-time studying. I aimed for about 6, sometimes 7 hours a day of diligent studying for 6 days a week. Sundays were STRICTLY no studying and a much needed self-care day. I did have a bit of an interruption in which I did some light traveling for a few days, but overall, my goal was to aim for 6 hours a day with rest breaks in between. At the beginning, I was overly ambitious and thought that I could do a timed practice test each week, but after doing three my first three weeks, I merely could not do it. I realized I was doing the absolute most haha. I did end up completing probably like five timed practice exams total throughout because I was worried that I would not be able to finish the real thing on time. The stamina that it takes to sit at a computer for 4 hours and train your brain is wild! Burnout was so real for me, as I felt like I was crashing and could not do it anymore during week 4 of my study schedule. I started to incorporate more prayer and listen to positive accounts of testing experiences to subside the worry and negative attitude that began to fester as I continued my pre-NBCOT study sessions. The local library and a local coffee shop became my second home, and I believe that this change of scenery helped me a ton because it was a new environment that was more stimulating. I also began to pick up my daily yoga stretches again to physically release the built-up tension that I realized was trapped in my body.

You might be wondering, what study materials did I end up using that helped me the most? I want to give several shoutouts to my faves lol. Big shoutout to AOTA Study Pack, Truelearn, OT Miri, OT Rex and OT Exam Prepper Podcast for being my favorite resources ever. I wished I discovered these during grad school, specifically the free resources. Also, honorable mention to my previously made study guides from grad school and random people’s Quizlets haha. And SPECIAL SHOUTOUT to my friend for passing along her Truelearn account to me for free because the dollars were starting to stack up!

I ended up spiraling my fifth week and decided to purchase the NBCOT study pack after I completed the AOTA study pack. I will be very honest – it was somewhat helpful for me personally even though there are no rationales for the exams, but it also was anxiety-inducing when I took my last practice exam. From the Facebook group threads that I read, people said that practicing with the NBCOT practice exams are a good resource (which they are, do not get me wrong) to see which domains you might be struggling with. I also read a LOT of threads saying that people’s NBCOT practice exams were similar to what they ended up scoring like on the real exam. With 5 days left to go, I said, “Alright, I got this!” That last practice exam was interesting for sure, but I believed that I did the best that I could do and used my clinical reasoning skills pretty wisely throughout. Now mind you, the minimum score to pass (both on the practice and the real exam) is 450, so that magic number was what I was waiting for. When I clicked “submit” and received my practice exam score, a 422 popped up on my screen. Now that was not what I wanted to see! I was overwhelmed with a sinking feeling of worry, desperation, and panic. I was rather upset to see that what I thought would be a score that reflected all the weeks of my meticulous studying was actually a score that seemingly showed that I was not ready for this exam. Of course my Type A self cried out of frustration and started to panic, especially since I found myself wandering to study prep Facebook groups and comparing my practice exam to what others were getting as a gage for their readiness for the real NBCOT. Now was this helpful? Absolutely not. I decided that it was time for me to hop off the Facebook groups, as it was only feeding my panic even more.

With 5 days left before the big day, of course I could not let the strength and stamina that I put into prepping for this exam become void by the 422 that tried to haunt me. I said, “Alright God, how are we gonna push past this and make sure this doesn’t happen again?” I ended up religiously using TrueLearn and did concentrated study sessions, completing about 5-10 practice questions at a time from each domain and topic that I was still struggling with. For some reason, when it gets close to the wire, the sudden motivation and drive comes full force. This was the single most helpful thing for me (besides listening to my free resources in the background when I could not stare at a screen any longer). With their bomb rationales, I almost felt like I unlocked a new skill of tapping into the mindset of the exam. I also listened to OT Miri’s motivational video, The Passing Mindset to reset my mind and go forth with these last few days with the upmost optimism.

Taking the exam was an experience for sure, yall. I will say, God was definitely with me throughout this time. My exam time was at 12 pm. Usually, I would have preferred an early start such as 8 am or 10 am. However, I believe that it all worked out because I got to take the morning to make a hearty breakfast, watch some of the Olympics, listen to More Than Able by Maverick City Music and The Best is Yet to Come by Donald Lawrence to get my mind right, and even do some light exercise on the treadmill. Luckily, I was 5 minutes away from the testing site, so I was able to do these things without feeling rushed. Asking God for peace and endurance throughout the exam helped me to center myself and know that I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me. In my prayer, I also asked God to ensure that I just continue to trust myself and my clinical judgement as I took the exam because I can be a notorious second guesser! One thing I also did to declare that victory would be mine is that I took a video of myself before I left my house proclaiming that I would walk out of the exam as a new clinician and that all my hard work and dedication was going to pay off. Self-talk and recording myself has been something I’ve implemented every first day of grad school, so I said, why not do the same on my first day of unofficially becoming an OTR that I believe I will become?

Before I started my exam, I wrote down Irene the OTR and Jesus got me! at the top of my scratch paper to refer back to when I started to become tired or anxious. Like with any exam, there were questions that I felt certain about, and then there were questions I had no idea how to approach. Because I was losing steam, I started to second-guess myself toward the end of the exam, which made me a bit worried and distracted. However, I centered myself by referring to the top of my scratch paper again and taking a few deep, calming breaths to continue the stamina and pace I established. I finished with 10 minutes to spare, attempted to review my flagged questions, reviewed the first 5 flagged questions, changed one answer, and then decided that I was done and what I didn’t know then I still wouldn’t know now.

When I walked out of my exam, I went into my car, and of course, started to cry because I could finally let out all of the pent up emotion and stress that I had buried all these weeks to stay focused (I know, I am supposed to be in touch with my emotions but I personally had to compartmentalize my emotions to grind better). The cry felt so nice to release, yall. 50% of it was that I felt that the test could have gone either really well or really horribly (I had no idea how to feel about my performance), and 50% of it was pure relief that I was actually done and never had to do that again (hopefully). I was surrounded by such comfort and support from my loved ones afterward, which made me feel a lot better as the days went on.

The waiting game was definitely not fun, friends. 9 days of waiting around for a score is hard! Pro tip for future NBCOT test takers – take your exam as close to the scoring deadline as possible for your own peace of mind. The more days that passed, the less confident I felt with my performance and started thinking about all of the worse case scenarios. I started to ruminate on all the potential wrong answers instead of thinking about all the answers that I did know. Overall, I think I did pretty well with distracting myself post-NBCOT while waiting. It all worked out at the end because I got my desired results, thank God!

The biggest lesson that I learned about prepping and taking this exam is that it is all about mindset. The mind can be the biggest enemy and threat to your success because the way it will have you thinking self-limiting thoughts and beliefs and then manifest into worry, anxiety, etc. is really wild! Mental health is SO important, and I can admittedly say that sometimes I ignored it for the sake of raking in another hour of “content” that ended up just going out the other ear anyway. I also feel like prepping and taking the NBCOT exam was a true reflection of literally leaving it in God’s hand and trusting Him to lead the way (which He always comes through!) So remembering that God is with me even through difficult times was very comforting for me, which I really believe contributed greatly to the success of my NBCOT experience.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading! I had a lot to say, clearly, because I just wanna remind future NBCOT test takers that the key to success is to trust yourself! You do know a LOT more than you do, and your clinical judgement is there because you completed an entire grad program and graduated, right? And if you do need to take the exam again, it is not an indication of how smart you are or of the type of clinician that you will be. Regardless of how many times you take the exam, you WILL be a great clinician! I did get lucky and passed on my first attempt, but through even the experience of failing what I thought was the most important practice test 5 days before my real exam, I did not let that define my capabilities and undermine all the work and effort I put into prepping for my test. Practice occupational balance during your studies! Find something that is meaningful to you and stick to it, whether that is exercising, praying, talking with loved ones, drawing, or even watching TV (Love Island USA was my jam for rest breaks and my evenings off, lol). The NBCOT is hard for so many different reasons, BUT it can be done with the right tools, the right mindset, and the continuous self-reflection and confidence in yourself. Good luck to the future OTRs out there!

Peace and love,

Irene

Posted on in graduate school, occupational therapy

Dr. Kwangaba, 100% Fully Loaded! OT School—Complete!

Hello, Renrenspeakers! I hope all is well! WOW, it has been such an eventful, accomplished month thus far. I am proud to announce that I have successfully completed my grad school journey. Allow me to reintroduce myself—Dr. Irene Kwangaba, the founder of Renrenspeaks, is here! I added new credentials to my name as of last Friday (OTD) because I am now a Doctor of Occupational Therapy, whoohoo!

So, how am I feeling about achieving this milestone in my life? The amount of excitement and gratitude that I have right now is unmatched. I was able to proudly cross off Graduate from OT School from my vision board the other day. My lovely family was in town to celebrate with me. They all witnessed me walk across the stage, receive my diploma, and get hooded. I felt an outpouring of support, love, and blessings from everyone who has directly and indirectly been following my grad school journey these past three years. I received screenshots and live updates of my commencement ceremony from my loved ones who could not physically be present with me, making it feel like a whole live event! The text messages, posts, phone calls, and gifts made this day even more special. Knowing that I set out a goal for myself since college, and then actually accomplishing it was so incredible. All glory be to God!

To me, having this degree is a testament to the dreams and values that my parents instilled in me. Yes, pursuing higher education is wonderful and all, but truly this opens doors for me to connect with all kinds of people and become the best therapist that I can be. It allows me to network with a diverse community of people using my newfound leadership skills and therapeutic use of self so that I can improve the lives of my future clients. I felt that my educational experience was even more enriched by the capstone process. I am forever grateful for the unique, authentic connections that I created through my capstone and will continue to nurture through the next stages of my life. I am also so happy to be a Congolese-American, Black OT breaking barriers and stigmas that we cannot achieve higher education successfully. Of course, the demographics will always illustrate that I am a minority in the profession. However, I hope to inspire future Black OTs and show them that we too can do it, and our place in the field is incredibly valuable and necessary.

With all that being said, I also cannot lie, friends—I don’t think it has really sunk in that I graduated to be quite honest. I am giving myself at least a one-week break to just BE and exist, which I truly deserve.

Now you are probably going to ask… what is next for me? In terms of the blog: Now that I am done with school, I hope to create more time to consistently catch up with yall and update you with other things happening in my life. There is a lot more to me than OT, friendly reminder! In terms of my next move in the world of OT: Well, even though I obtained my degree, I am not quite a working occupational therapist just yet. My next feat will be to study for my national board exam AND pass it (because I refuse to take it more than once), and then become licensed. Then I can add OTR/L to my email signature to make the OTD part more prominent and less lonely, lol. So, I still have quite the journey to go before I can start officially working. However, based on how quickly grad school flew by (for the most part), I know that it is only a matter of time before I step into this new era in my life—my career girlie era!

Thank you all so much for your endless love and support throughout this journey with me. Thank you to all my family, friends, mentors, peers, professors, and followers for always believing in me and rooting for me. Renrenspeakers, you all have had the inside scoop on my journey and life reflections this whole time. It is so cool to see how full circle this moment has become.

To wrap up my reflection, I have learned two major aspects about myself during grad school that I would like to share with yall. 1) I can do hard things, and 2) I have a lot to offer to this world (even when I don’t think I do). I hope that for future OT/grad school babes, these two gems ground and resonate with you and that you too can also receive this revelation during varying stages of your lives.

Peace and love,

Irene

Posted on in graduate school, occupational therapy

Graduation Season is HERE –Dr. Kwangaba, 95%(ish) Loaded!

Hello Renrenspeakers! Happy Saturday! How is everyone doing? It has definitely been a while since I’ve stopped by the blog. Let me tell yall, it has been a rollercoaster of a month. Why, you may ask? Because….. GRADUATION SZN IS UPON US! That is right, friends! I am graduating in TWO WEEKS (actually, 13 days to be exact). Hence, the 95%-ish fully loaded lol. I cannot believe how time has flownnnn by. I feel like I started grad school not too long ago, but I also feel like I have been here forever.

I am feeling alllllll kinds of emotions about graduating, to be honest! I am mostly excited because I finally get to shift into a new era of my life where I start my career and do what I have felt called to do for so long now. I am finally gonna shed the student identity forever and collect that bag! 😉 However, it is also so nerve-wracking because I have never done this career thing before! This will be my first big-girl job where I do not have to come back home and study for hours on end through a student lens. What am I going to do with my time outside of work? I guess I have the opportunity to tap back into my passions, which will be nice. I have a rough outline of the next steps after graduation, but I really don’t know when I will get all of the other pending requirements completed so that I can launch into my career girl era. There is not a clear answer for anything, which is hard to digest as a Type A girlie. It really is all in God’s hands. Any advice from new grads who faced my position just recently is so welcomed right about now!

Beyond being excited and nervous, I am really just so proud of myself. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I cannot believe that I did something as rigorous as grad school and completed it all in one piece (mostly, lol). I feel that I have had a shift in mindset, and I can witness the professional and personal growth that has taken place within me throughout these years. Being able to give back to the community through an OT lens has been fruitful, and I am sometimes think to myself, I really do kinda know what I am talking about, lol! I thoroughly enjoyed my capstone experience, for example, and I made so many beautiful growing and lasting connections through this experience. I FINALLY finished my capstone paper that I have been working on since my second year — it is submitted and out of the forefront of my mind! I don’t even want to tell yall how many total pages my paper is lol. I also completed my capstone presentation, and I am nearly done with my capstone poster. If yall are interested in learning more about my capstone project, you can watch my video presentation here.

Stay tuned for graduation content coming your way! I did some fun graduation pictures recently, which will drop on the ‘gram soon, so be on the lookout! I am beyond thankful for everyone who has supported me along the way. I literally could not have done it without the many influential, talented, and amazing wealth of support around me. This blog has also been such an archive of all of my greatest, lowest, challenging, and blessed moments in school. I am going to throw it back really quickly to my first blog post as a grad school here. Renrenspeaks.com has come a long way, and she is ever-evolving, just like I am.

Cheers to graduation season, and the next time you hear from me, I most likely will officially be Dr. Kwangaba, 100% FULLY LOADED!

Peace and love,

Irene

Posted on in graduate school, occupational therapy

Happy January – Stepping into my Late 20s and Last Semester of Grad School EVER!

Hello, Renrenspeakers! Happy Friday, Happy January, and Happy New Year! I hope all is well! Life so far has been treating me well overall, as with a new year comes a reset in values, mindset, ambition, and goals. I recently entered my LATE 20s – can yall believe that? Because I cannot! I still feel like a teenager sometimes, lol. My birthday was last week, and I had such a blessed time celebrating it with my loved ones and my family away from home here in AZ. I feel like I need to normalize celebrating ME more often, not just on my birthday, because I deserve it!

In addition to my birthday, I am excited to announce that I officially stepped into my LAST semester of graduate school EVER! Now can YALL believe that??? I feel like I have been in school forever, yet time has also flown by. It has been an interesting dichotomy. To conclude my final semester of graduate school, I have embarked on my doctoral capstone project. This experience thus far has been so rewarding and enriching. Upon entering grad school, one of the reasons why I was swayed to pursue a doctorate instead of a masters degree in occupational therapy was because I wanted to cultivate a unique project that augments occupational therapy in a non-traditional setting – working with immigrants and/or refugees, specifically, as many of yall know my proximity to this population. I didn’t know how it would be made possible, but it finally has come together full circle after three years of cultivating this goal. I am currently working for a non-profit organization that specifically works with refugee and asylum-seeking families offering essential services for self-sufficiency such as stable housing, financial support, English classes, and communal support. With the partnership of my organization I have been paired with for the next few months, I have been able to create a project that head spears a life skills program teaching various life skills deemed essential for enhancing self-sufficiency and easing adaptation to the U.S. I will be working with a small group of newly arrived Afghan women, and my program will be a hybrid of “in-class” sessions and community outings practicing these newfound skills to use in the community. It hasn’t been an easy journey getting to where I am now, I will say. LOTS of time reading literature, justifying the need for OT in this emerging practice area, coordinating participants, etc. has been spent, and I bet it will still change as I continue my process. However, through this experience, I have learned that being a self-starter and being my own boss is empowering, and I can actually make a positive difference in a community if I set my mind to it.  

I just finished my second week of my capstone so far. Some highlights of my time spent include the following:

  1. Practicing my (note: very broken and limited) French and Swahili skills with a Congolese woman attending English classes and witnessing her immediate comfortability with me.
  2. Conducting home visits and getting to know each participant in a very personalized way by learning more about their typical day upon arrival and being immersed in their culture.
  3. Having a traditional Afghan meal during one of my home visits as a way of welcoming me into their home.
  4. Meeting and working closely with my translator who is my right-hand woman and who has been a tremendous help to the success of my developing program.
  5. Being considered part of the team by being invited to an empowering staff meeting and justifying my role as an OTD student at the site I am interning at.

Overall, this has been such a culturally enriching experience so far, and I am excited to be a part of a community where I not only implement my program, but reciprocally learn a ton from the population that I am working with! I think a passion project is the perfect way to re-awaken my passion for OT and wrap up my graduate schooling (because I’m not gonna lie, sometimes that passion was waning during the consistent studying grind I had to endure for long hours on end the first two years). Stay tuned for the progression of my capstone project!

Peace and love,

Irene

Posted on in graduate school, occupational therapy

Inpatient Rehab is the Jam – Fieldwork Wrap-Up Reflection  

Hello Renrenspeakers,

Happy December! It is already the end of the month and close to the end of the year, I can’t believe it! How is everyone’s December going thus far? As for me, it is going well! I just completed my second level II fieldwork at an inpatient rehabilitation facility here in Arizona, which also marks the end of another semester of grad school. I have ONE more semester to go and then I graduate – finally! I know that I initially updated yall on my fieldwork experience after my first week, but I have not been consistent (sorry). Therefore, I have SO much to delve into that I am going to sum up as concisely as I can.

The past 12 weeks have been such a learning curve in which I was challenged physically and mentally every day. Overall, my experience was a very pleasant one. I met so many individuals across the lifespan with various conditions, personalities, diagnoses, and life histories. Some highlights of my time being there include a patient’s wife who said she wanted to adopt me LOL, me being mistaken for a 19 year old several times, breaking through to more difficult patients behavior-wise, and overall affirmations from patients regarding my care. At this site, I learned so much about the importance of collaboration among all health professionals – OTs, COTAs, PTs, SLPs, nurses, case managers, rehab doctors, and RTs. Everyone was so willing to assist me regardless of their discipline, and I often felt like I was a part of the therapy team, as staff members asked about my clinical impressions to further confirm their treatment ideas or documentation. Quick side note – shoutout to my clinical instructor for teaching me all that I need to know and for being such a sweet soul! Though I often felt like I did not know what the heck I was doing, reflecting on how treatment sessions went afterward and witnessing patients beam about their newfound independence to don their own socks, reach down to pick an item off the floor without losing their balance or stability, or even receiving a green band were all wins that the patient and I were able to celebrate. The more knowledge and experience I gained each week, the more I was able to step out of my comfort zone and try novel ideas. If they failed (which def happened), I managed to be okay with it because I ended up learning way more from those not-so-fun experiences than if everything was perfect all of the time. Though thank God they were few, I did have some instances when a patient was maybe not the easiest to work with. It would be easy to think that it was a reflection of me, but these not so pleasant instances helped me to view the patient holistically and be more sympathetic to their current condition, life circumstances, coping mechanisms, and support systems that they may or may not have in place.

Every patient, though may have had similar diagnoses, presented very differently. It was very nice to know that over time, I was able to separate the diagnosis from the patient and view the patient as a whole. I guess that is where our famous OT theoretical frameworks come in handy. Several patients taught me the KISS acronym which also helped me regroup when it came to treatment ideas. KISS – keep it simple, stupid. Sometimes, I felt like if was not doing something super creative and innovative, my sessions were not effective. However, I had to remind myself that starting from the basics is okay! Working on what the patient NEEDS in that immediate circumstance rather than fluffing it up with distractors can sometimes be the most powerful form of therapy that will lead the patient to increased independence and function. I loved seeing the progression of care from evaluation to discharge, and observing the resilience, motivation, and improvement my patients developed during their stay. OT is truly a collaborative effort, and it is very cool to be a part of a process that feels rewarding and benefits the patient’s overall well-being.

The intense, fast-paced nature of this setting overall made me feel very accomplished, as I was initially very intimidated by the sharp learning curve. There is still a plethora of things that I need to learn and am excited to build my skills in. The beauty of this profession is that I am a life-long learner. With more experience, I learn more about the essence of people, the barriers they experience, and the tools to advocate for their care. I am blessed to have met so many people from all walks of life, and I learned so much from each patient I encountered. This setting definitely confirmed that I would like to begin my OT career in a setting similar to this one to continue building my clinical skills and reasoning in a medically-complex, challenging, and fast-paced environment.

Thanks all for tuning into the blog today! And shout out to all those who have supported me and listened to my rants, thoughts, and reflections on my clinical rotations throughout these three months. Stay tuned for more content coming your way!

Peace and love,

Irene

Posted on in graduate school, occupational therapy

Back At It Again With Fieldwork: First Week Wrap Up!

Hello Renrenspeakers! I hope that all is well! How are yall doing? Happy official start of FALL! The weather here in AZ is finally about 95-100 degrees, which is basically equivalent to a 70 degree day in San Diego 😉 I have had a BUSY month of September, let me tell you! Every week has been jam-packed with fun and entertainment. I went back home to San Diego over the Labor Day weekend to visit my family, and then I went on a roomie trip/staycation the following week, and THEN my bestie came to visit me for a few days and we did a 24-hour staycation/day trip to Sedona the following weekend. During this time, I was wrapping up getting IRB approval for my capstone project implementation starting in January, completing my two classes, and compiling my final capstone paper while prepping for my clinical rotations. It has been a whirlwind of a month, and I cannot believe how fast it went by!

One important update about my busy life is that I am back to working full time (for free LOL) doing my second clinical rotation required of me to graduate from OT school. Also side note yall – I am finally graduating NEXT YEAR can you believe that I have 9 months left of school, yahoo! Anyway, I have left the world of pediatrics and entered the world of adults. I am currently placed in an inpatient rehabilitation setting, so I am doing my internship at a rehab hospital. I have officially completed one week of fieldwork in my new setting, and let me tell you, it is SO different than my first rotation. So far, I am really liking and enjoying my new rotation. Of course, getting familiarized with a new facility is always an adjustment. My new uniform consists of solely black scrubs instead of colorful shirts. My voice and tone changed a ton to accommodate my new population, which has mostly been the geriatric population from what I have witnessed thus far week. Though I have been there for one week only, I feel like I have already learned a TON of information. I have seen a variety of conditions, injuries, disabilities, and illnesses ranging from strokes, amputations, knee replacements, fractures, Parkinsons, and spinal cord injuries and surguries. No two patients have presented the same. Each patient has their own story about how they entered the facility. The things that I have observed my clinical instructor teach her patients thus far are things that I take for granted daily such as getting into my bed, transferring onto a toilet, showering, or dressing myself. These activities of daily living (ADLs) are a no-brainer for me to do, but for all of my patients, it can be so difficult to achieve these ADLs because they need extra time, an extra boost from another person, or need adaptive equipment to achieve these ADLs with ease and efficiency. I love that so far, most of what I have seen has been taught to me at one point during my didactic years. So shout out to my school for preparing me well enough to take on this new challenge for 12 weeks. I take comfort in being pretty familiar with OT in an inpatient rehab setting and that it is not a completely foreign territory so far. I am also gonna shout out the Palomar Pathmaker Internship that I did prior to starting grad school because I was also at an inpatient rehab facility doing shadowing hours, and I have seen a lot of overlap between that hospital and the place that I am currently at.

Documentation is always going to be an adjustment and a learning curve, and honestly the least fun part about OT. My favorite thing thus far has been helping patients achieve as much independence and function as they can or return back to. The amount of patients that have told me that they finally feel human again after our therapy session, whether it was learning how to use adaptive equipment for showering, dressing, etc. or making large strides in their recovery has been so heartwarming and reinvigorating. These patients have endured so many hardships, so the power of respectable care goes a LONG way in this setting. My patients have had incredible journeys that they have overcome in a short time. They have experienced a life that I have not, and I greatly admire their resilience under difficult circumstances.

Going into this fieldwork rotation, I feel like my energy and attitude this time around is different. I do not feel quite as scared and nervous as I did before, even though I can arguably say that this place is more physically demanding than my previous rotation. Of course, the nerves are there, but it seems easier to center myself back to confidence rather than spiral downhill (something that I struggle with at times, admittedly). I think grounding myself and gleaning on my inherent soft skills that were augmented in my previous rotation has helped a ton. My clinical instructor this week gave me an affirmation that made me reframe the way that I want to navigate this fieldwork. She said that I have my people skills down and not to worry because the clinical skills will come with time. Thus, even if I have a time when I am frozen and do not feel competent clinically, drawing on those soft skills with my patients I believe and hope will make all the difference in my sessions. Slowly, my education is coming full circle, and I am excited to see how I grow and learn as a professional after the end of my rotation and into my professional career later on. I thank God that I have been blessed with the opportunity to be a blessing to others in this field.

I will leave yall with one tip of advice that a patient told me on my second day. He first asked my CI and me about how much energy we spent on worrying per day. Of course, I know I personally exert a lot of energy toward worrying, but I couldn’t provide a measurable response. He said 98% of our energy goes to worrying, which was a shockingly super high number. Then, he said that one way to stop worrying is to verbalize the word STOP every time we have an intrusive, worried thought. He said we might look ridiculous constantly saying STOP out loud, but after 2 weeks of this practice, we would have more control over our thoughts to mentally stop worrying thoughts. According to him, from this practice, we can eventually train our brains to say STOP and release the concept of worry because worry does nothing for us but stresses us out. This was very fitting to hear my first week of this rotation especially because as a new student, there is always a need and tendency for us to be stressed, be a perfectionist, and to not fail at all. Though failing is not fun, it is through failure that I have learned the most and remember it for future application. My patient was very insightful and definitely dropped a gem I needed to hear. It is harder said than done, but if my patient can be as worry-free as possible despite his seemingly difficult condition, then I can also try to implement this practice into my daily life.

Overall, my first week in inpatient rehab has been a very pleasant and positive experience. I am excited to continue absorbing information like a sponge and to eventually start applying it to my own caseload I will start to adopt. Thanks yall for tuning into the blog! And remember, if yall are worried about anything, try implementing the STOP strategy. I will let you know how effective it was for me in 2 weeks 😉

Peace and love,

Irene  

Posted on in graduate school, occupational therapy

What To Do With All This TIME! 

Hello, Renrenspeakers! Happy July! I just started my first week of my LAST YEAR of grad school, can yall believe that? It feels like I have been in school forever, but it also feels like it went by so quickly. The start of this semester has been so different compared to the previous two years. I have been doing a TON of reflecting this past week because I finally have… time! As a grad student, I’ve learned that time is so precious and time management needs to be on point. Throughout my schooling, I can pinpoint specific times where I told myself that I did not have time to do X, Y, Z. But now that I have transitioned to my last year of school, I have found myself with ample time to actually do things that I wrote down as goals in my Passion Planner at the beginning of the year such as exercise frequently, eat healthier, stretch, read, etc. To have time to breathe and not feel pressed for time has been so wonderful.

This first week has been such a relaxing one for me, as it has given me an opportunity to catch up on literally just existing and tapping into self-development. With the help of my Passion Planner and prayer, I’ve started off my day positively soaking in the natural sunlight radiating in my room (though it sucks because I cannot go outside because it is actually 115 degrees daily). I started incorporating oil pulling into my morning routine and committing to an 8-minute Good Morning Pilates stretch to promote flexibility throughout my body. Something that I have been really wanting to get back to is exercise. I used to be very consistent with moving my body regularly prior to school, but I fell off and realized that I had a rather unhealthy, unrealistic view on exercise in school. However, movement is powerful enough, and one of the easiest, low-demanding forms of exercise any of us can do is engage in walking if you do have the physical ability to do so. I started power walking on my treadmill, and listening to podcasts about wellness emphasize that walking fuels creativity and increases energy to do other things. Ideally, it would be nice to powerwalk outside, but hey, that’s Arizona heat for ya. Come September, you’ll definitely catch me outside. But wow, the power of walking has made me feel so lively, energized, and motivated. It really is a mood changer, especially with the stress of grad school. Thus, I am loving this new routine I am developing and hope to keep up with it! I ended my week with dressing up and watching the Barbie movie on Barbie day yesterday. It was such an entertaining movie – most definitely not what I expected, but great nonetheless. 

As a grad student, I am plagued with the familiar feeling of not being ‘productive enough’ because I only have two classes I am taking. However, having two classes is a good thing that is teaching me that it is totally okay to not always be on grind mode. Slowing down, enjoying being in the present, and having the time to be intentional with health and wellness has elevated my overall well-being, as I am already seeing the effects of establishing a healthy routine. School is unpredictable as always, but for these 10 weeks at least, I am going to soak up every moment of time that I have to finally engage in the things that I’ve intentionally or unintentionally eliminated in my life that are important to me. Cheers to having more time! 

Peace and love,

Irene  

Posted on in graduate school, occupational therapy

Second Year of Grad School Complete! Dr. Kwangaba, 66% loaded! Reflections on 1st Fieldwork Experience

Hello, Renrenspeakers! It has been a minute since I have updated you all on my life’s endeavors and adventures! How are you all doing? As for me, I am now concluding my first week of summer vacation. I finished my first three-month clinical rotation, which we call ‘fieldwork’ in occupational therapy school. What a positive experience it was! I did come into OT school thinking I would be a pediatric therapist, and though that narrowed vision of mine has somewhat changed over time, working with children and seeing how fun and excited they were to also work with me, Ms. Irene, was so rewarding!

I learned so much about myself through this fieldwork experience. Of course, I had my challenges such as being overwhelmed by documentation and managing my time wisely. I would say those two aspects were the hardest things for me that I had to juggle because it was a completely different learning curve that I had to quickly acclimate to. As a writer, I was tempted to write down every detail that went on in the sessions that I led. Realistically, being given about 10 minutes to write my notes and trying to do a pretty narrative is not a feasible option. I had to learn how to document using the SMART method, and it was something that just took mere repetition. Time is also something that we often take for granted that had to always be on my side to be efficient with my day. Every minute always seemed to fly by. So, shoutout to my Apple Watch because if it wasn’t for that thing, I would have been so behind.

I think my favorite moment from this rotation was the children that I was blessed to have interacted with, work with, and seen progress in over time, even if they were small wins. To see my clients be able to improve their motor planning and attention to tasks to improve their life skills such as washing dishes or folding laundry, or improve their bilateral and visual-motor skills for independent leisure skills with arts and crafts via handling and using scissors properly was very rewarding and motivated me to just be a better therapist to help even more of my clients. To think that I helped contribute to this change over time in their performance and helped increase their independence reigns true to the core of occupational therapy.

I always thought that I was somewhat creative, but boy, you have to be SO creative in pediatric OT. I will say, kids get bored so quickly and they notice way more than you might think, so creativity has to be on 10 100% of the time. My iPad came in handy (shoutout Goodnotes!) for finding different ways to make various arts and crafts or other materials that could support my clients’ goals in a fun and interesting manner. What I found really cool is that if I did an arts and crafts activity, for instance, I could address so many performance skills such as bilateral hand use, visual-motor, fine motor, and attention to task, just to name a few. Even everyday games such as Candyland could facilitate turn-taking, following directions, and other essential social skills, all skills that again, seem so intuitive to the average person. However, I witnessed how crucial these skills are for this population to obtain to build friendships, interact with others appropriately and positively, and overall be as independent as they can be.

I think that the biggest takeaway from my placement is that there is never going to be a direct right answer to challenges I may come across and that I do have the skills and demeanor that it takes to be a great occupational therapist. As a student, imposter syndrome is so real. There were so many times that I felt very stressed, unsure about myself, and felt like I was merely not being effective. And yes, there were so many times I literally did not feel like I knew what I was doing, I cannot invalidate that. However, the number of affirmations and compliments that I received from my community at my placement helped build my confidence as an emerging occupational therapist. I learned to put myself out there even if it was uncomfortable so that I can grow and not be stagnant in my learning experience. I also had to consistently remember that at one point, every therapist I worked alongside was in my shoes and that they also were a novice, feeling the same imposter syndrome and lack of confidence at one point in their early career. To me, it is totally OKAY to feel like an imposter and to acknowledge these feelings, as they will help me work toward unpacking this feeling and getting the support I need to tap into my own potential. Overall, I really am so glad that I was able to do my first Level 2 at an outpatient peds clinic. The support that I had along the way did not go unnoticed, and it helped me be less Type A about results and outcomes and to trust and enjoy the journey I embarked on.

All this to say, I definitely have a heart for the pediatric population. I still am an open book and am excited to learn more about other populations I will soon encounter in my next rotation. Establishing positive relationships with clients that will forever be a part of my grad school experience at this specific site was the perfect way to end my first rotation and conclude my second year of grad school.

Thank you all for reading my reflections and for your unwavering support as always. Dr. Kwangaba is officially 66% loaded!

Peace and love,

Irene