Backed by decades of experience producing exceptional clinical outcomes, Kintinu Telerehab connects recovery to everyday life. In this podcast, we explore hot topics in rehabilitation, the keys to personal growth and recovery, and how to apply it all to the real-world.
In this episode of Kintinu’d Conversations, Brad Dexter sits down with Kelsey Wagner and Zoe Devney, who share their experiences and insights after completing their first year in the workforce. Whether you're a fellow SLP or just curious about the challenges and successes these professionals face, this episode is for you!
We'll explore everything from the supportive workplace culture to combating imposter syndrome and the importance of building relationships with mentors and supervisors. Kelsey and Zoe offer invaluable advice for new grads on strategies to make a smooth transition into the workforce. But don't worry, it's not all work talk – we also discuss our go-to karaoke songs, favorite coffee shops, and unique coffee brewing methods.
So settle in for an engaging and informative conversation with Kelsey and Zoe. You'll gain a new appreciation for the world of speech language pathology and maybe even pick up some tips for your own career journey. Don't miss this insightful and lighthearted episode of Kintinu'd Conversations!
Listen to the episode on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, and Buzzsprout, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Backed by decades of experience producing exceptional clinical outcomes, Kintinu Telerehab connects recovery to everyday life. In this podcast, we explore hot topics in rehabilitation, the keys to personal growth and recovery, and how to apply it all to the real-world.
In this episode of Kintinu’d Conversations, Brad Dexter sits down with Kelsey Wagner and Zoe Devney, who share their experiences and insights after completing their first year in the workforce. Whether you're a fellow SLP or just curious about the challenges and successes these professionals face, this episode is for you!
We'll explore everything from the supportive workplace culture to combating imposter syndrome and the importance of building relationships with mentors and supervisors. Kelsey and Zoe offer invaluable advice for new grads on strategies to make a smooth transition into the workforce. But don't worry, it's not all work talk – we also discuss our go-to karaoke songs, favorite coffee shops, and unique coffee brewing methods.
So settle in for an engaging and informative conversation with Kelsey and Zoe. You'll gain a new appreciation for the world of speech language pathology and maybe even pick up some tips for your own career journey. Don't miss this insightful and lighthearted episode of Kintinu'd Conversations!
Listen to the episode on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, and Buzzsprout, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Welcome to continued conversations where we explore hot topics and rehabilitation, the keys to personal growth and how to apply it all to the real world. All right, welcome back to the conversation. I think I've got a fun one here today for us. I have Kelsey Wagner and Zoe Devney in the studio with me. Each of these ladies have been out of school, so you both got your masters in speech language pathology Nailed it right, kelsey, don't get the language.
Speaker 1:Masters in speech language pathology about a year ago this month, as we're recording this podcast in May, and you guys both launched into the working world and have been working in the last year, and so we're going to hit on some of those things in today's podcast. But before we do, i have a couple of questions for you guys. So one if you were to go do karaoke, what would your go-to song be?
Speaker 2:I just did karaoke for the first time officially, like two weeks ago, and I did Don't Stop Believin' by. Journey And the DJ said you're going in with one of the hardest songs to sing, So I started off strong.
Speaker 3:And mine would be Shania Twain. Man, i Feel Like a Woman and I have gotten the microphone taken away from karaoke because I've gotten too hard on the song.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's kind of impressive. I just get really into it. I feel it.
Speaker 1:Wow, it's not pretty. Who's the guy? I can't even come up with the artist, but he sings the song Happy. Pharrell Williams Oh yeah, i would do that one.
Speaker 2:I can definitely see that You could see that.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Great.
Speaker 2:Go for it right now.
Speaker 1:Ooh you know what? Do you guys listen to Ben Rector at all? Mm-hmm, Okay, Living my best life listening to that song.
Speaker 2:Sounds familiar.
Speaker 3:Yeah that was like my theme song last year. Side story, brad. one time during team meeting that was one of our opening questions is what song would you characterize your life as right now? And Brad said does everyone know Ben Rector? And then you said that song too.
Speaker 1:So I'm consistent, Is that?
Speaker 3:what you're saying. Yeah, you're consistent person.
Speaker 1:All right, warm-up. Question number two for you guys. I currently have a cup of coffee. It is cold coffee. It is not cold brew coffee. It is not iced coffee, it is cold coffee.
Speaker 3:Like it was warm this morning but you forgot to finish.
Speaker 1:No, like I just value having a cup of coffee in my hand when we have these conversations. And it was cold in the cantina where I got it from, so I'm drinking it straight black cold. How do you guys like your coffee? What's your go-to coffee?
Speaker 3:I'm a coffee connoisseur. I love coffee In the winter. I like it warm, just straight up. Black coffee Kind of get me started in the morning. In the summer I get a little crazy. I do the syrups. There's a coffee shop right by my apartment and they do like a cinnamon maple syrup Amazing. And then I just do that. Iced black coffee Can't get any better than that.
Speaker 1:Zoe.
Speaker 2:Mine is currently sitting on the floor over there. I thought I was going to get yelled at for having to appear with all the equipment, but I think iced coffee is definitely my go to.
Speaker 1:There's still potential for that, by the way, there is.
Speaker 2:Definitely sweet, though I have tried to do the black coffee thing. I thought it would be super cool, couldn't do it, couldn't do it. It's too bitter for me. So definitely iced coffee. Sweet all the way.
Speaker 3:Do you do? have you tried black coffee flavored Like the beans are flavored?
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 3:That is the game changer.
Speaker 2:What's the best coffee flavor?
Speaker 3:I just like a French vanilla or hazelnut. If I'm getting really crazy like a Starbucks, what's the one? It's not Cinnabon, Something along the lines of cinnamon.
Speaker 1:No idea, but I mean you were currently healing from Minneapolis, right? So this may not be a good recommendation for you, but, zoe, you're in Omaha This is true Hill of Beans coffee. So they're a coffee roaster. There's so many different flavors of beans right, they just put oils on the beans And there's seasonal flavors that come along. I mean you can get like turtle flavored, caramel flavored. Where?
Speaker 2:is that.
Speaker 1:Peppermint 144th and center. Yeah, just kind of in the strip mall right over there. Super good, i'm pretty sure that their beans are used at roasts.
Speaker 3:I was going to say I've heard Hill of Beans and I think it is from roast. That's, the Hill of Beans is right by Dave and Buster's, isn't it?
Speaker 1:And that little strip mall. Nope, different strip mall Yeah.
Speaker 3:Got Dave and Buster's on my mind.
Speaker 1:And since we're on the topic of coffee, i have started doing when it's warm outside, i've started doing I use a Chemex to brew coffee. Do you guys know what a Chemex is? It's basically like a large flask and you use a filter, coffee grounds so it's pour over, right. But when it gets warm out and we want iced coffee, generally the cold brew process, like you have to let it sit for 24 to 48 hours and soak. But there's like a Japanese flash freeze method that you can use with the Chemex. So you just fill the Chemex with ice and then you go through kind of your normal process where you use more coffee grind than you typically would for a hot brew And you pour your hot water over the coffee grounds and it goes straight over the ice. So when you get done it's actually a cold brew and then you just it's a little stronger so you can do everything you typically would.
Speaker 2:But there you go. I'm intrigued.
Speaker 1:I like that. This is like far too much coffee than most people probably care to listen about. Maybe I'm wrong, i don't know. Coffee is a big deal, but that's not the reason we're having a conversation today. It's the time of the year where people are graduating from their programs, entering into the workforce, and I just always I find it helpful to hear from people that are ahead of me in life, and you guys are maybe ahead of some other people who are kind of going through that process right now, and I thought it'd be fun just to have a conversation about what was it like, kind of jumping into the real world. What's your first year been like? And so I have some questions for you guys along the way. But just to start off, maybe can you each talk about where are you currently working And where did you graduate from with your master's in speech language pathology, zoe?
Speaker 2:Okay, i'll start. Yeah, so at QLI in person. it is a big distinction around here. I started off as the SLP for House Five, which turned into House One, and then now there's a new Zoe and that's a speech language pathologist, so we like to keep it confusing around here. who took over House One? And I have been kind of in all of the different houses at this point just working with different residents and trying to start the Ephagia program here. So that has been an adventure and a half on top of everything else. It's funny Kelsey and I actually went to undergrad together at University of Nebraska, omaha, and then I went to University of Kansas for grad school. So I was in Kansas City for a couple years and lived. I lived in Kansas City, the program was in Kansas City and Lawrence, kansas, so got to experience kind of best of both worlds and then moved here shortly after I graduated and started work.
Speaker 3:Love it. I love consistency. So did undergrad at University of Nebraska, omaha, and did grad school at University of Nebraska, omaha. It was great, wanted to stick around for a little longer. I would say that, yeah, i love to share that Zoe and I always go to grad or went to grad school together because fun fact. But I work for Continue. So the virtual extension of QLI and I currently live in Minneapolis, minnesota.
Speaker 1:You got away from Omaha.
Speaker 3:I got away from Omaha and I went towards the cold. I don't know why.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know either.
Speaker 2:Went the wrong way, i went the wrong way.
Speaker 1:Most people go south. You went north, that's right. Minneapolis is cool.
Speaker 3:I love it. It's fun. There's an activity to do in all the seasons and the data. Winter, you will see people riding their bikes down the street or ice skating or skiing, whatever, and then same thing in the summer. Nothing stops the people out there. That's cool.
Speaker 1:So as part of your master's program for speech and language pathology, you guys typically do a clinical fellowship of some kind. How long is that? Does that vary school to school, or is it pretty standardized?
Speaker 2:Like while we're in grad school.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:So a KU's program was a little bit different. I had eight week long courses and then all of my externships were eight weeks as well, so I ended up extending one of them to 10 weeks. But other than that, i think UNO is a little bit different.
Speaker 1:So you would bounce around to different settings over those eight week instance. Gotcha.
Speaker 3:And for UNO the program usually runs at. You can do it by a two year track or two and a half year track And the first year you're in your coursework And then your second year is your clinical fieldwork. So they split up the year by doing an educational externship and a medical externship And then after that, after you graduate, that's when you go into your clinical fellowship year. So your first year out in the field you had the supervisor with you, your entire externship, and they just let you loose. They say, figure it out during this clinical fellowship year. Pretty much yeah.
Speaker 1:So that happens and it probably prepares you well, at least, to jump into the workforce right Wherever you go. Can you guys, can you, talk about that transition from finishing up your externships, clinical fellowships, graduating and then jumping into full-time job?
Speaker 2:I'll start So yeah, so I think KU's grad program's a little bit different than a lot of other grad programs around the US. I got to choose kind of the different coursework that I did, and then also I didn't technically have to do an academic placement for externship like a lot of other schools do. So I ended up choosing two adult medical placements. One of them was outpatient and then the other was acute care, so got to see a wide variety of patients, clients, which I think prepared me well. It was definitely interesting. You have all of this supervision for a really long time and then you graduate.
Speaker 2:I spent my time between graduation and starting work. I was pretty much packing up my apartment in Kansas City and moving back here to Omaha and getting settled and then started work the next week. But I think QLI is such a special place in that there's an orientation process here that I think really sets you up very nicely, doesn't necessarily throw you into the deep end right away. It kind of eases you in a little bit more than a lot of other places. And then, like Kelsey mentioned, with the clinical fellowship year you technically have a direct supervisor still. So it was nice to feel supported in that way, it's definitely an adjustment, though I would say.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely. I think the big difference between your externship year when you're still in the program, you haven't graduated your master's degree is you have that person, that supervisor, with you wherever you are. So in the medical externship I was at a hospital here a cute hospital, and I worked majorly in the ICU and that person's with you side by side that entire time. You're processing with them, you're figuring out things, you're collaborating really closely. And then your clinical fellowship year you have the support of a supervisor and you have those check-ins, but a lot of that day-to-day processing you have to figure out. And then you have to distinguish what do I need support with for my supervisor, or what can I figure out on my own and how did my externship prepare me for this, to figure it out before going to my supervisor. So I think that transition between your externship year and your clinical fellowship year is a big jump because you don't have I like to say you don't have that hand-holding. You kind of have that loose grip hand-holding. But yeah, big transition for sure.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. I remember and it's been a little while now, but I remember very clearly like feeling prepared to jump into the workforce and the way physical therapy works. At least We spent our entire third year pretty much doing those externships or clinicals as we called them, in different locations And so it felt like, hey, i have a really good baseline knowledge and I'm starting to figure out how to use that. But jumping into the workforce then I found QLI's new team member orientation process really helpful. It also helped that I had done one of my clinical rotations at QLI, so I kind of knew the culture, knew the people a little bit more that way too.
Speaker 1:But the thing that was harder as a new clinician was learning the job itself, like learning the place, learning the company, like trying to become more efficient. Like you just feel awkward, like you're struggling, like I mean like a little kid learning how to run or crawl or walk, like it's just kind of clumsy. So year one just feels a little clumsy. It doesn't mean that you don't know what you're doing or how to apply the information that you've learned, but it just feels clumsy. Can you guys talk about that as you've reflected on year one here?
Speaker 3:Yeah, i felt like a giraffe in high heels out of something Good visual. I completely agree. I think QLI and Continuo set you up and they make you feel that support right off the bat. I think, kind of taking away what you said to Brad is that first year when you don't have that side-by-side support, so to speak, you're finding your own rhythm as a clinician.
Speaker 3:You, i feel like at times during my externship year I would take on my supervisor's personality or how they ran things or how they did things, and when I was in my clinical fellowship year I kind of I started to become my own clinician and finding my own footwork And I really liked that because QLI provides you and Continuo provides you that space to do that and to learn along the way And I really liked that.
Speaker 3:But yeah, there's definitely some clumsiness. I mean, i was talking to someone on our team and they were like that's gonna be your first three years. It's gonna be an uphill battle. That's not just your first year, but you'll find your path and you'll find your rhythm and it will all make sense. And there'll be some times where you find yourself kind of stepping back and saying what's happening, but you'll get the gist of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, definitely. I don't think I have anything groundbreaking to add. I think it's just-.
Speaker 1:Draftin' high heels for you two.
Speaker 2:Exactly and just constantly reevaluating how I'm approaching things and the methods and who I'm talking with and whatnot.
Speaker 1:Did you anticipate that?
Speaker 2:Yes, to an extent.
Speaker 3:I would agree. I feel like at an extent I knew it's a new thing, it's a new transition, especially not only just starting a new job. I mean for Zoe starting a new job moving back to Omaha, and for me starting a new job and moving somewhere new.
Speaker 3:I feel like you were learning a lot about your job, but you're also learning about yourself and, as that, work-life balance and as an adult Like you really. My dad always said you're finally entering the adult years of your life, and I would laugh it off, but I was like, oh, you're totally right, so yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no kidding, And I mean navigating, like you said, adult life outside of work too. just having a paycheck for the first time, even managing money and finances, is a whole different ballgame.
Speaker 1:So we've, at least on the continue side, we've done some webinars and we've done podcasts and some other presentations on the nature of transitions. And just know, hey, at QLI we get people coming from other Rehab locations to QLI. There's a transition that happens there. And then we have people that are leaving QLI's program and they're transitioning back home into their own communities. There's a transition point there And generally there's some kind of dip that happens. There's this fluctuation point in those transitions where it feels like something maybe goes backwards a little bit just because there's chaos. There's chaos And structure and relationships can really help things stabilize and then start moving in that upward direction. I'm using both of my hands to draw out this graph. I can't just use one hand. So I'm curious, as you guys have faced some of those transitions here in the last year moving from school into new job or moving locations from Kansas to Omaha or from Omaha to Minneapolis. What's been hard? What's been hard about that? What have the chaos points been?
Speaker 2:I think a little bit of everything. That's kind of a catch-all, but I feel like just learning work-life balance and figuring out who fits in your life at this point. You have a lot of school graduation friends And they're all trying to figure out their jobs. It's how often can I reach out to them? Are they going to understand? Do you all work in different settings? And so I think it's just a lot of jumbling.
Speaker 3:Yeah, i think I mean speaking from our values, truth and transparency. I feel like one of the dips I had was my personal friendships and relationships. I was so overwhelmed with the work life and figuring out how to get into my rhythm and my groove that some of my personal friendships took a back burner. I didn't reach out as much. That kind of took a toll on some friendships, but also for me, because I moved to a different state and I needed those friendships to keep that connection.
Speaker 3:And then, once I started to find my rhythm, i was repairing those friendships. I realized I could have probably handled this a little bit better, but I figured it out along the way And I am where I am now And we're moving forward, upward and onward.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, Zoe, you moved back to a community that you're from right And Kelsey, you left a community that you're from and went somewhere completely new.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, okay. So another thing I'm curious about, just maybe from a transition or chaos aspect, is, again, i think you're trying to figure out one like do I actually know as much as I know or as much as I thought I knew in that first couple of years of working? to be honest with you, right, you're trying to take what you know and you're applying it to specific situations. So that's one thing. I think a common phrase that we hear is fake it until you make it. Nash, nash, mahupata, from around here, Nash has actually kind of flipped that a little bit and he says face it until you make it. You don't have to fake it. I mean, you can be honest about what you're experiencing, but you do need to press into that and you need to face it a little bit. Right, you guys have any experiences from year one where you've had to kind of face the difficulty or the struggle of just the newness of what you're experiencing.
Speaker 2:Every day.
Speaker 1:Every day.
Speaker 2:I mean imposter syndrome is real.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:You know, coming out of school and I don't know. I think everybody has the general nerves of starting a new job.
Speaker 1:Imposter syndrome is real, 12 years out of school.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, that's super encouraging.
Speaker 1:I'm still fighting against it. I'm serious Like keep battling that. Let people in be transparent because you don't have to know everything, that's, i'll stop talking. You keep talking.
Speaker 2:You're fine. I appreciate that input. Yeah, no, i think you know I've always been someone who's asked questions and I think that that's served me well, especially in this role And at this company is so welcoming of questions and encouraging, even, and I think you know, just being a part of the, you know, ASHA organization for speech language pathology, encouraging you to do continuing education, i think is just super important and being open to that, and I think QLI just has such a culture of support and you know you don't have to know everything. So it's nice coming fresh out of school straight into that and not having, you know, been primed by a different job where that's not necessarily the culture. So I've really appreciated that.
Speaker 3:Absolutely Yeah. I feel like our team and everyone at QLI makes it feel okay and it's not looked down upon. when you say, you know, i don't know that answer, but I'm going to figure it out or I'm going to ask the questions to figure it out. I think that that also shows the wanting to continue to learn and wanting to continue to understand what you don't know. And I would say, yes, the imposter syndrome is so real.
Speaker 3:I actually had someone tell me recently some strategies to help with that imposter syndrome, because I think you can get so in your head and downward spiral and you don't know where you're leading. But facing that imposter syndrome with asking yourself what's the evidence behind that, if you're thinking, gosh, i'm not a good clinician what's the evidence? Turns out, probably 100% of the time there's no evidence. that's your head talking, so you knock it off And I think that strategy has that self-talk and kind of figuring out has helped me. a lot is just when I'm feeling myself getting wrapped up and getting overwhelmed. what's the evidence? Why am I feeling this? Probably just because I'm overwhelmed and I'm not using my supports in the way that I should be.
Speaker 1:So I think I've heard this from both of you as you've been talking but something that's been important in this first year is just some of the relationships that you've built with other people, whether that's supervisors or mentors around or just other team members that you've connected with. I think that's something that's really valuable and really important to fight against imposter syndrome, to fight against, maybe, loneliness that you might face in the first year of work too. But can you guys just maybe talk real specifically about who've been some people that have been mentors or you've had strong professional relationships with in this first year that have helped you grow?
Speaker 3:Oh gosh the list. It's Santa's nice list. At this point I feel like just to name a couple Taylor Kirschke, steve Kirschke, brad Dexter, mel Anderson, jodi Polinsky.
Speaker 1:Dr Karen Hux Dr.
Speaker 3:Karen Hux. We cannot forget Dr Karen Hux.
Speaker 1:Kelsey does PR for Dr Hux, like every week, every week.
Speaker 3:But I think it's so awesome that there's so many people within QLI's community that you can go to them for everything. But there's specific people that you've built that relationship, that you know that you can go to them and they kind of have a backlog of what you're going through and what you're trying to face and what you're trying to problem solve. For Steve, for example, i go to him and I'm trying to professional growth. That's. That's the area that we work with week to week. Taylor I always go to her with questions. Iq points, pick your brain. Same thing with Karen Hux. Mel, we do a lot of co-treating collaboration. And Brad there's been a couple people that we've done the same thing. So I feel like you find, you find your people and truly your people, and you know that they're going to have your back no matter what, and they're going to be okay with you saying I don't know, let me figure that out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, i think. yeah, like Kelsey said there, i mean there's so many people to name at QLI I think I pretty consistently just naturally gravitate towards our speech team. You know, kelsey, you've included in that. But I think you know we have our, you know, personal board of directors is kind of a phrase that gets tossed around at QLI quite a bit, and I know that one person that I go to I mean pretty much daily is Morgan Spinline.
Speaker 2:I think she always is kind of my voice of reason sometimes. you know she started here at QLI actually today's her one year anniversary, so there's that But so she started a couple weeks before me and so she was kind of just ahead of me enough here at QLI where she was fresh and knew what I was going through, but then also kind of had the couple weeks to where she had some background that she could offer me some advice. But you know, i think anyone at QLI I mean you go up to anyone and you're like, hey, can I process this with you? or hey, can I get some IQ points. just a different perspective is always nice. So I think that that's been really great.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. So going to make you guys just reflect a little bit if we have newer grads or other individuals that are looking to jump into the working realm here within the next month, several months, what kind of things would you guys recommend they try to do before they jump into work? And then, what kind of strategies would you guys suggest that they try to implement in year one of working that would help them be more successful?
Speaker 2:Hoof.
Speaker 3:That's a lot of questions, so I take it away.
Speaker 1:Keep in mind. I can always like stop this if you guys need time to think about that question.
Speaker 2:No, i think, yeah, there's always. I mean, there's just so many moving parts, you know, i think, first and foremost, figure out where you're gonna live. Feel good about that.
Speaker 1:Did you not have a place to live when you?
Speaker 2:Not initially, not right off the bat. There's a story, Tell us Oh, that's I can go through the whole thing.
Speaker 1:Yes, figure out a place to live before.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, love it. Have a good spot. Don't get a dog right before you start a new job. That's when an adventure.
Speaker 1:Too many transitions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a lot going on.
Speaker 1:Okay, rule number one from Zoe don't live in your car when you're starting to work. Rule number two don't get a dog that also lives in the car with you while you're starting to work.
Speaker 2:Yep, those are two big takeaways, no, but on a serious note, i think, have a budget. I think that is something that I am just now starting to do, and that was I mean, that's going back was kind of a dip that I took. For sure, coming out of school and just managing loans and kind of navigating that arena has been a whirlwind. So, definitely create a budget. Keep your old textbooks and notes that you have. You will go back to them If you have access to like a canvas or a blackboard or whatever it is that your school uses.
Speaker 2:Just making sure that you have the login information for that. And then I think, yeah, just building your community, building your supports. I still have professors that I reach out to who have connected me with a lot of different people in the field, now that I'm at a school and just have a little bit better grasp on things. And then, like Kelsey said, just building your friendships, kind of outside of work too, and if it's something that you have to rebuild, kind of go back and do that and set a good framework for yourself.
Speaker 3:Yeah, i would say I feel like I know a lot of type ASLPs out there And I feel like we are always go, go, go, go go onto the next thing, check off that to-do list. All right, let's make a new one. I think I gave myself a week and a half between ending grad school and starting my job And I think that was the best thing ever.
Speaker 3:I gave myself grace to sit on the couch and watch a whole show series in one day. Would not recommend that for years. But coming from grad school to not well, coming from grad school and then going to full-time employment, i knew that I was gonna need to pause and take a second. I would say, after grad school I you get so busy and used to studying for exams and studying for the practice and studying for all these things And I found myself saying what are my hobbies? What do I do with all this extra time? So developing self-care routines, developing time for you. I was in a workout class a couple of weeks ago And she said take this one hour for yourself and only for yourself.
Speaker 3:And I think continuing to do that through your work and having that one hour to yourself for yourself every day is important, whatever that may be, Yoga, mindfulness, working out journaling having that definitely going into a big transition like being in the work field keeping those resources like professors you're from your externship, whoever it may be keeping those notes. Boy oh boy, has that helped me. I would just say give yourself grace. I feel like that's a big thing that people beat yourself up that first year, maybe not knowing the answers. But give yourself grace and be okay with saying I don't know, but I'll figure it out.
Speaker 2:That's good. Yeah, I almost take more time than a week and a half. I mean I took two weeks and granted, part of that was me moving back, but I wish I had just taken a little bit more time to like travel or do something fun.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm, absolutely.
Speaker 1:You guys both mentioned this at other points of the conversation today. But something I would add to your list is be curious in year one. So I think you guys are both kind of naturally curious people already, and so you take the time to ask questions and you pursue those answers and you keep digging. But be curious, you don't have to act like you have everything figured out right, mm-hmm. And then the other thing that you guys have mentioned this is, i think I would put on your list is seek out a mentor of some kind. Right Now.
Speaker 1:You guys you're in a lovely organization so you're always all the time unbiased, right? You guys are too, but not everyone may have that or have those same opportunities, and so if you are entering into the workforce as a new grad, seek out someone that's ahead of you and try to develop that mentoring relationship. You mentioned Asha. You know there's APTA, aota, apa. There's lots of different organizations out there where maybe it's not someone directly in your facility or workplace.
Speaker 1:But finding ways to get connected and stay connected within the community of people that are in your field of work is, i think, pretty important for professional growth too. So good stuff, you guys, thank you. Thank you for joining the conversation. Thanks for sharing about your experiences. I love doing conversations like this because I really hope that they're helpful to other people that are in similar positions. And hey, the reality is, people are graduating once, if not twice, a year may and December. People are graduating from these programs and they need people ahead of them that can kind of share their life experience and hopefully help them out too. So thank you guys again for joining the conversation, and listeners, thank you for joining us as well.
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