The Your OT Tutor Learning Library has been available for a couple of months now and already there are over 850 members signed up! To make sure you get the most out of your free membership, these newsletters will keep you up-to-date with new additions and also feature a spotlight on a particular topic.

This edition’s topic is NDIS report writing – a big talking point at the moment!

New additions

In the past month there has been a couple of videos, a webinar recording, and the first THREE guest contributor inclusions!

From me you can access:

• Video – introduction to a framework for explaining the OT role – perfect for OT students and new grads, or those where English may be a second language.

• Video – The who, what, how framework for providing education about assistive technology, whether it’s a simple shower chair, or something more complex, this framework will help!

• Webinar recording – Your OT Tutor Tutorial on Memory retraining using MEMORehab. In this recording I’m joined by MEMORehab founder, clinical neuropsychologist Dr Laurie Miller, who will explain the evidence behind their online platform and give you a demo of what it looks like for a clinician facilitating the program. If you’ve ever wanted to run a memory rehab group but then time or logistics stopped you, MEMORehab could be the answer!

From my guest contributors you’ll find:

The Ultimate List of 74 OT-specific Facebook Groups – Leesa Musarra – The Occupational Therapy Learning Network

Leesa is an experienced occupational therapist with a keen interest in learning and supporting other clinicians to find and complete the right CPD for them. She has curated a list of over 70 Facebook groups appropriate for occupational therapists! You’ll be able to quickly find groups that are relevant for your caseload so you can access learning opportunities and start building connections with other OTs. You’ll be able to access this free guide within the Learning Library plus find some other links to Leesa’s services.

Handling patients with preconceived ideas – Annette Tonkin – Thinking Physio

Annette is a physio with over 30 years’ experience. She offers online courses, one-on-one mentoring and team training to help allied health professionals develop their skills to communicate effectively with their clients. In the generation of Google, smart phones and social media, inevitably we’ll be working with clients who have done their own research, but may have come across misinformation. This guide will assist you to avoid reinforcing incorrect information, while respectfully acknowledging their proactive research.

Personal Alarms Guide - Bek Chatellier – The Supervisionary Partnership

Bek is an experienced OT who currently runs a successful sole-trader business. She has a passion for supporting other clinicians to thrive in their roles and provide quality services and now offers a range of supervision services and resources for OTs. You can access one of these valuable resources for free via the Learning Library! Bek has compiled a comprehensive list of personal alarm options to save you starting from scratch. Find it in the library, then check out more of Bek’s resources and services.

Leesa Tuffnell – What you didn’t know about imposter syndrome – The Mindful OT

Leesa is a mum, wife, and clinician with 20+ years’ experience. She’s also an NLP Practitioner, Trainer/Assessor and Yoga Instructor. After navigating her own journey through burnout, she realises how essential it is for OT sole traders to prioritise their well-being while building a sustainable business. Her work focuses on empowering women who want to improve their clinical services, optimise work-life balance and feel valued and compensated for their efforts. This video will give you a taste of the pearls of wisdom Leesa has to offer.

Focus topic: NDIS report writing

With the recent admission from the NDIA CEO that planners don’t have time to read reports, many allied health clinicians have been left feeling frustrated, angry, and wondering what to do. Should we keep spending hours of participant funding on detailed reports if no-one will read them?

My thought is even though not all planners will read every report, it doesn’t mean we should write crappy ones. Instead, we need to remain focused on providing the right information clearly, succinctly, in plain language, and with effective formatting, so that planners can easily find the information they are looking for.

While there are some brilliant report writers out there, there are still plenty of clinicians who could develop their skills further, so we can highlight the value allied health can bring to the assessment process.

To help you get started, the Learning Library has these FREE options available:

• Download: Report writing tips for Functional Capacity Assessments

• Download: The OT Guide to Completing FCAs for people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

• Download: NDIS report planning tool

• Download/video: 10 steps to NDIS report writing success framework

• YOTT Tutorial: NDIS report writing (learn how to structure sentences to highlight support needs, present standardised assessment information clearly, and add in research evidence citations when you need to).

If these resources are helpful and you’d like to learn more, check out the online courses, supervision and team training available through Your OT Tutor.

Would you like to add your own resource to the Library one day?

Limited spots are available each month, but I’m still keen to hear from you and add you to the list! All you need to do is fill in the EOI and tell me about your resource, and I’ll send you the T&Cs. The key point is you need to have a resource (video, webinar, download) that you would be happy for people to freely access via the Library, and in return you’ll get your own little marketing landing page and a plug in my socials and newsletters (including this one!). PLUS this cool badge to add to your website or socials. 

Find out more here or send me a DM.

Super keen but haven’t signed up to the Learning Library yet?

Do it today! All you need to do is add your name and email address via this link, then check your inbox or junk mail for the login details. If you’ve got an extra couple of minutes, you can even setup the free mobile app straight away.

I’m doing this because there are so many great OTs and other health professional out there with fantastic resources and education services, and the OT and allied health world just don’t know they exist.  Spend less time searching for answers and reinventing the wheel, and more time working with your clients!

If you found this newsletter helpful, there’s so much more you can get from Your OT Tutor! Here are four ways I can help you become a better OT who loves what you do:

1.      Check out my on-demand courses

2.      Book in some one-on-one or group training

3.      Sign-up for one of my CPD memberships

4.      Send me a DM and we can chat about how I can help!