CAREERS CAMPAIGN FEATURE
‘ I ’ ve caught the buzz to share more about our fantastic profession ’ At the beginning of November , when Helen Rostrom was invited to be part of a Zoom interview with a local careers adviser , says that she ‘ had to muster the courage ’ to take part .
The session was recorded , to share it virtually with three secondary schools and a sixth form college in the Weston- Super-Mare area . Unfortunately , due to COVID-19 pressures on staff , a further planned live Zoom session into a health and social care class was unable to go ahead , but she says : ‘ What ’ s great is that the possibilities are there and links have been made .’
Since that tentative beginning , Helen has been asked to join up with another colleague to speak to another secondary school , with a plan for a live session into a class , where she will lead on social care community work .
‘ All in all , it ’ s been great to be pushed out of my comfort zone and make school links . I ’ ve caught the buzz to share more about our fantastic profession ,’ she enthuses .
It all started with RCOT ’ s # ChooseOT careers campaign . ‘ It kept nudging me ,’ she explains , ‘ and after I had read so many responses from other occupational therapists it gave me courage to have a go and have a shared voice .
Helen used the RCOT template email for reaching out to schools ( www . rcot . co . uk / ChooseOT ) and before she knew it , she had searched for her local secondary schools careers adviser ’ s email and pressed ‘ send ’.
It hit the target immediately . ‘ I genuinely didn ’ t expect a response with all the school disruptions due to the pandemic ,’ she says , ‘ but within less than an hour I had an enthusiastic reply .’
Following the recorded interview , an occupational therapy colleague reached out to Helen to see if she would jointly share her Zoom class presentation . ‘ I didn ’ t know she had given yearly talks to another secondary school ,’ Helen reflects . ‘ Top tip : send out an email to colleagues to see if others would be interested in sharing a talk .’
The reaction has been fantastic . ‘ The careers adviser who set up the live Zoom interview was both excited to showcase our profession to inspire students , as well as being grateful to learn about occupational therapy .’
She adds : ’ It ’ s hugely important we make school links . The careers adviser said that she can ’ t know about every profession there is . The teacher I linked with for the live Zoom classroom presentation created a genuine fun and interesting atmosphere to engage the students with the brain teaser and the small aids guessing game . These games were great at breaking up the talk and making it interactive .
Both teachers were simply wanting the students to see their learning become a potential career and were delighted we had made contact , and the students responded with laughter and intrigue .’
In her own case , it was her grandmother who set Helen on the path to becoming an occupational therapist . ‘ I knew I was creative and thought outside the box ,’ she remembers . ‘ As well as being able to empathise , listen and encourage . It was my Gran who saw my strengths and encouraged me to take up occupational therapy work experience in year 10 . She knew I ’ d love to work in a multidisciplinary team , advocate , problem solve and enable people .’
Helen has lots of good advice for anyone out there feeling reticent about how to reach out to schools and inspire their students .
zone .
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All in all , it ’ s been great to be pushed out of my comfort zone and make school links . I ’ ve caught the buzz to share more about our fantastic profession
‘ Use the RCOT resources and tweak them to your style to enable yourself to feel more comfortable ,’ she says . ‘ Go for a one-to-one Zoom-style question and answer session if presenting to a class is just a bit too far out of your comfort
‘ Link with a colleague to share the Zoom call – it can halve the nerves . I ’ ve been part of two totally different styles of virtual presenting , but for me , the stand out moment was when I spoke about how the students need to reflect on their strengths and what makes them tick and how this links to our professional skills set . That was the key in linking my talk into their lives and to hopefully have inspired a new occupational therapist .’
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