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Imposter Syndrome
318 Plays25 days ago
In this podcast episode, Josh and new grad occupational therapist Tristany discuss imposter syndrome, a common challenge for new professionals. They explore the feelings of self-doubt that often arise when starting a new career and share strategies to build confidence and overcome these challenges in the workplace.
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Transcript
Introduction to Tristany Barry, New Hire at Hand Therapy Academy
00:00:07
mmateri
Hi, I'm Josh McDonald.
00:00:09
Tristany
And I'm Tristany Barry, and this is Hand Therapy Academy.
00:00:13
mmateri
So I wanted to kind of flip the script this time and ask Tristany a question as one of our new grads, new hires. She's a young therapist, just kind of starting in into hand therapy, but she was with us for a level two for three months, and then she came back and did her capstone with us for another three and a half, four months or so. So she had some exposure to hand therapy for sure before we hired her.
Experiencing Imposter Syndrome as a Young Therapist
00:00:33
mmateri
But there's this imposter syndrome, this idea that no matter where you are, you're always not quite good enough. Like, I don't really know enough and I don't really have enough information. And I'm not quite like there's always someone else they should be asking or seeing or getting treatment from. So, Trust me, what percentage of your time in the clinic would you say you have that feel of imposter syndrome?
00:01:03
Tristany
Well, when I first started, 100% of the time, um now I would say maybe like 50% when we see a more complicated case or we're dealing with wound care, plexar tendon, just something that requires more skill and knowledge based on precautions and something I've never seen before.
00:01:08
mmateri
yeah
00:01:25
mmateri
Okay. Okay.
The Value of New Graduates in Therapy
00:01:27
mmateri
And when you like. When you have, conference so we just got back from the ASHD conference and when you sit in those talks and you hear conversations just organically about other things, do you feel like that confirms your knowledge base or do you feel like that undermines and makes you feel more imposter syndrome?
00:01:49
Tristany
a little bit of both. Going into it, I was super overwhelmed just in general.
00:01:51
mmateri
Okay.
00:01:54
Tristany
Like I don't know anything. So when someone was talking and I knew something, I'm like, yes, that's a win. um But then it was also like, oh my gosh, I'm sitting around so many well accomplished, knowledgeable therapists who've been doing this for 30 years.
00:02:09
Tristany
So I kind of just go into my shell and absorb what I can, but it is a little bit overwhelming.
00:02:16
mmateri
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I think it's helpful and I wanted to cover this because I feel like this is something that comes up with so many of our new hires, but also like new grads and young therapists all over is this idea of I am not enough and I don't know enough and this patient would be better somewhere else.
00:02:34
mmateri
And every therapist who's been doing it for more than 20 whatever years will tell you that they every therapist has gone through that. And I can think back to whether it's my pediatric clients or my early hand therapy clients and think, oh, I should have done this with them. And oh, I learned this after and I should have done that with them. But they are still better for having seen us than not. And so there's a difference between I haven't learned everything yet, which you never do, but I haven't learned enough. and I need to learn more and am I not enough? I'm still, as a new grad, you can still help that patient a ton and add a ton of value and function to the life without necessarily knowing as much as the 20 year old, 20 year veteran therapist. Now, can you tell me things you feel like you bring to the table that a 20 year veteran therapist doesn't?
00:03:33
Tristany
That's a great question.
00:03:33
mmateri
I know, I totally put you on the spot with that question. Can you think of something that you bring to the table that a veteran therapist doesn't?
00:03:43
Tristany
Well, I'm sure veteran therapists do bring this, but I am like a very empathetic person and I really hold space for all of my patients to just sit there and be whatever they need. And I am still fresh into this, so I don't really have any clouded. I haven't had any bad experiences yet, so I'm Not saying that other therapists, I guarantee everyone else is doing that, but I just really think that I can sit and meet patients where they are and therapy or psychologically or just kind of just be someone for them.
00:04:16
mmateri
Yeah, yeah. And and i I agree, I think that's something that this, I'll say this generation of therapists, I hate blocking people into like, oh, you're Gen X or Gen Z or Gen Y or whatever, but this era of therapists that are coming out have a much more in tune perspective to what I'll call a holistic approach or seeing like this whole person and saying like, I'm gonna see this person for who they are. And yeah, they have a hand injury, but they're also dealing with the grandma passed away or they lost their job unrelated or you know there's there's all these other factors. And so yes, we're all as therapists aware and touching you onto those things. But I think there's something about students coming out of school in the last maybe five years or so that have a better connection to that.
Balancing Experience and Continuous Learning in Therapy
00:05:01
mmateri
um And I also feel like they there's a sense of wonderment that goes along with being new to it, that this like, I want to learn everything and this excitement that goes with it. But once you've been doing any task for long enough, you kind of fall into a rut with it a little bit. And so when I see a dysteritis fracture patient come in, I kind of fall into a rut and this is what we're going to do and this is what works and this and that's fine. But I maybe lose that sense of like, oh, this is new and exciting and I want to like,
00:05:30
mmateri
make this a good experience for both of the patient and myself. And so I feel like that sense of wonderment about it is something that the veteran therapists, we kind of lose that a little bit and get too routine with our patients because we see them as a patient with a distal raise fracture instead of this whole organic thing and and including all of it.
00:05:49
Tristany
Sure.
00:05:49
mmateri
Yeah. do you Do you feel like the the content you got at ASHT or the stuff you learn every day, do you feel like that is helping to chip away at that sense, at that um that imposter syndrome a little bit?
00:06:07
Tristany
Yeah, everything I learned helps, but ah kind of on the other side of things, it's like, Oh my gosh, I still have so much more to learn. I still have to go so far. So it's just taking,
00:06:19
Tristany
Because what I know now, I didn't know last year. So I have to take a step back and acknowledge how far I've come. And I still have a ways to go, but that's the beauty of our profession. We're supposed to learn always and forever. So that's just kind of where we are. And right now it's just a little more heavy than it will be in a few years.
00:06:38
mmateri
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I think that's that that that heaviness lasts for a while. And I don't mean that to be a discouraging thing, but to say like, I sit in ASHT and I hear the presidential address or the the award lectures and I hear these therapists have been doing it for 40 years and I think, oh my gosh, she has published 50 or 60 articles and she is getting this award. This therapist is getting an award for all of this published literature. And I look at the people who are doing the the big stuff in our profession. I think, wow, like, like they have reached this different level. So the imposter syndrome thing.
00:07:17
mmateri
is a reality, but it's something that I try to encourage my kids, young therapists, like you have a skill set that very few people in the world, in our country have. Like there's something I think HTCC now says there's like 7,000 certified hand therapists. So maybe you double that for therapists that are doing hand therapy but aren't certified. There's 14,000 people in the world doing this.
00:07:41
mmateri
That's a really small percentage. So you have the capacity to help these people in a way that other therapists don't, that don't specialize in this. And you can help them in ways that like, so as a new grad, as a young therapist, I encourage the therapists and the people around us to not undermine your capacity, like what you're capable of and what you know, just because you haven't reached that level yet, because there's always going to be somebody in the room who's whose pretend ranking that we give them is higher than yours.
00:08:10
mmateri
You should never be the highest ranking in a room, right? When we assign like, Oh, they know this, and then there's always going to be someone out there that knows more. So yeah, not letting that, it it should motivate us to learn more, not discourage us and say like, well, I'm nothing.
00:08:23
mmateri
Cause I don't know as much as that person.
00:08:27
Tristany
Yeah, absolutely.
00:08:27
mmateri
Yeah.
00:08:30
mmateri
Yeah. and And learning from each other, I think is the best way to to not just deal with the knowledge-based aspect, but the like, we're all in this together. And that therapist is teaching me about content, but I'm teaching them about empathy.
00:08:44
mmateri
Or they can watch me connect with that they're with that patient on a different level. So learning with a you young therapist, learning with a mentor, those kind of things that help kind of like get past what is hard to get over, but get you know minimize that imposter syndrome as much as possible.
00:09:01
Tristany
Sure. And you just recently had this conversation with me because I have a student.
00:09:02
mmateri
Yeah.
00:09:05
Tristany
So I've been, you know, kind of back to the square one where I'm like, what am I doing? But it's okay. We'll get through it.
00:09:13
mmateri
Yeah. Yeah. And there's going to constantly be something that pops up the first time you have your own prosthetics patient, the first time you have your first traumatic ATV polytrauma rollover accident. You know, there's going to be all these things that's like, Oh my gosh, this is the first time I've ever done this. But we all have that first time. And so you can't let that like paralyze us and think I can't do this. I can't do this. Like, all right, saddle up. Here's my first chance to learn. Yeah.
Facing New Challenges and Engaging with Doctors
00:09:39
mmateri
And that doesn't even touch on the idea of going into a doctor's office with a patient for their visit and getting comfortable sitting next to the patient, asking them questions and them asking you questions and having that whole conversation. Cause we put doctors on a whole different rating system, but they're just humans. They're just having conversations and we know things they don't and they know things we don't. So we're all just in this together, trying to help the patients.
00:10:00
Tristany
Absolutely.
00:10:01
mmateri
Yeah.
Engagement with Hand Therapy Academy
00:10:02
mmateri
Well, hopefully this is a conversation that maybe lowers the listener's view of imposter syndrome and kind of like turns the dial down on that a little bit. If you have struggled with that, or if you have any tips or any input or anything like that, please feel free to reach out on our social media accounts, Hand Therapy Academy, or send us an email info at handtherapyacademy.com.