Celebrating 10 years as a PT!
May was National Physiotherapy Month.
10 years ago, I graduated from the University of Toronto with an MScPT. Like many others, I became a PT to help people. Since then, I’ve worked in 4 different orthopaedics clinics, within sports medicine, workplace injuries, and motor vehicle accidents. I’ve worked in a major downtown Toronto hospital in the ICU, Emergency Dept and Labour & Delivery. And last year, I started my own business - The Passionate Physio!
In this time, I've presented at 2 National conferences, and have taken more courses than I can count. I am an FCAMPT, with a Master’s degree (MClSc) from Western. And I have the experience of sleeping in my professor’s closet 👀 (story for another day 😂)!
I have learned a LOT through education and experiences, but I’ve learned even more from the PEOPLE I have met. My peers, educators, mentors, students, and clients.
Here’s what I’ve learned in the past 10 years as a PT:
1️⃣ Connect first. Get to know the person in front of you. They are not an injury – they are a whole person. You can’t fully help who you don’t know.
2️⃣Community & collaboration over competition. Find a community that supports you and elevates you. If it doesn’t exist, see point 5.
3️⃣Change. It’s inevitable. Jobs change, clients change, life changes. Be willing to adapt to the situation in front of you. Ask for help. It can be hard but is necessary.
4️⃣Courage. My clients show courage in facing their injuries, in seeking help, in trusting me despite having had failed healthcare experiences, and in working through challenges. There is SO much I've learned from my clients.
5️⃣Create. You may have to create opportunities for yourself. The system may not be designed to see small brown women with big dreams succeed. So create those opportunities for you, and for those with less privilege than you! Rise together.
Thank you to all those part of my journey. I can't even tell you how much it means to me & how much it energizes me. 🙏🏽
I have no idea what the next 10 years as a PT will look like, but all I know is I’m just warming up!🚀
