54: Embracing the Oopsies - It's ok to make mistakes!

Before I start today's episode , I'd like to acknowledge the Woodjoc Nongal people who are the traditional custodians of the land this episode was recorded . Good day , guys , and welcome back to another episode of Holly the OT Podcast . Thank you so much for tuning in .

I've been sitting at my desk for about ten minutes waiting to record this , but I've had a violent case of the hiccups . And I'm trying not to breathe while I'm talking because there is just a hiccup on the end of my tongue . And then my tongue took my tongue . Is that where hiccup can be ? I never know , but I'm getting so annoyed .

Anyway , I'll come back to the pod . It's been a hot little minute since I recorded an app . Feel like I say that at the start of every app because I'm just so inconsistent , but this has actually been a little while . I have yet been away . I've been overseas . I've been visiting home . I've been launching a new business with my partner .

I've been expanding my clinical business . It's all just been happening , and I just keep adding more and more things to my to do list . But I am , yeah , knuckling down and getting quite a few pods episodes out for you guys in the next couple of weeks . So getting back into the swing of things before I get in today's episode , Oh , god .

It's been so long before I get into today's episode . Does anyone ever just talk so quickly that you skip words ? Is that just amazing ? Is this something I do regularly ? Like , you guys listen to me , like , maybe this is something I always do , but I've just noticed I skipped about eight words in that little sentence . What was I saying ? Oh , yeah .

Today's episode is mistakes that we've made as therapists . I'm gonna tell you my mistakes . And I'm also going to tell you the mistakes of everyone that wrote into me over on the gram , and there were some good ones . And I bet you're wondering , Why are we talking about mistakes ?

Because everyone is so scared to make mistakes , and then when we do make mistakes , we think it's the worst thing in a world . And I'm just not about that because it's part of human life , it's part of being a therapist , no one is perfect . So we're gonna normalize it .

But before we do that , highs and lows for the last little while , I guess , I'll still stick to this week . My high for this week . I went to the Ross green PD training on Monday and Tuesday of the week that I'm recording this , and it was incredible . I have , like , been considering it for a while .

And he was in Perth , which is just epic because I feel like nothing good comes to Perth . I've been learnt the last ten months . Yeah . He was in Perth . It was so incredible . It was just like I don't know . I don't really know what I was expecting . It wasn't what I was expecting , but I don't know what I was expecting .

But it was just this incredible framework and approach to behavior , and it just gave me so much confidence in what I was already doing . And then gave me all these ideas on how I can enhance what I'm already doing . So it was incredible .

I did a little rundown on my stories of it , but if anyone has any specific questions , it can be hard committing to PD because they are so expensive . And often , it's just good to know what are you actually going to get out of it .

So if you have any questions about that , send me a message , but I would definitely recommend if you work in pediatrics to do the raw screen training . It was wonderful . My low for this week is I worked a five day work week , and I'm just not about that .

I had the training Monday , Tuesday , and then outreach Wednesday , Thursday , and then a full chalky bodgey day of admin Friday . And it's a Saturday when I'm recording this . Again , days . It's so hard to talk days when you're doing a podcast . Yeah . I was just exhausted . So bloody tired . I don't know how I ever did a five day workweek .

I don't know how that was ever something that was normal for me , but Anyway , yeah , that was my love . Also in very exciting news , my partner and I studying in clothing label , and it has been so much fun . And I don't know what else to say about it because it feels so surreal that that's something that we're actually doing .

But if you wanna check it out , we haven't launched yet , but We've launched like our Facebook or our social media . It's called collective k double o l y collective over on the gram . Yeah . Obviously , not relevant to OT at all , but just another really cool fun thing that we are doing that sounded so wanky . Just another really cool thing I'm doing .

That's not what I'm in , but I just it's fun . It's cool . I don't do many other fun or cool things , but this is . Yeah . Go and check us out . I can share more . Well , I probably will share more as the days go on , but Yeah . We'd love some support over there . That would be

incredible . Anyway , let's get into this episode.mistakes.mistakes.mistakes . Who has made a mistake . Right ? And you've just been so , like , embarrassed by it . Often , it's like those small mistakes . Like , the ones that it is so , like , oh my god , I can't believe I actually made that mistake .

And just being like , I'm not gonna tell anyone , like , this is so embarrassing . Like , I'm shutting down . Like , how can I someone with a university degree ? And I say that in inverted commas , you know , make a mistake that's so silly like an admin mistake or , you know , it's just this built up anxiety in our head of making mistakes . And OT's in general .

This is a general statement , but I'm pretty confident with it . People pleases . Prudent with anxiety , not offense guys , but we aren't anxious people . And we just have this high standard of ourselves .

Now I don't know if that is a generalist theme or if it just mean my OT friends , but this high level that we set for ourselves Obviously , we wanna do the best for people . We're in this job because we care and we wanna do the best of our ability . But it creates this unnecessary and unneeded sense of perfectionism that doesn't need to be there .

We are humans . We are humans , and we make mistakes . And no , we're not gonna start being Slack . And no , we're not gonna drop the ball . But even , I tell you , even the most organized Taipei intelligent people will make mistakes in their career . So we're gonna talk about them .

I'm gonna share some of my mistakes And then I'm gonna read out some of the ones that got sent through to me , and then I'm gonna read out we'll tell you a bit more about some of the ones that I've made .

But I remember And this is actually a funny one to start on because it came through the most , and it's probably the mistake that mortified me the most as well . I remember after I made this mistake , and then I was seeing the client that this related to within I think it was , like , three or four days after I realized I'd done it . I had crippling anxiety .

Like , I I did not want to go to work because I built this mistake up so much in my head . And this one came through , I think , like , ten times I counted on maintenance a grim story when I posted this , but submitting a report with the wrong name . Now , we know if you're doing big long reports , we are only human .

There will be sections of those reports that you copy and paste from other reports . In this instance , it was the I think it was the violent of the sensory profile section where it's like , this assessment , you know , had the table , and it was like , this is a representative of blah blah scores .

And I had recently changed my formatting , so I went back to the most recent report that I've done because me lazy didn't actually update the template I was using , just updated it as I was writing your report . And this is a side note . If you were making the same changes every time you write a report from your template , go and update the template .

This is an order from me . Anyway , I copied and pasted the assessment template section and didn't change the name . So none of the report had been copied and pasted . It was all new information , but I copied and pasted the the template . And you'd have the wrong name in it .

And I submitted this report , and I think I was so annoyed because I actually spent so much time on that report , like , more than I do most . And I think it was or I don't even know what part of it . It was in my my new grade Yep .

And I remember thinking , like , this family is going to think that I've just made up that whole report that none of this report is genuine . None of this report is personalized to them because of this name . And I knew I had to address it because I knew the parents were gonna read the whole report . Because side note , Often , parents don't read reports .

I have come to learn that as well , particularly the long ones . But yeah , I knew that we're going to read it and I knew I had to address it . Anyway , built this situation up in my head like , oh , physically was making me feel ill because I was so mortified .

And when I had the chat , And I was like , look , I just want to address , like , she was like , oh , they're wrong name in their report . And I was like , oh my god . Swallowed me up and ate me alive . And she was like , yeah , I'm a school teacher . I used to put the wrong names in kids reports all the time . And I was like , thank you . Thank you .

Thank you . So that was the first time I've done it . Touch what I haven't done it since that I know of . Obviously , you never know . And I'm so pedantic now like control f , I will search every possible name of every possible kid , ones that wouldn't even have anything to do with the template that I'm using .

And I am really , really thorough with it now that I don't think it will happen again , but if it does , not the end of the world . Obviously , we know why that looks unprofessional . We know why have we when I have that . But if it happens , it happens . It's okay . This family did not fire me as I thought .

This family did not report me to the India ask NDIS Commission as I thought . It was all okay . So that's your mind . First and foremost , check your voice before you send them , but also if you have a mistake , don't worry . I have another mistake for you . Recently , I launched my daily itineraries , which have been so popular .

There's a few left if you would like to go and get some . And when you start , like , selling things , you have to like , when you set up your website . You've got to , like , set up your payment option . So I had PayPal was my one of my main ones and then , like , Shopify or Shop Pay , sorry , Apple Pay , blah blah , all those ones .

Anyway , so I got about four hundred and fifty dollars , I think it was of orders through paper . And I was like , great stoked . Like , motioning came to Apple Pay , but that was the amounting PayPal .

Anyway , I didn't realize that you needed to verify that your PayPal account was obviously a PayPal for years that it really needs to verify your ID with your , like , PayPal account . So then we went away , and I wasn't working for , like , four weeks . And it I got an email . And it was , like , your money has been refunded .

You didn't verify your out in time and you won't get this money . I was like , what do you mean ? I won't get my money . And four hundred and dollars of orders of daily itineraries got refunded back to the people who had all of them . And first of all , I was like , shit . Yeah .

I would be so stoked if I was those people that pulled the itineraries because you just got a little refund . Check your little reef . But I was like , oh , I sort of wanted my four hundred and fifty dollars .

But there you go , if you are going to start selling a product and you are wanting people to pay you for said product , please verify your PayPal business account . And it's a hot little tip from me . I have another mistake I made when I was an AHA . The company I was working for .

I forget what system they were using , but you couldn't access your calendar like on your mobile . It was only on the computer . Anyway , my day was set out .

I had a few I'd mainly did school visits and I had like a school session And then I had well , I thought I had a case conference meeting with a like , I think it was a deputy and a parent and a speech . She And I don't really know why I was going as the AHA .

As I've touched on , a lot of things I did as an AHA probably shouldn't have been doing so independently , but That's okay . Yeah . I was at this meeting . Oh , no . That is a lot . I wasn't at this meeting . I was on my school visits for the day . And I get a phone call about halfway through a school visit from an unknown number , and I didn't answer it .

And then it came through again . And I was like , oh , hold on , buddy . Let's stop playing poker player , I've got to answer this phone call . Quickly answered , it was a school that I was having the case conference at after this session . And now , like , hey , Holly , just like wondering , like , how much longer you might be , like , where are you waiting ?

Anyway , I had gotten the appointments mixed around away . So I thought the Case Conference was after the school session , but it was actually before and I was at a different school . Like I they were only , like , five minutes away , but , like , I was at a different school . And I was , like , why can the teacher tell me , like , hey , you're an hour early .

Wasn't her fault . She was just like , oh yeah , get this kid out of my glass , which is no great . We didn't encourage that , but that was how it was . And , yeah , missed the whole case conference , and they sat around waiting for me for half an hour , which is even worse . But I had to say , sorry , like , I'm in a session . I'm not gonna make it .

Please continue without me . So now I'm so pedantic at checking my calendar and making sure I know exactly where I meant to be at Otter . Ones . Another mistake I remember really , really vividly making was working with a client who was an early intervention client . I believe she might have been like three or four .

She presented very very autistic , I'm going to say . Apologies for my language . It's not great there , but she had very , very strong autistic traits . So in the moment , I met her she yeah . It was to someone who works commonly with autistic children , to me it was clear as day .

And I had a lot of kids around that age and around that time that were autistic . And I knew that this family were on their journey of getting a diagnosis and obviously everyone processes that differently . And I remember being in a session , and we were talking about something to do with sensory processing . And I said , yeah .

You know , La la la la la whatever her name is . That's worth fake name ever . Yeah . She's probably doing this . Like , it's really common with autistic girls . And then the mom just , like , looked at me , and then I looked at the mom . And we hadn't really had a proper conversation about it yet .

Like , we'd sort of downloaded it , and I was sort of taking baby steps . They know that over hesitant , but they were on the journey . And , like , obviously , diagnosis isn't the OT's role . Like , obviously , that is not my role , and I'm not gonna say to a parent , yeah , I think she's autistic . There's ways that you go about it .

There's ways that you word it . And in this moment , I just blatantly said , yeah . That's because she's autistic . And then the mom looked at me and and , like , we had that little moment , and she was like , so you think she's autistic . And I was like , oh , I put my foot in it now . And I said , oh , look , I'm so sorry .

I like , I just get confused sometimes , like , obviously , every kid presents differently . And I I I talked my way out of it . And the mom was like , oh , that's fine . Like , no worries . Like , uh-huh . Anyway , three months later , she got diagnosed with autism .

And yeah , I guess my things were right , but that is just a friendly reminder to not assume diagnosis and not be outward with them if they do not have the diagnosis . Anyway , yeah . Alright . I'm gonna get in and read some of the ones that you guys submitted to me if you just heard that scratchy noise . It was my sticky phone case .

Getting ripped off the desk . It's my new favorite thing to do . But , yeah , I am gonna read out some of the ones that you guys sent through . Now if I laugh , I laugh with you , not at you because sometimes if you don't laugh , you cry . But yeah , thank you everyone for sending them in . I think it takes great vulnerability .

Obviously , I'm keeping all of these anonymous . Yeah . Let's get into it

. So I had a few come through of calling a client by the wrong name . I that just reminded me . I This was only , like , three weeks ago to God , I couldn't . So I'm thinking about it . I was doing a home visit and the client's dog was being so annoying like I love dogs , but the dog was , like , jumping and barking and , like , really annoying everyone .

Anyway , I was trying to get the client to come and do something , and I caught the client the dog's name . I caught my client by her dog's name . That was bad . Lucky , parents , super chill , we all laughed about it , but , oh , god . I felt mortified . So , yeah , calling client by the wrong name came in a few times .

Not putting enough boundaries in place with parents actually came through . And I love that one .

And sometimes that's not a mistake you realize until after the fact , until after boundaries have been crushed , but Just a side note , if you work for a company and you don't have a company phone , a really strong boundary I want you all to put in place is don't use your your personal phone number .

Even for the parents that you think are chill , please don't use your personal phone number if you need to . Like , if you need to make a call or something . Put your phone on private . That's just a a barrier that you're going to have to have if you don't have a company phone because I promise you you will regret giving out your personal number .

So that's that's a boundary that everyone should put in place . This was a good one believing that every theory session needed to look a certain way . And I guess that's another one of those long term mistakes .

And again , not a mistake that I think you know until you have that hindsight , but I love that one because we know that therapy sessions look different for everyone . And , yeah , that's a really good reflection point to have . Like I said , quite a few came through for leaving the wrong name in your report .

Not checking funding and realizing less sessions are available than I thought and had planned for and then running out of funding with two months to go . I think everyone's been there at some point , and I think that's , I guess , determined determined determined determined .

God , I'm so glad my words these days , determined by , like , the process within your workplace on how you track funding , but it can so easily happen , especially if you like , if if you're the OT and maybe you've got Fizio at your workplace and then there's a speechy , like , at another company .

Like , you almost just have to take each other's words like no one's gonna like , over commit or overspend or and obviously , we'd never do that intentionally , but there's been a few times where I've been in in some sticky funding situations because someone has spent more money than they said they were going to . But that's okay . It happens . It happens . It happens .

It happens . Alright . What have we got ? Using the blurry short form for an eleven year old . So obviously , that is not the age range for the blurry short form . I've done that once as well with another assessment . Luckily , the kid was it , like , fell out of the range anyway , so that was fine .

But Another one for calling people the wrong names happens way too much . I did a cognitive screen on the wrong patient . Both were named John . Realized after and freaked out , told the senior OT , luckily turns out he needed one , two , always double check name and date of birth . I'm imagining that is in like a hospital setting potentially with two johns .

And I guess with common names , you've always got to be careful . And that actually has reminded me , I had to support coordinator ones , and we had two clients with the same name . We had a whole conversation once about the same like , named client , and we both were talking about the different ones .

So , like , John a and John b , like , she was talking about John a and I was talking about John b . Both laughed about it at the end . And we're like , that could have been bad . Alright . And mentioning Santa and Easter bunny birthdays in sessions with a Jehovah's Witness client . With one of his old sad faces . Oh , you must have felt so , like , terrible .

I can imagine you would have just been like , oh , shit . And I hate that like the hate that this is the first comment that comes to mind , but I I would imagine that in some capacity , they would be somewhat used to that .

And I hate I hate that that's what my answer is , but please don't feel too bad that because I guarantee you that a lot of other o t's probably have done the same thing without even thinking about it and without even reflecting on it . So don't be too hard on yourself . This is a good one . I'm gonna read this one out to you .

It's a bit of a long story . I had an adult I was working with on his ability to socialize . He had a complex genetic condition and nobody seemed to understand him . He burped a lot . Occasionally when he burped , he thought occasionally when he burped , sorry , he would use a sign afterwards . I thought he must be signing , excuse me .

So every time he did it , I'd model the same sign and test the other staff to do this too . This went on for about a week and I felt so proud that he consistently sign mind after every birth . Then I was telling the manager about this , and she asked if I knew what the particular sign meant .

I said I'd I'd assumed it was , excuse me , but turned out it was pig . I've been telling everyone and himself to call himself a pig after every berm . That is a very very a unique situation , but that is equally as hilarious . Thank you for sending that one through .

Next one I've got is not taking enough photos or measurements during a home visit for a rehab patient and then not being able to go back and do the measurements again and having to guess them more groggy . As someone who does not do a home model measurements , I imagine that would have been very , very frustrating .

As a team leader , I've had an OT who forgot to measure the elevator to get a high low bed and mattress mattress up to an apartment . And it didn't fit and they had to get something else . As a team leader , I've had an OT get a petite recliner for a six foot plus man , I did that on one of my hospital placements .

I ordered it was a bariatric client , and I just got a standard recliner . Not a recliner . Shout here , and he couldn't get in it . And I felt horrible . In AVEVA , I was so gone home after a question on OPMA that I missed The next question on using MOHA , not OPMA , and just kept answering the whole question about the OPMA .

I reckon I would have so many mistakes like that that I probably didn't even realize that I did , which is hilarious . That are all , that are god . Stop it . I can't talk . That is all the mistakes I have . This is a short , little , sweet bundle of an episode today . But , yeah , thanks everyone for sending all of those through .

I just really wanna highlight , like , obviously , everyone is going to respond to mistakes differently . And I think it all depends on our central nervous system and our regulation and how , you know , that one mistake could be the tip of the iceberg and it could be the last thing that sort of set you into that spiral .

But I promise you there is not a single mistake that can't be undone .

And , you know , some might take more effort than others depending on what they are , but I promise you that Everyone makes mistakes and it's going to be an indicator of how supportive your team is on how they respond to you making a mistake because it is inevitable I guarantee they've made mistakes as well and how they sort of counteract that is gonna be super ,

super important on how supported you are in that team . If I was in a team where I was made to feel really bad about making mistakes , I'm going to get somewhere that I would want to work . Obviously , we always wanna be doing our best and trying our best .

And I'm not saying drop the ball , but just be a little bit easier on yourself if you do make a mistake because our jobs are hard . We are often tired . We are often overworked , and it is human nature . That is all I have time for today . Thank you so very much for tuning in . I'm so excited to release some really cool episodes .

I'm popping out a few records today , so there will be many coming in your ears , but thank you so much for tuning in head to w w w dot hollyy o t dot com if you would like to buy daily itinerary . But , yeah , thanks for your support . I appreciate you guys . Goodbye .