Thomas Talent Network’s Post

In our newest blog post, we take a peek inside the dynamic world of a BCBA! 🔍 Check out the full article here: shorturl.at/amuHN #bcba #careeropportunity #bcbaroles #mebefamily #mebe #pediatrictherapy #abatherapist #abatherapy #RBT #specialeducation #dayinthelife #opentowork #hiring #jobalert

If you’re a new grad OT soon to be working in a mixed NDIS community caseload, I’ve got some good news and some bad news for you… Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. The bad news is you’re going to feel like you don’t know anything, and that you’ll never be ‘good’ at your caseload for a while. This is completely normal. In fact, I’d be worried if you didn’t feel at least a little bit this way when you first start. Within your first month you could have a caseload of 10+ clients with a variety of needs. One day could see you doing an initial assessment for an FCA for an autistic teenager, then a wheelchair trial for a participant with MS, then a session focused on developing meal prep skills for a person living with schizophrenia, before closing the day calming the parent of your paediatric client over the phone when they reach out to say the strategies you suggested aren’t working. So yep, needing a lot of help is normal. OT degrees teach you to think like an OT, but they can’t teach you everything you need to know to be competent in a challenging NDIS caseload. So, what’s the good news? Well, the good news is that having a great supervisor can make this journey survivable! While you may be thinking you can’t do anything, you haven’t learnt anything, and you’ll never be able to do this by yourself, a good supervisor can do these things… Advocate for you to ensure the referrals you get are appropriate. Help you reflect on all the skills you have developed, even if they seem small and insignificant in the scheme of things. It’s these small steps that add up. Knowing the common impairments that come with particular diagnoses. Being able to administer and interpret standardised assessments independently. Nailing the language you use in your report writing. And many more. Small goals that take time, but ones you need to acknowledge and celebrate when you reach them. A good supervisor will give you encouragement when you need it, support to find solutions yourself, and reassurance that you are progressing exactly how you should be with your competence and confidence. So, if you are yet to choose an employer, but you are thinking a community-based NDIS caseload is for you, make sure you choose a role with an awesome supervisor, and you’ll be fine ;) P.S. If you need some help choosing the right job, check out the comments or send me a DM and I’ll point you in the right direction. #OccupationalTherapy #NewGraduate #NDIS #YourOTTutor

Professionals who provide critical services to children often have highly specialized skills but almost always paid less than their peers: -pediatricians -school nurses -K-12 educators AND: youth mental health professionals. News flash: Youth who are experiencing behavioral health crisis and ongoing mental health conditions struggle as they grow will be less likely to reach full educational, career, and economic potential if they don’t receive timely mental health services. That’s an amazing return on investment that we keep ignoring here in Massachusetts and nationally. “Clinicians who do home-based work are among the most skilled and need to be recognized for the difficult, mobile nature of their job. These professionals should be among the highest paid staff in our system, but are instead often at the bottom of the scale due to lagging reimbursement rates. We call on the administration and Legislature to prioritize investment in children’s behavioral health services, thereby enabling providers to build a pipeline to strengthen the workforce. Specifically, we call for immediate and substantial rate increases.” #youthmentalhealthcrisis #mapoli https://lnkd.in/ezVTYRvG

128 experts from 30 countries, the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, Suicide Prevention Ottawa, and members of the Association of Chairs of Psychiatry in Canada, have endorsed a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau, relevant Ministers, and major political parties expressing the critical need for a National Suicide Prevention Strategy in Canada. View the full press release and letter to Prime Minister Trudeau at https://bit.ly/3SqNiKS #SuicidePrevention #Advocacy #SuicidePreventionStrategy #Canada #NationalSuicidePreventionStrategy #CASP 

Please read this op-ed article by Onyi Okeke, MD . If it appears behind a wall, it is quick, free, and easy to subscribe to MedPageToday. This is an especially important topic for anyone that works with children, families, and vulnerable adults, especially Black families. #AmericanMedicalAssociation #Psychiatry #SocialWork ##OccupationalTherapy #Healthcare #Education #CPS #ChildProtectiveServices #MedicalRacism #racism #SocialJustice #RacialJustice

The phrase “unchecked power” is a good one to use when referencing child abuse pediatricians (CAPs), but we have to acknowledge that we gave it to them. We believe CAPs no matter what because of the position they hold. We don’t give the same deference to police officers or social workers in child abuse investigations. The author suggests that we can reduce the number of misdiagnoses of child abuse by CAPs if each abuse case is reviewed by a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) that includes 1) pediatric subspecialists specializing in the injury of the child in question, 2) clinical psychologists to examine the family, 3) a CAP who has the sole job of examining the case and can devote more time to the investigation. I understand the rationale for these recommendations but disagree that they will make the difference suggested. First, even if a pediatric subspecialist examines the case, we still have the issue of which doctor we believe. Specialists should absolutely be reviewing these cases, and I can’t imagine how anyone could argue otherwise. But the important point is that we need strict rules and protocols governing which doctor’s opinion trumps the other. It’s a problem that keeps showing up in news accounts of families wrongfully accused by CAPs. Second, psychologists can also be guilty of using subjective reasoning. I’m a therapist and diagnoses + perspectives of families are all highly subjective. Everything in child welfare is subjective, which is why it’s so easy to get things wrong. Third, I don’t think time management or ability to focus is the problem. I think the problem is that CAPs are essentially general practitioners who are giving medical opinions about cases that should be referred to specialists. MDTs have long been held in high esteem as the solution to horribly mishandled cases, but they can be rife with toxic group think. It's hard to raise your hand and say, "I disagree." And just because we have MDTs doesn’t mean that members of the team won’t exalt the opinion of the CAPs just like everybody else. #childabusepediatricians #childabuse #childabuseprevention #dcf https://lnkd.in/gKqUvER9

🍁[excerpt] Last August the B.C. Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU), an influential research organization, published protocols permitting doctors and nurses to prescribe “safe” fentanyl tablets to adults and minors. The organization confirmed to me in an email that it had been contracted by the province to produce these documents “to further support clinicians prescribing safer supply across the province.” While the B.C. government generally promotes its commitment to safer supply , it was oddly silent in this instance. I became aware of the new protocols only because two concerned addiction physicians contacted me shortly after their publication. As there has been zero media coverage of this development — excluding a report I authored for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI), published last month — the provincial government has been able to ramp up the distribution of “safe” fentanyl with almost no public scrutiny. This is a shame, as the new protocols are full of red flags, including a jarring near-absence of safeguarding measures when giving fentanyl to minors, to say nothing of the obvious ethical issues around underage consent. The only special requirements for underage patients is the use of a “two prescriber approval system,” wherein one prescriber conducts the patient intake interview and another reviews the client’s charts before signing off. A number of addiction experts have criticized this as deeply inadequate. Dr. Leonora Regenstreif, a Hamilton-based addiction physician, said she found it hard to imagine that two doctors or nurses working in the same clinic would significantly challenge each others’ prescribing decisions. The protocols do not provide a minimum age for when youth can receive recreational fentanyl. [later] If the province is going to dole out recreational fentanyl to minors, it should probably have strong evidence backing this decision—but apparently it doesn’t. The protocols clearly state that, “To date, there is no evidence available supporting this intervention, safety data, or established best practices for when and how to provide it.” In fact, “a discussion of the absence of evidence supporting this approach” is actually required for securing informed consent from patients. It seems that parents will actually be powerless to stop the government from supplying their children with fentanyl, as safer supply technically counts as a health-care intervention and youth have substantial control over their own medical decisions in Canada. While some provinces set a minimum age (typically between 14 and 16 years old) for when minors can make such decisions, BC has no minimum and relies instead on a fluid idea of “capability”—youth in the province are considered “capable” if they understand what a medical intervention involves, why it is needed and its risks and benefits. https://lnkd.in/etYj_UkC

BRAINWeek blog‼️ 24 states allow recreational cannabis and 38 states allow medical cannabis (as of the time of this writing). If you live in one of these states, chances are you’ve had discussions with your patients regarding recreational use and medical use. Your response likely depended on which camp you fall into: Cannabis is a panacea and will cure any disease, or cannabis is the devil’s grass and will cause the downfall of society. The reality is somewhere in the middle. https://hubs.li/Q02mHq-Z0 #BRAINWeekcns #BRAINWeek #BRAINWeek2024 #BRAINWeekconference #BRAINWeekmedicalconference #BRAINWeekArizona #ScottsdaleArizona #brainhealth #brain #braincourses #braintopics #brainconference #ce #cme #medicaleducation #medicalcourses #medicalsessions #WestinKierlandResortandSpa #ADHD #ADD #Psychedelics #Alzheimers #Cannabinoids #Mentalhealthdisorders #Dementia #Alzheimers #Sleepdisorders

Clear your schedule and put some time in your diary for this paper! Anyone who works with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, in whatever capacity, needs to read this paper. We have always known that Western ideologies are not a good fit and are deliberately harmful to Indigenous people. This paper unpacks attachment theory, a Western ideology, and shines a light on how to privilege Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. Well done to the authors, especially Ash Wright!

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum disorder. The one you will rarely ever see one person ever to think of a possibility they may have it. Let alone talk about it. Our community has been pushed back for far to long. We HAVE to start this conversation. #fasd #adhd #autism #neurodivergent #neurodivergence #frustrating #fasdawareness #fasdadvocate #advocacy #disabilityinclusion #disabilityawareness #noamountissafe #fetalalcoholspectrumdisorder #fetalalcoholsyndrome #morecommon #raiseawareness #educational #leftout #alone #CapCut #cillianmurphy #seefasd