I believe that wonderful things happen when we step outside our comfort zone and do things that scare us, when we’re brave and allow ourselves to be vulnerable.

There was recently a discussion on twitter about SLTs presenting a calm exterior even when we’re panicking or out of control on the inside. We all know this feeling! It got me thinking, we need to present ourselves in a way that inspires confidence in the people we work with. We also need to bring our vulnerability to work – and not worry about people seeing our uncertainty. It’s hard and something I continue to struggle with.

When I assess, diagnose and carry out therapy it’s detective work, it’s uncertain, I don’t know what I’ll find or how clients will respond — it’s one reason why I love it! I need to be honest with my clients and colleagues; I set hypotheses based on my clinical experience and the research evidence, then I test them. If I don’t get the results I want, I tweak, pivot, or try something else completely, it’s all part of the process.

I can’t answer questions like: how long will therapy take? (Although I wish I could!) I don’t know. And that’s okay. By modelling vulnerability I can support families. I’m asking them to try new things, it’ll be hard and there’ll be challenges. To support people through the therapy process I need to connect with them, I can’t connect with them if at the same time I’m trying to hide from them. I need to model taking off my armour (Brené Brown explores this in her wonderful book Daring Greatly) and being fully myself.

Karen McGrane wrote an amazing piece on this theme for the online magazine A List Apart. She’s  a Content Strategy Consultant so writes from a different perspective and yet it really resonates with me. She’s an inspiration. Check it out. Warning: Karen uses strong language in the article, it works. For her explanation of why, see comment 29.

I’ve been thinking about how parents see speech and language therapy because at the end of the month I’ll leave my NHS role and move into independent practice. I’m scared, and way outside of my comfort zone (with the business side of things!) I know I need to demonstrate to parents that they can trust me, I hope by being vulnerable I can also show them that we’ll be learning from each other.

For more on vulnerability check out  Brené Brown’s TEDx talk: The power of vulnerability.

I’m supervising two new graduate Speech and Language Therapists. They’re thoughtful and skilled clinicians who’ve taught me a lot. It’s a difficult time to be starting out in the NHS — just scheduling supervision sessions is a challenge.

When I started working as an SLT I remember feeling like I’d been thrown in the deep end while still getting support from my new colleagues. I’m trying to give my new graduates a similar experience. Learning can be uncomfortable, and that’s okay, but I don’t want them to drown.

I’ve been reflecting on how things are going and realised:

The new graduates sometimes don’t know what they don’t know – so unpicking what they’re really asking is often my first step.

They’re trying to demonstrate their independence and not make too many mistakes. I remember the internal monologue: can I ask my supervisor this question? Should I already know the answer? I’ve asked her 7 questions already this morning, is that too many? Again, it’s about balance.

They have different learning styles. Some people might find it hard to remember details about children they saw a while back. Observing their therapy sessions and feeding back immediately afterwards can work well. Other therapists are more detail focussed and benefit from support to see how decisions about individual children affect the service as a whole.

I find Brene Brown’s Engaged Feedback Checklist is a useful resource. I’ve been focussing on sitting next to, rather than across from the graduates, recognising their strengths and trying to model vulnerability.

Do you have effective strategies for supervising graduates in their first role? Can you remember what helped the most when you started out? Let me know!

Photograph by easylocum.