cOnnecT with Denise Kendrick

Interview with Denise Kendrick, winner of the CAOT Fieldwork Educator Award of Excellence

Why did you choose OT as a career?

After completing an undergrad in psychology and post baccalaureate diploma in gerontology, I was looking at career options. I loved the idea of pursuing gerontology but also wanted a career with job security and a professional qualification. I came across OT and just felt that it fit well with my educational background, passion for health promotion and desire for job security.

What is your favourite thing about CAOT-BC?

CAOT-BC provides excellent opportunities for professional development at a local level and through broader advocacy for the profession. Now that I’m in an OT position that is somewhat isolated, it helps to keep me connected with what is going on in the profession at a local and national level.

Where have you worked over your career? Where do you work now?

My first job was as a casual at Vancouver General Hospital, with my first assignment on acute medicine, where I had one of my favourite clinical placements. It felt familiar which was nice. From there I stayed in medicine for about 8 years before being seconded into a practice support role as a Clinical Resource Therapist. This stretched me outside of my comfort zone and gave me an opportunity to take on a new challenge in education and practice support. It also helped me gain momentum and increased my confidence in taking on new challenges, which led to coming into the Multiple Sclerosis Clinic to develop a student enhanced clinic. It has been a challenging 4 years in this position but the opportunity to work as a researcher, educator and clinician in a specialized area is really unique and special.

What has been your most interesting job?

They have all be interesting in such different ways. I’d say acute care was interesting as there was never a dull moment, a lot of outrageous stories and good laughs among colleagues over coffee. I still get nostalgic for those days. My current job is interesting in a whole other way. I get to slow down in the MS Clinic, learn a lot about an interesting and specialized area of practice and be creative in how I deliver OT services. It’s a different kind of interesting.

What do you find most challenging about working as an OT?

This is a tough one. I think there is an expectation of front line clinicians to be more than clinicians. We are often asked to take on roles as educators, researchers and leaders, which can be hard as it’s often off the side of our desks. Having said that, this expectation also presents tremendous opportunity and leads to front line clinicians doing some pretty amazing work. I’ve seen OTs build or re-vamp programs from the ground up, which can results in very clinically relevant changes.  So it’s a blessing and a curse I guess!

Tell me about someone who has influenced your OT practice?

I would have to say Patti Erlendson, who has influenced many OTs in her time with Providence Health Authority and Vancouver Coastal Health and is a CAOT-BC Outstanding OT of the Year Award recipient. The most important lesson I learned from Patti was to be courageous and stand by your professional principles, even when faced with challenge. Patti had a wonderful way of managing the political minefield of public health care while upholding the profession to the highest standards. And she never seemed tired!

What do you think will change/shape practice over the next five years?

I would like to think that the general interest in self-management in health care will lead to more opportunities for OTs to work outside of settings that focus on putting out fires. It would be great to see the creation of more positions like the one I am in, where I’m able to work with people who are still functioning at a relatively high level to assist them in maintaining their independence. I guess this really speaks to the role of OT in primary care. I think what we need to be cautious of in this area is resisting the cookie cutter approach. I’ve seen a move towards a group based self-management approach, which doesn’t work for all clients. I’d hate to see OTs lose the ability to employ creativity when working with clients one-to-one to apply concepts unique to their situations. I guess I hope to see expansion of the OT role, but not at the expense of loss in other areas.

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