|
So, you trained for 3-4 years, spent tens of thousands of pounds, passed exams, written dissertations, got all your clinic hours, seen patients, put life on hold and you've finally done it …you’re now a qualified osteopath!
Congratulations!
You are now on your own.
With no one you trust and respect to ask for help.
If you’re lucky you may have the principal osteopath in the clinic to help you – if they have time outside of seeing their own patients.
You may have been promised mentorship, but in reality, is that working? Or is it adhoc at best?
You’ve got the title and so you should know what you are doing, right?
All you need now is some experience…..
1 year, 2 years, 5 years go by….
You’re gaining experience but why is it that you still feel like you don’t know what you are doing?
You’re not going to admit that to anyone though. That could be embarrassing!🫣
Here’s the thing, experience alone is not enough to give you confidence in your clinical decisions. It’s a bit like running. You could keep doing laps around the track and there will be some improvement, but you’re unlikely to excel.
What you’re missing:
The first missing piece is - Integration
You know some anatomy, you’ve learnt some techniques, you’ve heard the principles but all this needs to come together when you are facing a patient in your clinic.
And although that make sense in theory, it is not as easy as it at first perhaps seems.
That’s because you’re trying to do it all or most of it on your own.
Many osteopaths are left in private practice to figure it out for themselves.
Now, there are some osteopaths who think they already know everything, they won’t have read this far!
There are some osteopaths that just want to collect certificates and techniques. Professional development is good, we’re all for that, but it’s only valuable if you can apply it in your practice and it actually makes a difference to your patients, your confidence in making clinical judgements and your ability to DO osteopathy.
- You can have all the knowledge, but if you can’t use your hands effectively, then you can’t call yourself an osteopath.
- You could be great at technique, your success measured by the number ‘cracks’ you get out of someone’s spine, but if you’re doing this without about reason why, then you’re not doing osteopathy.
- You can recite the principles of osteopathy, but what does that actually mean. Our 11 year old can do that!
If you are tired of Death by Diploma: just another course to add to your collection that doesn’t actually help you get results with your patients, then you need to try a different approach. What got you here, won’t get you there. If you keep doing the same thing, you’ll keep getting the same results.
You’re only doing osteopathy and can call yourself an osteopath – in our opinion – if you integrate principles, anatomy and skillful technique into meaningful clinical reasoning which directly impacts on patient outcomes.
This results in you restoring your SELF INTEGRITY, having CLARITY and feeling CONFIDENT in being not just a good osteopath but an extraordinary one. Patients talk and by helping your patients, you’ll grow not only your practice but your reputation as well. People will happily travel miles for an exceptional service. (We know this, because that is exactly our experience).
BUT – if you continue struggling on your own, you might get there eventually – but do you want to spend the rest of career struggling?
The second missing piece that is essential is
Mentorship and Guidance
Jamie had always said he wished he’d had someone who he could have just asked a question to. Someone who is trusted, respected, had a rich osteopathic experience and had the time and desire to help.
Without a coach you just won’t achieve what you are fully capable of.
You can see patients, watch videos on youtube, see patients, read books, see patients, go on courses, see patients, collect diplomas, see patients, practice and refine techniques BUT without a coach, a mentor who’s there to answer your questions, however small, discuss your cases, challenge your thinking and empower you to integrate principles, anatomy and technique then you’ll plateau, probably become bored and disillusioned.
You could throw a javelin 10 times, 20 times, 30 times, 100 times but without a coach you’re more likely to just be reinforcing bad habits than actually making progress and massive improvement. Without seeing your progress, you're likely to want to just give up.
Some osteopaths are happy being average and that’s ok,
But the fact you are still here reading this tells me you’re not. Ask yourself, how good do you want to be?
If you want to be an extraordinary osteopath – then you’re in the right place.
Are you ready for a new approach?
Then join us in The League of Extraordinary Osteopaths (The LXO).
Click the link below to find out more.
|
