Top 10 tips to staying sane during "role emerging" fieldwork 

For supervisors

Tip #1 Reduce stress by never hosting students. . .(JOKE!!!) . . .keeping a sense of humour and staying down to earth goes a long way

Tip #2 Give yourself permission to be on a journey paralleling the student. . . it’s ok stretching, growing and learning along the way

Tip #3 Foster a sense of belonging and ownership early as possible . . . it’s like dancing, if you can make your partner shine, it’s much more enjoyable for you too!

Tip #4 Remember yuor student memories . . .how the supervisor made you feel about being an learner and about being an OT was more important than a string of splinter skills

Tip #5 Minimize brain strain with a student . . .preparing templates and a list of learning opportunities to draw from whilst you don’t have a student!

Tip #6 Know what you D-I-Y therapeutic occupations are. . . eg Latin dancing means getting to unwind and follow instead of lead

Tip #7 Make a fuss over closure. . .privately or with the student, acknowledge what has been learnt, accomplished and developed and so on before moving into the next chapter.

Tip #8 Enrich self care occupations with simple and refreshing flourishes . . .shower and pamper, sleep and aromatherapy burner, dinner and candles etc

Tip #9 Take a chill pill by thinking about the consequences. . .some balls bounce when you drop them, relatively few really break

Tip #10 Set out to enjoy they journey now, not just the bigger picture of why you take students. . .expect to have fun and with a few rare exceptions, you most often will