Assignment 1: Preparing for Mentorship

• Reflect on the First Impressions Podcast and Meeting Your Mentor Handout.
• What do you envision gaining from your mentorship?
• What actions will you take to ensure you get the most from your experiences?
• How is this preparing you for the future?

Ever since seventh grade, I have known I wanted to be an occupational therapist. The summer after tenth grade, I worked a single week at Essential Therapy Services to see if this career was still my dream. After the week was finished, I truly knew I wanted to be an occupational therapist, and the only thing I regretted about my week was that it passed so quickly without allowing me to see the children making any true progress.

This mentorship will allow me to connect with many local therapists, learn their stories, ask them questions about their careers, and learn things only they know. A major part of occupational therapy is creatively solving problems. For example, nearly every day therapists are asked to use limited resources to interest children in working toward specific goals that they may or may not enjoy. This mentorship will allow me to observe these problem solving skills in action and apply them to my own patients in the future.

I intend to gain a wealth of knowledge throughout this mentorship. By asking many questions to current therapists and observing the ways they conduct their sessions, I will learn more than I ever could in a classroom. Also, by interacting with various families, I will learn how to more easily interact with special needs children and assist them in meeting their goals. All of this knowledge will be directly applied to my own career in occupational therapy one day in the future.

When meeting my mentor I will ensure I greet them, introduce myself, and ask leading questions. These greetings will be the basis for my first impression and I intend to make a good one. Throughout my internship, I will always strive to maintain a positive attitude, remember each therapist and child's name, and take initiative in many situations. Although most of the therapists dress casually, as an intern I will dress more professionally than expected, to make a good impression, but will also dress so that I am able to fully participate in each session. For example, although a dress may be appropriate for an internship at a law office, that would simply be impractical because I would not be able to sit on the floor with the kids and this would limit nearly all of our interactions.