My Community, My Family

October 22, 2019
by Catherine

Life Hacks

It’s that time of the year, midterms, and most of you (MAII second years) are at your full week of fieldwork. During this first semester of the OTD, these milestones of the curriculum don’t resonate as strongly, as we are out in the wild, practicing, most of us in class for only one day of the week. While there is a sense of relief that the stress of midterm tests and assignments are no longer at the top of my list of worries, there was always a sense of comradery that I was able to share with my cohort along the way (shout out to my Cohort B!). Like the poem goes, “We’re all in this together.”

It’s also that time of year of pumpkin spice, and everything nice. Halloween is just around the corner, and then it will Thanksgiving, and so on. You get the picture. It’s the beginning of the time of the year where family, friends, and loved ones can share experiences, occupations and make stories. While I love my family, and miss my friends back home, I’m grateful to have a family here at Chan that I have shared and continue to share these moments with.

The truth is, during residency, you won’t have the luxury of seeing your cohort every day. You won’t be sharing these experiences together as a group. This is, unless you have a co-resident at your practice setting. But what you will have, is your Community of Practice. In the OT 620 class, that you enroll in the first semester of the program, you can expect to be placed into groups of peers/colleagues that share a commonality of practice area. Through my weekly check-ins with my CoP, we are able to mutually support each other through discussions, debrief and resource sharing, specific to our practice area. We even have a journal club!

So while I may not have my entire cohort, I now have my Community of Practice. My family, my support system, and together we got each other’s back. So my little take away I hope to share through this post is to cherish the cohort you have today, and look forward to your Community of Practice in the future.

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