BUSHkids Annual Report 2022-23

TROHPIQ is Queensland’s rural health student network dedicated to helping medical, nursing and allied health and is a long-time supporter of BUSHkids. This year once again saw TROHPIQ hold their “Bow Ties and Beauties” event in support of BUSHkids. Newly-minted OT Bridie Reid with her gymkhana student success Georgia. Supporting students BUSHkids contributes to the development of future Allied Health professionals through strong links with universities and offering student placements. Engaging students at BUSHkids has created a pathway to recruiting Allied Health professionals. High quality professional supervision arrangements, flexible working hours, competitive salaries, opportunities to work in teams, a positive workplace culture; and applying a child-focused and family- centred approach to our practice, makes BUSHkids an unique organisation to work for, one appealing to new graduates. … from student to employee Bridie commenced her journey with BUSHkids in August 2022 as an Occupational Therapy student. This was her final student placement before her graduation from Charles Darwin University. Bridie excelled in her placement, demonstrating an eagerness to learn and support families and children living in rural and remote locations. Following her student placement, Bridie was offered an Occupational Therapist (OT) position with the BUSHkids Dalby team. During the two months between graduating and receiving her registration, Bridie continued to support the team in a paid Allied Health Assistant role. Once registered, she began working in the full-time OT position. Within this role, BUSHkids supported Bridie’s successful application for the Services for Australian Rural & Remote Allied Health (SARRAH) scholarship to complete her Graduate Diploma of Rural Generalist Practice (at JCU) for early career professionals. Bridie loves helping children discover their potential, to ensure they can participate in meaningful and motivating activities: especially evident when she helped Georgia develop skills to achieve her goal of “remembering the pony club gymkhana games.” Georgia was referred to BUSHkids for support with her attention and concentration. During the initial ‘getting to know you’ OT sessions, Georgia and her Mum mentioned that recalling the pony club mounted games is tricky for Georgia. During OT sessions, Bridie created a ‘mini-gymkhana’ in the therapy room. Georgia practiced the flag race, bending, barrels and running T. She provided Georgia with strategies to support her confidence, memory and concentration. Georgia’s favourite strategy to ‘tame her butterflies’ (nerves) was to imagine her horse, Polly, dressed up as a clown! Georgia achieved her goal and successfully competed in the Dalby gymkhana. She was understandably very proud of herself. TROHPIQ – Towards Rural and Outback Health Professionals in Queensland hours student learning 17 students 7 universities 4 disciplines SPEECH PATHOLOGY OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY PSYCHOLOGY SOCIAL WORK SW 22 Annual Report 2022–23

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