From Travel Therapist to Home: The Journey That Shaped My OT Career
Travel: Weekend trips, annual trips to the beach, or a day trip to a new city. A combination of eating good food, sight-seeing, relaxing somewhere other than home, and spending quality time with the person I’m traveling with. When I considered travel therapy as a career, it scared me at first - the unknown, the unfamiliar. '
But surprise: I graduated college and decided to dive headfirst into travel therapy. One of the best parts: I was able to go through that journey with my best friend. It was so helpful having another person to go through the journey with.
Let’s talk about where I started:
Scottsboro, Alabama:
I was very hesitant to travel here at first. It appeared very secluded with nothing and to be 10 hours away from home and hate where I was living was a big fear of mine. I’m very thankful that I lived in Huntsville, which is a larger city close to Scottsboro. Since I spent all of my time in Huntsville, that’s what I will talk about. My recruiter encouraged me to accept the job because it was my first job as a travel occupational therapist and my first job out of college. Once I had this one on my resume, it was presumed to be easier to land future jobs. I packed up my Jeep Compass and within the month I was on my way to Huntsville. I decided to travel a month early to explore and settle in; that was a great decision.
Huntsville is an amazing city. My favorite parts of the city are:
1. The southern style food
2. Gorgeous parks with Koi Fish
3. Botanical Garden
4. Space museum
5. Friends I met
6. Hiking and walking trails
7. Weather was amazing
There were some negatives though…
1. 10 hours from home (I had some family emergencies while I was a way)
2. No beaches (this was fine, I just LOVE the beach)
3. Rattle snakes
Believe it or not, my rotation only lasted 3 weeks so I had to quickly apply to new jobs and found an amazing opportunity in Virginia!
Virginia Beach, Virginia:
Virginia Beach was such an amazing experience, here are some of my favorites:
1. Weather is incredible
2. THE BEACH
3. So many fun spots, restaurants, etc.
4. Short commute to work
Some cons:
1. No true hiking in the area
2. Expensive
3. Crowded, especially during summer, and due to heavy military presence
I loved Virginia Beach so much that I decided to stay there working full time for another 7 months, until Covid-19 hit, and it was time to come back home.
I was so lucky to be able to travel to such great locations. It was such a blessing to be paid well while practicing OT and traveling! Although, I must admit, after my first week in Huntsville, I told myself I was going to change careers. I thought I hated it! I had never wanted to work in a nursing home and that’s where I ended up. I had no idea how to complete an evaluation; my first one took me 4 hours. I didn’t know how to sign progress reports, daily notes, complete recertifications, or do anything on our documentation system! I was also the only OTR/L, so I didn’t have a mentor or someone to help guide me regularly. It was very challenging, and I was exhausted every single day.
This turned out to be yet another blessing. Why, you ask? It pushed me to become a strong and independent OT. Some qualities I grew from being a travel therapist included:
Flexibility-scheduling, new documentation systems, and working with new staff.
Leadership-being a new and young OT had its challenges, but I had to step up to be a leader for the OTA’s I was supervising.
Skilled documentation -mostly because I wanted my notes to sound smart and well thought out!
Creativity- Working in multiple settings with different equipment, or limited equipment, you must become creative.
Travel therapy is rewarding, fun, but can be very stressful at times. I believe flexibility is the most important quality to have while doing travel therapy. I’m so happy to use everything I learned before as a travel therapist in my day-to-day work with Balanced Living. My experiences help me to provide meaningful, quality care to every single client we see. And although I love traveling and it was a huge part of my life, I’m happy to be settled down in the capital district while building my career and the family I’ve always dreamt of.
