Little Buds Occupational Therapy
is a Mobile Paediatric Practice
servicing areas of South East Melbourne.
Email: enquiries@littlebudstherapy.com Phone: 0493 595 548
New Graduate Program
We are excited to offer new graduates and early start therapists (those with under one year of experience), our Little Buds Graduate program.
The first year of a new graduate's working life can be quite overwhelming, often feeling like there is too much to know, uni just scratched the surface, like you don't know anything and parents will expect you to know everything! While these feelings are normal, it is vital to have a support network which builds you up with your skills and your confidence, and gives you the support to ask questions, debrief and feel like you are not alone.
We have developed and fine-tuned our New Graduate Program to help facilitate the transition of new graduates from OT students into high-quality paediatric-focused, and confident Occupational Therapists. We do this through the provision of continued, tailored, and structured support, with a reduced caseload in the first 12 months of employment.
Program Outline
In order to best support, the program is tailored to each graduate and has been designed with an increased level of structured ongoing support alongside professional developmental, ample opportunities to observe, interact, and learn from more experienced therapists, as well as a reduced caseload.
The Little Buds Graduate Program Training Structure:
0 - 3 weeks:
Get to know us and how we work.
1:1 training and shadowing with experienced Little Buds OTs to see how each of them work, ask questions, and become more comfortable around our clientele.
Start to become more involved by planning sessions and writing session notes.
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Learn our systems, policies and procedures, as well as the developmental model which underpins everything that we do (DIR Floortime).
Access to our in-house training system full of webinars and videos.
4 weeks - 6 months:
Gain more confidence
and find your feet.
Start to slowly build your caseload to 4 clients a day (4 days per week) by assessing clients with an experienced Little Buds OT (initially observing them complete the assessments, and then giving it a go yourself while they support you).
The first 6 clients become a collaborative effort where you assess, complete classroom observations, and provide up to 6 therapy sessions together. This means that you will have an experienced OT with you for at least a part of each client day, so that you can debrief, reflect, and ask questions.
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Weekly team meetings and weekly mentoring with your Team Leader. Additional daily self-directed CPD time to keep learning.
6 months - 12 months:
Become your own OT.
Building caseload to 5 clients per day (3 days per week) and 4 clients one day a week. With one non-client office day per week for connecting with the team, admin, report writing, self-directed learning, etc...
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Weekly team meetings with all OTs and weekly mentoring with Team Leader and the New Grad/Therapy Assistant team.
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Continued opportunities for Professional Development.
If this sounds like an incredible start-to-your-career, then please apply by sending your Cover Letter & Resume to:
enquiries@littlebudstherapy.com
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HINT: we only take 1-2 New Graduates per year, as we like to give them as much of our time as possible, so please make sure your cover letter outlines specifically why you would like to work with us and what would make you a good fit for our New Graduate Program.