{"id":8858,"date":"2022-05-03T00:19:56","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T13:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/recoveryafterstroke.com\/?p=8858"},"modified":"2022-05-30T15:35:11","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T04:35:11","slug":"aiming-for-greater-recovery-outcomes-marabeth-quin-danielle-stoller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/recoveryafterstroke.com\/aiming-for-greater-recovery-outcomes-marabeth-quin-danielle-stoller\/","title":{"rendered":"Aiming For Greater Recovery Outcomes – Marabeth Quin & Danielle Stoller"},"content":{"rendered":"
Marabeth Quin & Daniele Stoller created Expanded Practice to teach physical, occupational, and speech therapists how to start utilizing the power of positive mindsets in the recovery process so they can help them reach greater recovery outcomes.<\/strong><\/p>\n Facebook<\/a> Highlights:<\/p>\n 01:48 Introduction Transcription<\/p>\n Danielle Stoller 0:00 Danielle Stoller 0:13 Danielle Stoller 0:29 Intro 0:47 Bill Gasiamis 0:59 Bill Gasiamis 1:14 Bill Gasiamis 1:31 Bill Gasiamis 2:07 Bill Gasiamis 2:21 Bill Gasiamis 2:47 Bill Gasiamis 3:06 Bill Gasiamis 3:33 Marabeth Quinn 3:55 Danielle Stoller 3:56 Bill Gasiamis 3:57 Marabeth Quinn 4:06 Bill Gasiamis 4:18 Danielle Stoller 4:22 Bill Gasiamis 4:32 Danielle Stoller 4:40 Danielle Stoller 4:58 Bill Gasiamis 5:22 Danielle Stoller 5:33 Danielle Stoller 5:54 Bill Gasiamis 6:07 Bill Gasiamis 6:25 Bill Gasiamis 6:43 Bill Gasiamis 7:01 Marabeth Quinn 7:21 Marabeth Quinn 7:50 Bill Gasiamis 8:15 Marabeth Quinn 8:22 Bill Gasiamis 8:23 Marabeth Quinn 8:26 Marabeth Quinn 8:43 Marabeth Quinn 9:06 Marabeth Quinn 9:29 Marabeth Quinn 9:54 Marabeth Quinn 10:15 Marabeth Quinn 10:34 Marabeth Quinn 10:57 Bill Gasiamis 11:19 Bill Gasiamis 11:35 Bill Gasiamis 11:53 Bill Gasiamis 12:15 Bill Gasiamis 12:39 Bill Gasiamis 12:58 Bill Gasiamis 13:13 Danielle Stoller 13:42 Danielle Stoller 14:00 Danielle Stoller 14:39 Danielle Stoller 15:04 Bill Gasiamis 15:32 Bill Gasiamis 15:51 Bill Gasiamis 16:14 Marabeth Quinn 16:29 Bill Gasiamis 17:03 Marabeth Quinn 17:07 Marabeth Quinn 17:32 Marabeth Quinn 17:56 Marabeth Quinn 18:26 Marabeth Quinn 18:51 Marabeth Quinn 19:07 Marabeth Quinn 19:27 Marabeth Quinn 19:44 Marabeth Quinn 20:09 Marabeth Quinn 20:27 Bill Gasiamis 20:52 Bill Gasiamis 21:06 Danielle Stoller 21:54 Danielle Stoller 22:24 Danielle Stoller 22:47 Danielle Stoller 23:14 Danielle Stoller 23:48 Bill Gasiamis 24:15 Marabeth Quinn 24:28 Marabeth Quinn 24:51 Marabeth Quinn 25:09 Marabeth Quinn 25:32 Marabeth Quinn 25:58 Marabeth Quinn 26:19 Marabeth Quinn 26:43 Marabeth Quinn 27:12 Marabeth Quinn 27:40 Marabeth Quinn 28:10 Bill Gasiamis 28:47 Bill Gasiamis 29:17 Bill Gasiamis 29:44 Bill Gasiamis 30:10 Danielle Stoller 30:28 Danielle Stoller 30:49 Danielle Stoller 31:15 Bill Gasiamis 31:46 Danielle Stoller 31:51 Danielle Stoller 32:13 Bill Gasiamis 32:37 Bill Gasiamis 32:52 Bill Gasiamis 33:10 Bill Gasiamis 33:38 Bill Gasiamis 34:02 Bill Gasiamis 34:30 Bill Gasiamis 34:56 Bill Gasiamis 35:25 Bill Gasiamis 35:46 Bill Gasiamis 36:06 Bill Gasiamis 36:30 Bill Gasiamis 36:54 Bill Gasiamis 37:21 Bill Gasiamis 37:53 Bill Gasiamis 38:28 Marabeth Quinn 38:59 Bill Gasiamis 39:00 Bill Gasiamis 39:19 Marabeth Quinn 39:36 Intro 39:36 Intro 39:55
\nInstagram<\/a>
\nWebsite<\/a><\/p>\n
\n05:22 Never Say Never
\n08:15 Danielle Stoller
\n14:24 The Right Kind of Tool
\n21:22 How Marabeth And Danielle Met
\n28:47 Mindset Chapter One By Bill Gasiamis
\n35:46 The Power Positivity
\n43:38 The Four Questions
\n52:17 Having Good Communication Skills
\n1:04:20 The Indispensable Therapist: Clearing The Lens
\n1:12:38 Realizing The Gifts<\/p>\n
\nI authentically believe that your brain is amazing, I can continue to heal with the right input. I know that I have gone to extensive continuing Ed and I know how to treat a stroke patient very well.<\/p>\n
\nAnd I believe that I can set up the environment, both external and as much internal as I can affect to help you optimize your healing potential. And so when I start talking and doing things and watching my patients.<\/p>\n
\nAnd really observe their emotional responses to what I’m doing their physical responses to what I’m doing, they start to feel differently. And they oftentimes will say, why hasn’t anyone done this before?<\/p>\n
\nThis is the recovery after stroke podcast, with Bill Gasiamis, helping you navigate recovery after stroke.<\/p>\n
\nHello, and welcome to another episode of the recovery after stroke podcast. Recently, Spotify released a new feature that allows people to now rate their favorite shows in the same way that the apple podcast app allows it.<\/p>\n
\nSo if you’re an Apple podcast app, kind of person or a Spotify kind of person, please go along and leave the show a five-star review. If you think it deserves that. That is, I’d love it if you left the show review because this will help the show rank better on search engines.<\/p>\n
\nAnd it’ll help newly diagnosed stroke survivors find the show better, quicker, easier, and it could make a massive difference in their recovery. So go to your favorite podcast app now and share what the podcast means for you. It really will make a huge difference, and it will help people in their stroke recovery.<\/p>\nIntroduction – Expanded Practice<\/h3>\n
\nBill Gasiamis 1:48
\nNow, this is episode 192. And my guests today are Marybeth Quinn, whose daughter had a stroke when she was 1910 years ago, and who decided that there was more that could be done to support her daughter’s recovery that other therapists were not doing.<\/p>\n
\nAnd my other guest today is Danielle Stoller, who was an occupational therapist who almost walked away from the profession. Until the fateful day when Marabeth walked into her practice.<\/p>\n
\nAges later, together, they created expanded practice.com, an organization that teaches physical, occupational and speech therapists to start utilizing the power of positive mindsets and expectations in the recovery process so that they can connect with their patients on a more significant level and help them reach greater recovery potential.<\/p>\n
\nExpanded practice is passionate about improving the rehab experience for patients and therapists that both thrive and achieve the highest possible outcome. Now, if you’re in therapy right now, and listening to this, or your loved one is in therapy right now, and listening to this.<\/p>\n
\nThis would be a great episode to share with their therapists right now. They are probably looking for new ways to expand their skills and achieve a better work-life balance to become better therapists, better mothers, better fathers better human beings at home, and also to become better at helping their patients achieve greater outcomes.<\/p>\n
\nSo just listen to this episode, and you’ll know exactly what I mean and why I think that you should share this episode. So please do I hope you love the episode as much as I do. And without further ado, let’s get on with the show. Marabeth Quni, and Danielle Stoller, welcome to the podcast.<\/p>\n
\nThanks. We’re so glad to be here.<\/p>\n
\nThanks for having us.<\/p>\n
\nThank you for being here. Firstly, let me just ask Marabeth to introduce yourself and then we’ll go with Danielle.<\/p>\n
\nHi, I’m Marabeth Quin, and I am a mother of a stroke survivor. So I’m really glad to be here today, because we have a lot in common.<\/p>\n
\nWell, we certainly do. And Danielle?<\/p>\n
\nI am a physical therapist. I’ve been a physical therapist for 21 years, and for the last 10 years I have treated predominantly stroke survivors.<\/p>\n
\nFantastic. So tell me Danielle, why are you predominantly treating stroke survivors? What’s so special about us?<\/p>\n
\nOh, stroke. Rehab is challenging. It’s fascinating. I love working with the brain. I love watching people transform and I love knowing that the brain can continue to get better with good input and practice.<\/p>\n
\nAnd being part of that and helping a patient through that has really been a great joy for me. So the more I learned about it, and the better I got at it, the more I wanted to learn more and get better, because I think there are so many patients that have potential that is untapped. So that’s why I like doing this.<\/p>\nNever Say Never<\/h3>\n
\nYou need to speak to some of those doctors that tell stroke survivors that, hang on a sec, you’ve had a stroke, your left side doesn’t work, you’re probably not going to walk ever again.<\/p>\n
\nYes, those health care providers are quite frustrating. And I think it’s both Marabeth and I that’s one of our missions is to do what we do. And maybe more people will hear that those kinds of predictions are just not accurate.<\/p>\n
\nAnd even studies are showing that they’re not accurate. So hopefully, these doctors that are saying those things will catch on, because it’s just not true. And it’s not helpful for the patient at all, to hear that.<\/p>\n
\nNo, not helpful at all, and it could put some people in a real tailspin. And can create a lot of setbacks early on in the process, when the last thing you need, because you’ve had all the setbacks already, you’re in hospital, and you can’t feel one of your sides or it’s not working.<\/p>\n
\nOr both sides for some people. And then the last thing you need is a doctor to come in, and superimpose the negativity on already a situation that it’s not that bright and positive. And it’s just really challenging.<\/p>\n
\nAnd I thought when I had my first brain hemorrhage 10 years ago, and then I had a second one and then had a third one. But when I had that happen, I thought that doctors were saying that then, you know long time ago when it was like back in the day?<\/p>\n
\nWell they’re not they’re still saying it now I get comments from people regularly who tell me that the doctor said this, and the doctor said that and they’re reaching out for support to find out is it possible to get better and overcome that even though I’ve just started this process, or I’m 12 months in or 18 months in?<\/p>\n
\nYeah, it’s crazy. I don’t understand at all, why doctors are saying that. Now I understand that they don’t get maybe out in the field a lot. But there is research. And the thing about that is so much of the research shows that when people believe that they’ve run out of time, then they don’t act in ways that can change that.<\/p>\n
\nAnd so in a way, those predictions that they’re handing out based on statistics are actually self fulfilling. They’re perpetuating people not getting better. And there is nothing at all to that time limit they give people that has not been our experience in the least. So I’m sure we’re not special in that, you know?<\/p>\nMarabeth Quin<\/h3>\n
\nNo, not at all. Tell me about your daughter Marabeth, was it your daughter or your son? I forgot to ask.<\/p>\n
\nDaughter.<\/p>\n
\nYes. What happened?<\/p>\n
\nWell, it was in 2012. She was just a few weeks shy of her 19th birthday. Her name is Sophie, she was away at college. And we got a call late one night that she had fallen on a treadmill.<\/p>\n
\nSo thinking that it was nothing too big. We sent her brother who was also living in the city where she was in Chicago. And we sent him to the hospital and said go check on Sophie. And he called us and said, well, I’m here, I think she knows who I am but mom, she’s not talking.<\/p>\n
\nAnd in that moment, I think I realized, well, this is something, something has happened. And during our drive to Chicago, we definitely got the call, you know your daughter’s had a massive stroke. And there it was, you know, I didn’t know anything about stroke at that time.<\/p>\n
\nI didn’t know young people could have a stroke. I didn’t know what it meant for your life when you have a stroke was completely a blank slate. But I decided that I was not going to listen to anyone. I was just going to believe in possibilities and believe in my daughter.<\/p>\n
\nAnd when we got to the hospital, we had the experience that you just described exactly where the neurologist came in with all of these residents, because it was a teaching hospital, and they all asked us all these questions, tons and tons of questions.<\/p>\n
\nAnd then when they were done, he stepped up and he said, your daughter has had a massive stroke that’s damaged over 80% of the left hemisphere of her brain. And then he looked at her and he sort of shook his head and he said, she might walk again, with a cane.<\/p>\n
\nAnd then he left the room. We were absolutely stunned. I just couldn’t believe 1 that he was saying something like that to us and 2 I was thinking, how can you possibly know that? Why would you say that? You cannot predict the future, why would you say something like that? That’s so dismal.<\/p>\n
\nAnd right behind him, the nurse her name was Jessica, I wish I knew her last name, so I could find her. But she walked behind him, closed the door, pull the blinds and then came back over to us. And she said, Do not listen to a word of that, she is young. I have seen miracles.<\/p>\n
\nI’m cringing like it’s making my blood boil. It really is. And it happened ages ago. But it still makes my blood boil. So I had 18 months after my brain surgery, I had thyroid surgery.<\/p>\n
\nAnd the lead up to the thyroid surgery was I had the endocrinologist surgeon was going through the whole process of trying to diagnose me and etc. And they did exactly what you said she walked in the room where there was a resident who was asking me some questions.<\/p>\n
\nShe said, we did the biopsy, it could be cancer, she closed the door, and she walked out. And the resident the poor resident saw the steam start coming out of my ears, she started to defend her. And I said don’t defend her. I will sort her out when she comes back.<\/p>\n
\nAnd she came back and I had to pull her aside. And I said to her listen, we need to have a conversation about what you said and what you did. When you came into that room before. It’s not appropriate for you to walk in and speak to me like that and close the door after you’ve dropped the C bomb.<\/p>\n
\nAnd then she started to apologize and backpedal. And we kind of reset the whole consultation, but it was so terrible. Now I knew I never had cancer. So it was not an issue for me. I’d been through the wringer already, even if it was cancer, it wasn’t going to be something that I was going to be concerned about with.<\/p>\n
\nBut that whole approach, and then she said to me, what happened to your head and I said, I had brain surgery, she goes well, that’s pretty serious. I said, That’s not as serious as what you did when you walked in the room and spoke to me like that.<\/p>\n
\nSo imagine, you know, that Hippocratic Oath, amongst other things, there’s a part in it that says do no harm. Oh, my gosh, those statements are so harmful. And then I imagined Danielle, that you would have been seeing patients like that regularly. And now you have to undo all the stuff that’s been done to them apart from the stroke that they’ve had.<\/p>\n
\nYes. And that really brings us into, what we do is that we work with therapists to really make them master communicators so that you can navigate the psychological and emotional elements that come into play in rehab.<\/p>\n
\nBecause a healthcare provider is seen as an expert to that patient, and what you say carries a lot of weight. And so, you know, I can undo that very quickly. I’ve found with just saying a few of the things that they’ve been longing to hear that I believe authentically are true.<\/p>\nThe Right Kind of Tool<\/h3>\n
\nDanielle Stoller 14:24
\nI authentically believe that your brain is amazing and can continue to heal with the right input. I know that I have gone to extensive continuing Ed and I know how to treat a stroke patient very well.<\/p>\n
\nAnd I believe that I can set up the environment both external and as much internal as I can affect to help you optimize your healing potential. And so when I start talking and doing things and watching my patients and really observe their emotional responses to what I’m doing, physical responses to what I’m doing, they start to feel differently.<\/p>\n
\nAnd they oftentimes will say, why hasn’t anyone done this before? Or, you know, they’ll tell me a story like yours. And, then you just have to say to them something like, Well, I don’t know what your ultimate outcome will be, but I know I have something that I can help you right now. And that’s what they need, they just need a little hope they need you to nurture that hope, and foster it with what you do.<\/p>\n
\nThat’s amazing. See that’s exactly what I needed. And the first hospital I was in, I had to actually gather all my goods and leave that hospital and go to another hospital. Because I had, again, the neurologists would come around with all the residents, they would talk about me at the edge of my bed as if I wasn’t there.<\/p>\n
\nAnd I wouldn’t be involved in the conversation. And then I left. And I, I would imagine marbeth that you experienced that whole same thing. But as a parent, I would have been livid as a patient I was still unwell and a little bit kind of nicer, because they were caring for me.<\/p>\n
\nBut as a parent, I would have been livid. Did you have that experience? Did you have the whole conversation, watching them talking about your daughter, and then trying to reconcile what was happening?<\/p>\n
\nI was livid for the moment. But honestly, since I didn’t know much about stroke, I was mostly just bewildered. Like, I honestly could not figure out why someone could think that would be helpful. Just logically, I could not figure out why. And also how he was getting it confused with facts, and that is something that I think is an actual problem.<\/p>\n
\nOpinion instead of facts of the case in front of you. Wow.<\/p>\n
\nExactly. I think a lot of us confuse the facts. And then the story we have around the facts where we’re extrapolating what we think will happen, those are not facts. And those are also not helpful, if what you’re extrapolating is really dismal.<\/p>\n
\nNow, if what you’re extrapolating is hopeful, then it’s helpful. So that is another thing that we really try to teach therapists that we have storytelling brains, like, we can look at a fact. But our brain immediately tells a story about it, and tries to predict what will happen in the future and why it’s happening and what it means.<\/p>\n
\nWe have meaning-making machines in our head. And so you know, patients are always trying to figure out, they’re writing a story about what they think their chances are, how far they’re going to get an every person that comes into contact with them is playing into that story is giving them bits and pieces that they will make meaning out of.<\/p>\n
\nAnd so what we really try to teach therapists is you got to take this seriously, every word that comes out of your mouth, it either needs to be just not only factual, but what’s necessary. There are 1000s of things that are true. But only some of those things are necessary to know in the moment, and only some of them are actually serving the patient.<\/p>\n
\nAnd so we really just we sort through all that stuff, because that can get I think, very confusing for medical professionals, you know, they, they think, Well, I don’t want to do harm. I don’t want to set somebody up to be disappointed, not realizing because they’ve never been in those shoes.<\/p>\n
\nNo, no, no, that is not the danger here is that you’re going to be hope and be disappointed. The danger is that you’re going to get hopeless and you’re never going to try at all. That’s what the real danger is. And so we just try to really sort that out for them. And you know, just to I don’t want it to be left unsaid.<\/p>\n
\nHere we are. 10 years later, they we were told by people that Sophie had six to 18 months in which she would see some recovery and that was it and like everybody else who’s been told that talk about a stressful experience.<\/p>\n
\nThat is your you’ve got a ticking clock in your head all the time. But here she is 10 years later and she is still gaining ground in all areas. She walks beautifully without cane and you know, she had global aphasia and was completely paralyzed on her right side.<\/p>\n
\nAnd you know, she’s got great movement in her arm again, she’s still working on hand function. But like I said, she works beautifully. And she couldn’t talk for years. Like, I mean literally, like, couldn’t tell you a thought.<\/p>\n
\nAnd now she is talking in mostly complete sentences. And she’s read like 140 books in the last two years. So this time limit business needs to go away, there is no time limit. It’s all about just continuing to give your brain good input and repetition. You can keep getting better.<\/p>\n
\nI just realized I forgot to ask how you guys came together? We’re going to do that next, Danielle will tell us that next. But before we do that, I’m going to offer some rules, I’m sure that most of the people that you’re teaching have seen Fight Club.<\/p>\n
\nAnd the first rule of fight club is we don’t talk about fight club. The second rule of fight club is we don’t talk about fight club. The first rule of occupational therapist school should be, make no meaning in your head.<\/p>\nHow Marabeth Quin And Danielle Stoller Met<\/h3>\n
\nBill Gasiamis 21:22
\nAnd the second one should be, do not offer that meaning should you make it against our advice, do not offer that meaning that you’ve made in your head to the other person that you’re supposed to be helping. So that you’re starting from a fresh, blank slate, and you’re allowing the recovery to emerge, rather than setting parameters on how the recovery should look. Danielle, how did you guys meet?<\/p>\n
\nWe met because Sophie needed physical therapy. And I think what might be kind of interesting to talk about is that when we met, I was actually quite burned out and thinking about quitting my job. In fact, I was looking for ways to quit the profession altogether. Because, you know, the healthcare system can be quite demanding.<\/p>\n
\nThere are productivity expectations, there are insurance restrictions, there are all these things that make doing patient care, quite difficult. And also, at the time, I was approaching patients with a very biomedical mindset, like just going out with a physical therapist that was going to do physical things to their physical body.<\/p>\n
\nAnd I really wasn’t paying that much attention to the emotional psychological parts. I wasn’t trying to affect their mindset. I realized it was at play, but I was like, that’s not really my job. And then Marabeth walks through the door with her daughter and Marabeth had this attitude. Actually, it’s not even an attitude, it was a way of being an energy.<\/p>\n
\nAnd that energy was very clear. It was full of well-being. And I felt it immediately. And I thought, wait a minute. This is affecting me. I know it’s affecting her daughter, I can see how well her daughter is doing in this environment. Now, I have something I can work with how do I take what this woman has figured out how to do because she loves her daughter, and put that into my sessions with all of my patients.<\/p>\n
\nSo we started having these conversations that started as very typical family education. And then I would hear her responses and she would tell me things that she was observing and I would go to the research and say what can I learn more about what she’s seen? And over the course of several years, but we ended up creating a class and a accompany.<\/p>\n
\nUnbelievable, Marabeth. Did you know, what not Did you know, but did you find Danielle easily it? Was she the first port of call? What happened? How did you guys, how did you get there?<\/p>\n
\nWell, it was totally serendipitous. We were we we did inpatient rehab in Chicago, where Sophie had her stroke. And the OT that Sophie worked with, in inpatient wanted her to use a particular device which in you know, big picture she never wound up actually using.<\/p>\n
\nBut at the time, she said, I found one therapist in Nashville that certified for this device. I said, Okay, great. Give me her name. So we contacted that therapist, she became Sophie’s OT. And of course, she immediately said, you know, I would never use this device.<\/p>\n
\nI was certified just, you know, continuing education, but I would never use this device. But, I will treat your daughter and I’ll love treating her and she’s a fabulous therapist. And so it was through her that we met Danielle, because we were seeing another PT for just a little bit of time.<\/p>\n
\nAnd it was this OT that said, Oh, no, you need to use her, you need to use Danielle Stoller, for PT. And it was the best decision ever, because they wound up actually treating Sophie together like they conferred with each other a lot. And it was so clear, both of them saw Sophie’s body, not as an arm or a leg that they treated.<\/p>\n
\nBut as a person, like she’s a person, she needs to move like a person, she needs to express like a person. And they were just wonderful. They had amazing influence on Sophie at the time, like I said, for years, she couldn’t talk.<\/p>\n
\nSo obviously, all of her friendships were gone. You know, when you can’t have a conversation, and you’re so physically altered, she was really sick for a long time. So they were not only the people that were putting her body back together, but they were her friends, like other than us.<\/p>\n
\nThey were her social network, they were the people she laughed with, they were the people that sometimes she confided in. They were completely and utterly necessary in this way to her recovery. And, you know, that’s the other thing that when I saw the influence, they had, you know, therapists are with patients, more than any other medical professional, those patients have.<\/p>\n
\nLike, exponentially more hours and hours more, they get to actually create a relationship, like an actual friendship sort of I get to know you, you get to know me sort of relationship, there’s incredible influence in that. They’re also viewed as the experts. So everything that comes out of that therapist mouth, that patient is going to be greatly influenced by.<\/p>\n
\nSo if that person has a really good outlook on what their chances are and what their future is, they can influence that patient in that way. And so when I saw that, about therapists, I thought, if there is one thing I could do, like make beauty out, if something painful in the world, it would be to let every therapist know the incredible position that they’re in.<\/p>\n
\nBecause what I mostly saw is that they didn’t realize they had that power, they didn’t realize that that’s the role they could play. Some of them played it here and there in a natural way. But a lot of it I just saw, you know, they don’t get most therapists get hardly any education in like, the psychological component or the emotional component of what their patients are going through. And as you know, mindset in a long recovery, that’s where it happens, that’s what keeps you going.<\/p>\nMindset Chapter One By Bill Gasiamis<\/h3>\n
\nMindset is number one, the book I’m writing is going to be mindset chapter one. And everything else comes after that. And the reality is if I could actually make the emotional recovery, number one, I would, but you can’t reach people at the emotional level, in the Western world, you have to reach them, and convince them at the head level, and then bring them to have the emotional recovery and convince the head that it’s okay to have any emotional recovery as well.<\/p>\n
\nSo, unfortunately, mindset is first because of the way that we treat the head being the intelligence that has been given the most credibility out there in the Western world. So we’ve got to start there and then lead them to the emotional recovery and then bring them back and convince the head to do all the other holistic part of the recovery.<\/p>\n
\nSo I love how you guys spoke about holistic Danielle, I imagined in my head that as Marabeth was talking about her experience meeting you and vice-versa. I imagined that you were at that point. The way you were ready to leave your work, because you didn’t realize that you had the capacity to really make such a massive difference.<\/p>\n
\nAnd that you played so many roles for these people that you were actually their friend, when they were spending so much time with you because they had lost friendships and all that kind of stuff. Is that accurate? Did you not see yourself as playing that important role?<\/p>\n
\nIt’s partially accurate, you know, I’ve always been a kind and compassionate therapist, right, I’ve always cared deeply about my patients and wanted the best for them. And, I did know that that I was some sort of social support for them.<\/p>\n
\nWhat changed in me was, I didn’t know that I could intentionally affect these things to help their physical body recover. That was the missing piece. It was like I did this physical stuff. And I was nice. But what I didn’t realize was, because we believe and expect certain things, our bodies respond in certain ways.<\/p>\n
\nAnd I didn’t realize how stress was contagious, and how emotions were contagious, and how I could impact my patient’s physiology by my state of being. So when I started recognizing that, then I realized there’s two ways I affect my patients is with my clinical skill, and it’s with human presence and connection, and both are going to affect their bodies. And that just made my job that much more meaningful, and it made my connection stronger with them.<\/p>\n
\nAnd influence greater, and your job easier.<\/p>\n
\nYes. All of that. And when that started to happen, I thought, I can’t be the only one that knows about this. Other therapists need to know about this. And, and so I just wanted to share it and Marabeth is the perfect person to partner with. Because when we blend our two perspectives, you get this whole picture of a patient.<\/p>\n
\nYou get what happens outside of the clinic, and you get this perspective from a caregiver. And you know, Marabeth is very wise. And she’s very intuitive and insightful. And so it really takes a clinician’s mind and kind of goes, whoosh, let’s look at this other part too. And, and it just it benefits everybody.<\/p>\n
\nFirst, a couple of horror stories from my perspective, because you’re describing the gold standard, the real gold standard of how people should be cared for, and how you need to approach caring for people.<\/p>\n
\nSo I’m in rehabilitation, and I’m in there for a month and nobody has realized that I am there, they need to connect with me, I have no social contacts, I’m only seeing my family when they come as often as they come all that type of thing, and I’m stuck with them.<\/p>\n
\nSo my communication my attempt to as you can tell them very chatty, I love a chat. My attempt to be this way with those people who I imagined were inundated and overworked, wasn’t working. And I was feeling lonely and on my own, and all the usual things that people feel when they’re isolated, especially after stroke.<\/p>\n
\nNot that I was too upset or distressed or depressed about the fact that I couldn’t walk I was just after, you know, it was just a week out of surgery. So I wasn’t my best self. Nonetheless, there was a situation where there was another lady who had come in, and I imagined that she was completely unable to move any of her body and she was there for rehab.<\/p>\n
\nI suspect now that she probably had locked in syndrome or something like that. So she was soiling herself. And they were going through the process of cleaning her a couple of times a day at least. But the thing they were doing is they were not moving the bin that they were putting all the soiled goods in from the corridor outside of her room and outside of my room.<\/p>\n
\nAnd all they had to do was take it out to the area that was allocated for that outside of the actual hospital. And I would ask them to please remove that there because I’ve got to smell the soiled goods all day, every day when I’m in my room and therefore I’m not staying in my room. They couldn’t move it they wouldn’t understand.<\/p>\n
\nAnd I had to get to the point where I had to go to reception at lunchtime, and invite them into my room to have lunch with me. And they wouldn’t come, and they said well we can’t do that I said, well you need to come because you need to come and understand how I’m having to experience lunchtime in my room with that bin outside my door.<\/p>\n
\nAnyhow, that was kind of the last straw. And that made that happen. And I got that over the line. And it was days of arguing and fussing when what I should be doing is learning how to walk again. Not telling them how to do their job. So there was that, then another time, this is a better story.<\/p>\nThe Power Positivity<\/h3>\n
\nWe’re in rehab. And I’ve got my hand in the rice, trying to find the pen lid and you know the ball bearing and all the different things and label them and tell them what it is before I pull it out and identify it. And while I’m doing that there’s a gentleman in a wheelchair who also had a stroke.<\/p>\n
\nI’ve named him Ivan, I don’t know if it was his real name or not, but I don’t know his name. And I did a whole presentation on this for a group. And Ivan was looking at his hand and saying, come on, you bastard move. And it wouldn’t move. And he had a toilet roll and empty toilet roll.<\/p>\n
\nAnd he was supposed to pick it up, and then put it on the other side and settle it down without falling over. And he was calling it a bastard. And his hand wouldn’t move. Now I’m a coach, I’ve been a coach before I had the stroke. I’m a coach now. And the coach in me with my hand in the box of rice said, Hey, Ivan, if your hand moved, what would it be?<\/p>\n
\nHe goes it’d be my friend. I said alright, so call your hand your friend now. Pretend that it has done what you wanted it to do and see what happens. And sure enough, Ivan goes, come on friend move within one second. After he picked up the toilet roll. He put it on the other side and then let it down without it falling.<\/p>\n
\nAnd everyone went nuts. Everyone did that Oooh, I did that, everyone did that. But I think the therapists missed the real thing that just happened. They missed it and of course, I wasn’t in education mode beyond that thing with Ivan, I was just, we got a result, call it your friend from now on Ivan, and hopefully things get better.<\/p>\n
\nAnd then I didn’t get to see him because I left a month earlier than I was meant to leave. I was booked in for two months. I was only there for a month. Hopefully I had done enough for Ivan to take the mantle and to take the baton and run with it right? So I’m very passionate about this topic. As you can see, like I’m fully aware of how you’re impacting my recovery, how Ivan’s impacting his own recovery, how I’m impacting my own recovery.<\/p>\n
\nAnd I’m going through this process of trying to affect change in this way. And one of the most amazing things to come out of my stroke is that I get a phone call from one of the local universities, Australian Catholic University, and I’m asked to do a presentation every single year to the third year occupational therapist students about my experience with occupational therapists, and what they could do better.<\/p>\n
\nOh how wonderful.<\/p>\n
\nRight? So you can see how this episode for me is going to be the most necessary episode. We don’t get enough to get it out there to share these stories, because I know that people are watching and listening now and going, oh my gosh, I wish I found these ladies.<\/p>\n
\nI wish I went through this therapy. I wish the therapists that I was with learnt the things that these guys are talking about. And I hope that this episode gets shared through to occupational therapists all over the place. That’s how passionate I am about it.<\/p>\n
\nYes, I totally agree.<\/p>\n
\nIf you’ve had a stroke, and you’re in recovery, you’ll know what a scary and confusing time it can be. You’re likely to have a lot of questions going through your mind. Like how long will it take to recover? Will I actually recover? What things should I avoid in case I make matters worse.<\/p>\n
\nDoctors will explain things but obviously you’ve never had a stroke before. You probably don’t didn’t know what questions to ask. If this is you, you may be missing out on doing things that could help speed up your recovery.<\/p>\n