Besides being an occupational therapist with FOX Rehabilitation, Brett Herman, MS, OTR/L, BCG, also assumes the role of Quality Assurance Professional Development Clinical Specialist and is the host of the FOX Talks webinar series, The Complete OT. This is an example of something he does with our practice besides treating patients, and it’s also the inspiration for his FOX Five.

Today, Brett highlights the different things a clinician can do with FOX Rehabilitation outside of making House Calls.

Jim: Welcome to The FOX Five, the series that explores the wonderful world of FOX Rehabilitation through an original list created by a FOX colleague. Today I am joined by FOX occupational therapist and QAPD Clinical Specialist, Brett Herm

Brett: Thank you, Jim, happy to be here.

Jim: I didn't even mention that you're the host of The Complete OT.

Brett: Well, we got to shine that over with the big lights—with a big billboard. It’s another [FOX] original.

Jim: That’s right. For those that are wondering, QAPD stands for Quality Assurance Professional Development. Brett, what is your FOX Five?

Brett: My FOX Five is 5 Things That You Can Do Besides Being a Treating Clinician here at FOX.

Jim: Alright, so Brett what is number one?

Brett: Number one is quite important to me, it's something I fell in love with instantly and probably led me down to the path to where I am today—it is being a mentor and a sponsor. So beyond just treating, you have the opportunity to mentor newly hired OTs, PTs, and speech-language pathologists. You can sponsor clinicians who maybe have treated in a different setting, but are now coming over to FOX. I just think number one, to me, is that you are able to mentor and help train the future of the profession, the future of a FOX colleague. That's something I fell in love with. My passion is mentoring, and I just think that's such a huge asset of being somewhere.

Jim: I like that one because it's a step up. You're doing a little bit more and I like it because you’re probably confident at that point in time; where you've been with FOX long enough where you're like, “Hey, I can be a mentor now.”

Brett: Absolutely, and what I really like is you make that decision. Right? So you're not forced to mentor someone. These are things that you get to do outside of being a treating clinician. If it's something that drives you to be a mentor, then speak to your Regional Director and [Regional Quality Assurance Liaison] about it, because it has to come from within. You have to want to do it, because it takes a different type of person to be willing to give that time, that effort, to help somebody else grow, especially with our personal lives, you know, the family’s at home, you’re spending eight hours a day of treating people, and then to be like, “Okay, now I'm going to spend a half-hour mentoring.” You really got to have the passion for it, and it’s something that I just love.

Jim: Where do we go from here? You may have peaked at number one. What is number two on your list?

Brett: Number two kind of goes off that—be an educator. So, this is for the individuals that maybe have that passion to be involved in academia. There are many FOX clinicians that are lab instructors. There are full-blown course instructors. It's something I do at Thomas Jefferson University. I'm an adjunct faculty member, but beyond just being in the classroom, you can host a journal club within your region. That’s a great way to be an educator. Hosting a CEU, you know, you can go on MedBridge and watch a CEO, and then kind of reflect about it with your group. They have book clubs in each region. You can continue to learn. You have PACE points—that's always a positive. Being an educator is another great thing to do besides being a treating clinician.

Jim: Yes, and PACE stands for Professional Academic and Clinical Excellence. Let’s get to number three on your list.

Brett: Number three is being a presenter. For those who don't know, I have presented at national conferences, I presented at state conferences, I presented at job fairs, I presented at health fairs in my senior living [community]. I just think being a presenter and having the ability to spread the message of FOX and spreading the message of therapy—spreading the passion of abolishing ageism or whatever you're passionate about is really important. You can be a presenter and it doesn't need to be at the national level. It doesn't even need to be at a conference. It could just be that you have five minutes or 10 seconds in an elevator with someone in an apartment complex and you're going to present to them: What is FOX? I think that's really special to have that ability, to get a microphone and have the platform to speak about what you like.

Jim: And we should say that the more you do it the more comfortable you get with it. I know people have jitters, but if you do it a few times the jitters will go away.

Brett: Yep. The reason it's called like the elevator [pitch] is because you have 30 seconds to get someone's attention about what is FOX and what do we do here. You do it a hundred times, it just becomes second nature.

Jim: Brett, what is number four?

Brett: Number four is being a leader, right? This is something I think a lot of us value and a lot of us really strive to be. Here at FOX, besides being a treating clinician, there are tons of different avenues you can go down. You can be a Regional Director, you could be an RQAL, you can be part of the documentation review team, you could sit in on groups where new initiatives are coming out. There are so many new initiatives at FOX, there's probably 10 or 20 that even Jim and I have no idea what's going on, but you can be that, so I think being a leader and having the opportunity to grow and find your path is really important. Realizing that not everyone wants to be the director, right? Not everyone wants to be a non-treating clinician, but some people might just want a little bit more responsibility, so I think being a leader at number four is a good spot for that.

Jim: Brett, that brings us to number five on your FOX Five.

Brett: To complete it, number five—I’m going to take a little spin here, it's something that I really value, and that's friendships. I think beyond just treating clinicians, I know, it might be a little corny but it's true, you could be a friend. There is life outside of work. I could shout from the mountaintops about work-life balance, so finding those friendships—you know—building those bonds with other clinicians, doing things that are non-work related, not even anything FOX-related, but you're just going out with friends. I just really value those friendships that I have at FOX. Some of my best friends in FOX are physical therapists, that other discipline, and I just love them. I've been here for almost 11 years now, so just those friendships are really something I value.

Jim: And I'm looking forward to hanging out with you. Have we hung out in person?

Brett: We have not.

Jim: I’ve talked with you so much.

Brett: I have not shook the hand of Jim Shearer. I have not done it, and I’m waiting.

Jim: We’re hoping this happens soon.