B is for Blogging...

Blogging was completely new to me when I began this one last year.

I was prompted to do it to record my experiences during the study visit  that took me to the USA for 8 weeks earlier this year. The first thing I did was to try to find other blogs about Occupational Therapy (OT). The New Zealand Association of OTs has a list of OT related blogs, but no list can be exhaustive. Some have been started and not continued so there are no recent posts. However there are several that are up and running and actively posting.

The range of OT blogs and bloggers show that this is something anyone can do, from senior lecturers to OT students and new graduates to an OT who has herself had a stroke and is blogging about her experiences on returning home. Through a blog you can follow other blogs that are of interest. If you look down the right hand side of my main page you can have a look at the ones I follow.

So why blog about OT? I think it is just one of many new avenues that have opened up in recent years as information technology develops, others are Facebook & Twitter.
Blogging-

• allows OTs to make connections and to share thoughts and experiences, very valuable when many of us are working on the same issues. 
• allows individuals to develop their own thoughts and ideas at any stage in their career- 'learning out loud' (lol?!)
• can be an opportunity for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) that is not specific to a current job. For example, following this blog could enable a newly graduated OT who is still looking for work or between temporary contracts to learn about Lifestyle Redesign and share in discussions. 
• allows these opportunities to occur without any expense, valuable when funding to attend events is limited.
• is fun!

How to begin? Well, I just Googled 'how to start a blog' and went from there. Once you start you just keep learning new things. The Blogging from A-Z Challenge team and participants have taught me so much and it has been an inspiration to keep blogging.

I had not expected to gain so much from keeping this blog, or that it would be so enjoyable. I recommend it. Share your thoughts and experiences in OT, someone out there wants to know!