Robyn Suskevich Forney ’15

What does your day-to-day look like as an occupational therapist (OT)? 

As an OT, I look at the activities of daily living, how my clients are doing with getting dressed, getting in and out of bed, or putting together a simple meal for themselves. Those are the main areas we work on to determine what level of support they need and how they can build up more independence as we're working together.

I recently moved into the home health setting with Bayada Home Health Care. I go to clients’ homes to work mostly with people who are recently discharged from the hospital or a rehab facility. They're well enough to be home, but not well enough to be out in the community yet. I'm kind of like the middle person between what they were doing in the hospital or in rehab and what they’ll be doing once they’re well enough to go to an outpatient rehab. 

How does home health care differ from other settings you’ve worked in?

When I finished school, I worked in outpatient rehab at LifeBridge Health Physical Therapy for a few years, focused on orthopedic injuries. After that, I was in Baltimore County Public Schools, which is very different because it's all students. I worked with kindergarten through 12th grade students, helping with tasks like handwriting and motor skill development. So, I've now been in three very different areas, but that's part of what drew me to the OT field. There’s so much variety and potential for the different areas that you could work in. It's been a good fit for me, for sure.

OTs are supporting clients and their families on very personal matters, and so it can be really hard to have a line of distinction between business and personal. And it can be hard to not take work home with you, both in terms of thinking about clients that you're working with because you care about them and in bringing paperwork home.

Learning about burnout management and self-care to prevent burnout is something you just don't learn in school, so you really have to be your own teacher. I saw a need to create this resource for other therapists.

What materials do you share through The Burnout OT? 

I focus on the key pillars that people would benefit from when it comes to burnout. I talk a lot about how important your mindset is around burnout. A lot of people inherit this funky productivity mindset with needing to push themselves beyond their limits. We have to have an appropriate level of detachment in taking pride in our careers and valuing the work that we do while understanding that work is not everything and there's so much more going on in life besides our career. I support therapists in learning what kinds of boundaries to draw and how to draw them.

What made you choose McDaniel and the Exercise Science major (now Kinesiology)?

I'm originally from New Jersey and I discovered McDaniel through “Colleges that Change Lives” by Loren Pope. I actually went to McDaniel planning to go into education but realized it wasn't the right fit for me. I decided to look into the health profession, so I talked with my advisor, Dr. Steve McCole. It became pretty clear that I could use Exercise Science to springboard myself into a number of health professions, whether it was physical therapy or occupational therapy or something else. I was lucky in that a lot of the programs that are really strong at McDaniel are the ones that I was the most interested.

Which professors most influenced you during your time at McDaniel? 

Dr. McCole was really influential with giving me practical advice. It was between my sophomore and junior year when he said to me, “Reach out to OTs in the area, get your foot in the door for a summer internship.” So, I reached out to a bunch of clinics and only got my foot in the door at one, but that one connection paved the way for my career. That internship ended up being my first job when I was out of school and the connections I made from that job led to other jobs down the road. 

I also had many classes with Dr. Jennifer McKenzie, and she was my capstone advisor. Her classes were memorable because she has a very relatable teaching style. She made herself available for any questions we needed and was always willing to sit down and provide extra one-on-one guidance if I needed it. I also really enjoyed Dr. David Petrie's classes — he taught anatomy and biomechanics and made it fun to learn those challenging topics.

How did your time at McDaniel prepare you to succeed in your Occupational Therapy master’s program?

All the classes in my major were really relevant; Human Physiology and Exercise Physiology were the two I found myself drawing from the most in the Master of Science in Occupational Therapy program at Shenandoah University. Also, since McDaniel is a small campus and a small community, it made me learn how to reach out to my professors and ask for support proactively. That was helpful once I went to grad school because I was already comfortable reaching out for support as I needed it.

What is your number one piece of advice to future McDaniel OT students?

Don't be afraid to put yourself out there when you're trying to make connections in the community that you want to be in. People in the therapy world are going to be really significant in what jobs you move into and the overall experience that you have. Get comfortable stepping out there and making connections. Also, make sure you utilize the professors and support that you have at McDaniel because their guidance is going to be the most productive advice that you could take.