{"id":46028,"date":"2017-07-27T15:28:55","date_gmt":"2017-07-27T19:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=46028"},"modified":"2018-03-07T09:23:12","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T14:23:12","slug":"brock-placement-opportunities-extend-beyond-ontario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2017\/07\/brock-placement-opportunities-extend-beyond-ontario\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock placement opportunities extend beyond Ontario"},"content":{"rendered":"

The road to success has led Ashley Dercach across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

This summer, the Brock Applied Health Sciences student, originally from Pelly, Sask., made the long trip from St. Catharines to St. John\u2019s, N.L., to pursue a placement in pediatric therapeutic recreation.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the support of her department\u2019s experiential education co-ordinators, Dercach headed east after landing a position at the Janeway Children\u2019s Hospital \u2014 one of only a few sites offering placement opportunities in her chosen field.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brock, which has earned a reputation as one of Canada\u2019s premier institutions for experiential education, sees dozens of Applied Health Sciences students pursuing out-of-province opportunities each year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ashley

Brock Applied Health Sciences student Ashley Dercach is spending the summer completing an experiential placement in St. John\u2019s, N.L.<\/p><\/div>\n

For Dercach, it was a combination of the hospital\u2019s excellent reputation and her desire to spend some time living in one of Canada\u2019s Atlantic provinces that made the move an easy decision. <\/span><\/p>\n

She packed up her cat, Oliver, and made the 3,000-kilometre drive from her house in St. Catharines to her summer accommodation in Petty Harbour Maddox Cove, N.L.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prior to her time at Brock, Dercach spent a few years working in the mental health sector in Alberta and Saskatchewan. She initially obtained a health sciences degree, with a specialization in addictions counselling, from the University of Lethbridge, Alta., before pursuing a second degree at Brock.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI saw how recreation could positively affect youth,\u201d she said. \u201cI looked at a few options for continuing my education and the Brock therapeutic recreation program seemed perfect.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dercach was also drawn to the experiential placement portion of the program and the ability to work alongside a team of professionals in her chosen field.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI work with an interdisciplinary team in an outpatient pediatric setting,\u201d she explained. \u201cWe support families in making healthy lifestyle changes through group programming, assessment and follow-up clinic and individual support from any discipline as needed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She had high praise for the hospital\u2019s team, which includes a physician, physiotherapist, dietician, psychologist, recreational therapist, social worker, clinical lead, research analyst, manager and two administrators.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dercach has no doubt her time in Newfoundland will help her career immensely.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you could do the job properly without the experience,\u201d she said, while adding putting your studies into practice makes a world of difference. \u201cThe fundamentals are there, but you could not be 100 per cent comfortable or do your job properly without having the practicum.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Experiential education co-ordinator Ty Bolibruck emphasized the importance of students being willing to go further afield for their experiential placements.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cExperiential placements are about growing both personally and professionally,\u201d she said. \u201cAshley is a perfect example of this. She is gaining first-hand experience in her field while also getting to live in a place that she has always wanted to go. Both of these parts of her placement will better prepare her for her career.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to working at the hospital, Dercach also spends time exploring Newfoundland\u2019s unique landscapes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love the East Coast Trail, and I have hiked a lot of it now,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen my boyfriend visited, we went kayaking, tried out a whale tour and visited lighthouses. There is a ton to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Having lived in six provinces, Dercach found the big move came with ease \u2014 though she knows that may not be the case for everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n

She hoped to inspire others to take the plunge and pursue opportunities that may be outside of their comfort zone.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s such a great opportunity to live in a different part of the country and experience a different culture for four months,\u201d she said. \u00a0\u201cIt doesn’t last long, but you’re more likely to regret not coming than having a new adventure.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The road to success has led Ashley Dercach across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":46026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,1,4],"tags":[5050,4811,5541],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46028"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49711,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46028\/revisions\/49711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}