Physical therapy is important to me because it's a form of care that can be made personable for a large range of people from different backgrounds. People world wide refuse care for ailments because they believe their physicians only see them as another case instead of a person. As a Physical Therapists, you have your clinical approach to healing, but you are also in a position to take a more personable approach while maintaining professionalism. You see your patient on a regular schedule, and you get to develop a bond with them. You cannot truly help someone recover from an injury until you truly know them. By that, I mean knowing what works and what doesn't, knowing their likes and dislikes, and knowing how they think and process information. Once you gain that bond with them, you will likely get a bigger picture of what caused the injury and be able to prevent reoccurrence of that injury or future injuries that this person may have. I have had Physical Therapists in the past who I felt only saw me as another patient, or that they were not listening to what I was saying. As a Physical Therapist, it is important to listen carefully as well as intently to what your patient is communicating. I know the patient intake process is textbook and taught, but at the end of the day, I will learn all the things that I need to write up in my documentation by just listening. My patient can see that I am paying attention to what they are saying versus picking out words and trying to create a scenario of what happened on my own. Then I might get a better idea of what caused their reason for need ing therapy, what care can I provide to help and make sure this does not happen again, and what can I do to give them a good experience in Physical therapy that turns what started as a negative experience, them getting hurt and having to go to the doctor, into a positive experience, them trusting me with their care and finding a physician who treats them as more than just their ailment. I am aware that once I become a Physical therapist, that I am an advocate for my patients. I need to be willing to continuously learn and being able to self reflect so that I do not get stuck in one particular mindset. My goal is to one day open up a practice where I am apart of a team that knows how to balance empathy and their clinical skill set to achieve excellent care for their patients. My personal moto is always the patient comes first regardless of my personal beliefs or clinical application if something does not work for them I should be able to use the tools I have learned not just in the classroom, but in clinical rotations and just daily problem solving to adapt my approach and find a better alternative.

When I graduate from PT school, I want to pursue a clinical psychology degree and combine physical therapy with mental wellness. I believe access to mental health resources should be an easier topic to discuss, but for many people, it still feels taboo. If mental wellness is implemented into PT and proven to help, my hope is that companies will incorporate therapists to boost morale and show employees that they care about the individuals they employ. People often avoid seeking mental health treatment because they grew up with the idea that therapy is only for those who are suicidal or that going to therapy means something is wrong with you. I believe that it is my obligation as a future Physical Therapist to promote all areas of health. I don't believe healing is possible without healing the mind. As a PT you develop a relationship with your patients and they trust you; there is a bond that is created. They may feel more comfortable talking about certain situations with someone that they are more familiar with which could help with their healing and overall health. The incorporation could help promote discussion about the topic of mental health and gradually make it an easier conversation to have.

My name is Jade Matthews, and my motivation comes from the people around me. My mom motivates me to persevere in the face of adversity, even though I had two parents growing up. Often, it was my mom raising four kids by herself, taking us and funding our sports careers. My coaches motivate me every day and help me find my "why?" To me, my "why?" is that I want to help people just like I was helped when I was struggling. I enjoy the puzzle that science creates. I am a health science major on the Physical Therapy track, and in classes such as chemistry, physics, and anatomy, I enjoy being able to examine things from different perspectives and solve challenging puzzles. I also love the collaboration that comes from science and bouncing ideas off my peers. Another thing I enjoy about science is that it is a field of constant learning, as theories and ideas are constantly being changed and refined. I love that about the science community. No one is afraid to go head-to-head to figure out what's factual. In the future, I wish to become a Physical therapist who specializes in sports and lymphedema. I intend to further my educational career by pursuing a degree in psychology, and I aim to conduct research tailored to women's health, exploring how it can affect recovery. Since a lot of research is initially done on men, it often neglects to take into account underlying medical conditions like endometriosis and their impact on recovery. I am passionate about physical therapy because I got hurt during my sport, and my physical therapist was there for me—helping with both the physical and mental aspects of recovery. As well as when my sister had her knee surgery, I watched how it took a good physical therapist to bring her spark back and have her believe that she could get better and return to the sport she loves. I want to be that for someone else. In high school, I had a diagnosis of endometriosis in my senior year. Before that, I was having constant pain in my hip and kept getting partial tears—whether it was in my labrum or my rectus femoris muscles. I had surgery to remove my endometriosis, and after my surgery, my doctor told me that all of the inflammation was causing a build-up of scar tissue on my lower back, increasing my hip pain and messing with my running form. That's why, even though I had been in physical therapy, it seemed like the treatment was not working. That was the moment when I realized that women's health is a mystery to most clinicians, and it should not be that way. There is no textbook definition for anyone's treatment. Treatment should be a combination of the knowledge you learned in school, the knowledge of your patient's history, and the knowledge you continue to seek.