For our IPE session, a guest speaker narrated the difficulties he faced in navigating

the healthcare system and finding a health care professional (HCP) who would take the
time to listen to him. The presenter described the moment he realized what true client-
professional partnership entailed: after many previous interactions in which the presenter
felt rushed and not listened to, he encountered what he calls an “unconventional” HCP who
asked him to write a list of symptoms he was experiencing and return in two days with all
his questions and concerns. He had felt incredulous, yet relieved. However, when he had
mentioned this interaction to a different HCP, their response was “that’s twenty-first
century witchcraft”. Here was a man who experienced so many barriers that prevented
him from accessing health care services at the right time, who finally felt like he was part of
his own care. Yet, this example of true partnership and client-centeredness that the
“unconventional” HCP demonstrated—specifically, taking the time to listen to, and
understand, a client before working together to come up with a solution—was frowned
upon by the HCP.

I felt angry and annoyed after hearing about the client’s interaction with an
insensitive HCP because as an individual who values compassion and is pursuing a career
in occupational therapy (OT) because of my strong desire to help others find happiness,
meaning and empowerment, the arrogance and insensitivity that the HCP demonstrated is
in direct conflict with my guiding principles. I am an individual who cannot easily navigate
the complexities that arise from conflicting personalities and values. I understand that as
an HCP, I will surely have clients who have values that do not align with mine. However, I
realize must learn how to work with them to best serve them. Additionally, in my program,
client-centeredness has been engrained as an ideal to strive for in our practice; this,
compounded with my compassion has evoked such a strong reaction from me. I hope that
in my future practice, I will make a client feel welcome, and their opinions important.

“Client-centeredness” is a term that consistently came up in my group’s discussions.

To be client-centred means to recognize and respect a patient or client’s strengths, values,
beliefs, and experiences, and to work with them to enable participation and collaboration
in promoting or improving their health and well-being. As such, it is a key tenet in creating
a partnership with clients. As previously mentioned, client-centeredness has been
emphasized in all of my courses as a student OT. I never thought that students in other
professional faculties would spend many of their courses learning about client-
centeredness as well. Thus, what surprised me most about the IPE event were the
similarities in teachings between different professions. For example, when I mentioned the
notion of client-centeredness and thinking of the client as the expert of their own
experiences, the student nurses and SLT at the table chimed in saying that it was something
emphasized in their programs as well. Students from other faculties also agreed that
making time to hear the client’s voice is integral to developing partnership. In retrospect,
an emphasis on client-centeredness in many, if not all the health professional faculties,
makes sense. After all, we are all serving the client to help them recover and achieve their
goals. I cannot imagine that it would be possible to do so if the client’s healthcare team did
not collaborate with, or listen to, the client’s perspectives. Thus, everyone in my group
shared similar perspectives on the importance of partnerships in working with the client in
their journey to recovery and well-being.
 This IPE activity consolidated all that I have learned in my program in such a way
that broadened my horizons and prompted me to think about how all HCPs can work
together to ensure that effective client-therapist partnerships are created; one method of
doing so is through advocacy and ally-ship. One key learning that I will implement in my
next clinical placement is to be aware of the language I am using with my clients. Many of
the vignettes we heard during the exercise mentioned lack of transparency and use of
insensitive language, including jargon, that distanced the patient from the practitioner and
prevented partnerships from forming. Poor therapeutic relationships can lead to poorer
health outcomes, which we saw in the guest lecture. This made me truly realize that
practising “client-centeredness” is more difficult than learning about what it means to be
client-centered. I realize that it will take hard work and reflexivity to truly develop a client-
centered practice.