With the new year upon us, it’s a great opportunity to set some goals to better yourselves as Certified Athletic Therapists. While many of you will have personal goals of how to achieve growth that relate to your area of work, there are a few goals that every CATA member should pursue to advance their career this year. We’ve outlined a few of these below:
Gain a stronger understanding of your scope of practice as a Certified AT
We trust that CATA members all have a strong understanding of their scope of practice; however, a review is always recommended to ensure that you are adhering to the standards of our profession. Since everyone’s scope of practice varies, reviewing your scope of practice may help you to recognize where you can pursue further practice, 2training, and education. The Scope of Practice can be found on the website here.
Become an expert in Ethics and Professional Conduct
Often, conversations surrounding ethics and code of conduct don’t take the spotlight unless there’s an issue. A lack of knowledge of CATA’s ethics and codes of conduct can leave both you as a Certified AT and your clients vulnerable. At the baseline, it is every Certified AT’s responsibility to understand the Code of Ethics and the Code of Conduct policies that govern an athletic therapist's practice. This year, we encourage you to become an expert in our ethics and code of conduct to ensure you keep yourself and your clients safe. You can read more about it by reading our blog, or by visiting our web page.
Spread awareness of Athletic Therapy
The field of athletic therapy has grown so much over the past year, largely thanks to the efforts of CATA members. To continue expanding our profession, there are a few practical tools members have access to. Engaging in social campaigns, utilizing the social media toolkit, sharing the Athletic Therapy brochure, purchasing branded gear from the web store, and using the athletic therapy logo are all great tools for spreading awareness of Athletic Therapy.
Attend CATA’s webinar series
In 2023, CATA hosted 6 webinars as part of its webinar series. These webinars covered topics such as Safe Sport, Opioids, Thermal Physiology, Growing your AT Practice, Gastrocnemius Contracture, and Creatine supplements. Through these webinars, attendees had the opportunity to do a deep dive into these topics led by subject matter experts. As we move into the new year, watch for upcoming webinars to grow your knowledge as a Certified AT.
Network with other Certified ATs
Networking with other Certified ATs is a great way to expand your knowledge, and build valuable relationships as you advance your career. Whether you’re in your 30th year of your career or the first year, there are always valuable insights we can receive from our peers that will help us improve our practices. One of the best places to get started with networking is at the annual conference in Ottawa this year.
A great year ahead starts with the goals you set. Let’s start the new year strong!
To learn more about tools and resources to advance your career as a Certified AT, visit our website here. Stay up to date with CATA by following us on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn!