"Just a little bit of grace": Navigating career transition, COVID, and motherhood

Laurie Steen discusses her pre-COVID transition to academia and healthcare worker's struggle with work/life balance.

After 20 years of working as an occupational therapist, Laurie Steen, OTR/L, CEAS I, CLT-LANA, made the transition to academia in early 2020.

"A lot of people believed in me doing something I didn't think I could do, which was join the academic world," she said. "I have always wanted to but, I just didn't think I could."

Not only was Steen able to successfully transition into a new career. She, along with healthcare workers across the country, readily took on the challenge of providing care during a pandemic.

With the support of individuals encouraging her to do so, Steen left full-time practice in February 2020 for her new role as a clinical instructor at the University of Kansas, her alma mater. Six weeks later, COVID arrived.

Though she was learning how to do a job she'd never done before, teaching during the first wave of a pandemic, Steen believes it was a similar experience for all healthcare workers. She said everyone had to learn to do a job they'd never done before, including those who were in experienced roles.

"I feel like we all had our first day at work in March 2020, and we're all rookies," Steen said. "That's kind of how I feel regardless of healthcare, business, [etc]; because the landscape changed. The context where we worked changed. Our family structure changed."

The adrenaline of the situation, she said, is what helped healthcare workers manage the situation as well as they did in the early weeks of the pandemic. As time went on, many workers began to feel the brunt of the stress and strain of their work, mentally and physically.

"When we talk about being two years out from that impact of COVID, I think we ran out of adrenaline a long time ago and we're trying to figure out how to efficiently and effectively move through our day with a different lens," Steen said. "I think we're a little overly critical of processes, and it's because we don't know what's right or wrong or good or bad and we don't know what could benefit our families or impact our families."

To illustrate the stress and overwhelm healthcare workers on the frontline are facing, she uses the metaphor of having an empty, somewhat full, or overflowing cup. If the cup doesn't overflow by the end of the day, its okay; but now worker's cups are full, and it doesn't take much for them to spill over.

Additionally, there's the issue of work/life balance, where many healthcare professionals struggle.

"As a woman, I have that momma bear, protective nature that at night I want to go to bed and know that I've been there for my family—and I forget myself," Steen said. "I want to make sure I'm doing a good job at work, and I forget myself."

Thoughts like these, she said, can cause negative self-talk and comparing yourself to others, thinking you're not doing enough.

"I think some of the wellness pieces for us begin with [showing ourselves] grace," she said. "Just a little bit of grace every day."