Building Your Mountain: Lessons from the Vision Therapy Room

Working with people, particularly in a therapeutic setting, can be an interesting experience. Emotions can range from sadness to happiness to confusion to pure bliss, all within the course of a one-hour session. It's not always that dramatic, but there are certainly times when we have no choice but to ride that rollercoaster with patients. It can be challenging at the moment, but there are times when something wonderful grows out of mud and muck that is the despair and struggles of a patient. If we are lucky, friendships can develop and bonds created, the likes of which are not easily fractured. There's something that brews within the human spirit when someone selflessly helps another person, and because of this idea, some of my most valued moments in life are with those who were once Vision Therapy patients who quickly converted to friends upon completion of their treatment.

At this point in my Vision Therapy life, nearly 25 years and counting, some of the kids I worked with early on have finished college and are working on families of their own. Through the wonders of social media, staying connected has not only been possible, but it has also given me a window into their lives as they share their many successes and even their troubling failures. In a strange way, they all feel like my children, as the level of pride felt when seeing one of them succeed can rival the pride for my own children.

A Vision Therapist new to patient care recently reached out asking what has kept me here for so long. The email was very kind, but seemed to be written by someone who was searching for meaning in their newfound career. In part, I responded:

It’s really not my way to offer advice, as doing so would assume my perceptions and opinions are somehow more valuable than yours, and they are not. What I can tell you is I have always wanted to be better today than I was yesterday, and that is part of what keeps me coming back. It is true, my sessions are pretty smooth and productive nowadays, but the part you are not seeing is the mountain of botched sessions that I continue to use as lessons each and every day.

Part of working in this profession is understanding failure – your own and your patients’. It’s just the way it is. The good news, though, is that in Developmental Optometry there are so many people who are ready and willing to help! Annual Meetings, Online Courses (like Mastering VT!), and even in person study groups all take aim at collectively making us better. It’s a lovely life once you find your place.

We all bring a unique set of skills and experiences to the Vision Therapy Room, and each is as valuable as the next. There is incredible value in failure, just like there is incredible validation in success. For me, both have been a big part of what keeps me coming back! Keep building your mountain!