Exercise Prac Placement

Prac experiences are a critical time for university students. It is our belief that prac should be a reflection of the whole job, not just an opportunity to learn new information. When it comes down to it after university is complete, it's about getting a job. We do our best to provide an open and transparent experience to all of our students.

At Inspire as a prac student we treat you as we would one of the team. Naturally we have realistic expectations on "skill" but what we look for is character. We look for and want to work with inquisitive students, ambitious students and students above all else that are looking to establish a career long term in the industry. Due to these factors we run a very transparent and honest prac placement. The more you put in, the more you get out is as simple as it is. If you engage frequently you will learn a mountain of information. If you do not then don't expect our team to try and drag you along. We believe in teaching independence and autonomy.

Our experience over the past 7 years with our student pathways has led us to the belief in a 4 step process for career readiness. Please be aware this 4 step process is relevant directly to our version of private practice allied health.

1) Learning

• developing a baseline level of theoretical awareness around what is necessary to complete either exercise science and exercise physiology.

• this occurs at university.

2) Exposure

• Before delivering the practical skills it is imperative that you get an understanding of what the theory looks like in practice. This is done in a view only style context. Due to the nature that you are viewing only it holds little to no direct responsibility.

• This occurs at your prac placement (pro tip: in your first prac find an organisation that can give you the widest variety of exposure).

3) Experience

• Prac placement is not experience. Why ? Because you have the safety net of a supervisor. For experience to be effective there must be an element of individual responsibility.

• This only occurs when you are training clients and leading the program yourself. We recommend you investigate ways to achieve this BEFORE you graduate.

4) Work

• If you get the first 3 steps correct by the time you are in the industry in a full time capacity you have significantly increased your likelihood of long term success.

What does this process look at Inspire?

Well here is an example of real timelines and career pathways of more than 5 of our current team members.

1) Learning (UNIVERSITY)

• Attendance and application to university study.

2) Exposure (INSPIRE PRAC)

• 3rd year prac placement @ Inspire Health.

• Towards the end of prac placement training clients under the supervision of your prac supervisor.

• At this stage you are introduced to the Inspire Internship program.

3) Experience (INSPIRE INTERNSHIP)

• The Inspire Internship (ideally year 4 term 1)

• You will receive training through the Inspire consults, assessments & programming/ coaching programs as apart of the 12 week internshi.

• During this time you work directly with clients to train. You will lead clients on your own with Inspire team members playing second fiddle.

• You run the assessments, you create the program, you do the necessary follow ups, you do the coaching, you complete the follow up bookings we simply step back and watch and if needed jump in to course correct.

• The internship structure is low contact time and involves 1 x 1hr of direct intern level development + training times with client.

• The idea here is simple. You are in charge, if you need help, ask.

4) Work (INSPIRE LEVEL 2 PRACTITIONER)

• In a perfect world you are part of our team at least 6 months prior to graduation as a working (paid) team member (working within permissible insurances, governing bodies standards & scope of practice).

• This typically occurs in a reduced capacity and allows you the time to accumulate the client base and knowledge of working in our industry before it all gets very real.

• Within Inspire this places you at our beginner/ intern practitioner level of level 2 (there are 10 experience levels in total.

Is our prac placement for everyone? Like everything in Inspire the answer is no. We are not the best fit for everyone but as always if you are the right fit we believe you will learn and benefit more from our environment than you could possibly imagine.