Cohort 6
Nathan Brown
EDUCATION • Doctor of Physical Therapy University of Delaware • M.S. in Anatomy and Clinical Health Sciences University of Delaware • B.S. in Kinesiology UW-Madison ENROLLED • Cohort 6 LOCATION
• Stevens Point, Wis.
Nathan Brown is a physical therapist in Central Wisconsin who also serves as a clinical instructor and lab assistant with the UW-Stevens Point Doctorate in Physical Therapy program. In his time working with students, he has observed the emotional stress and anxiety students were carrying as they were finishing their education. At the same time, he witnessed the positive impact of creating a safe environment within the learning experience through close relationship between the students and his family by having students live with them during rotations. Physical therapy education contains a high volume of content that leads to an educational process that can be arduous to students and their mental wellbeing, while also taking away time that could be spent shaping them into a skillful problem solvers and communicators. It was a burden for him to consider that people being trained to promote health and well-being in others and communities are entering the profession in a depleted state, which no doubt limits their ability to effectively care for others. Nathan is interested in considering the implications of shifting a paradigm of learning in physical therapy education from excellence and mastery of content to one built on connecting students more intimately with their faculty, classmates, and community. He believes that there must be a balance between helping students acquire the high level of knowledge required to become a physical therapist with an education that emphasizes the potential of the person, supports their individual needs, and helps them develop critical clinical reasoning skills through strong interpersonal relationships. He believes that physical therapy education isn’t about trying to create knowledgeable robots that treat conditions, but preparing humans for serving communities. The program in Educational Sustainability provides a foundation of theory and critical inquiry to explore how to create more health within physical therapy students, with the hopes of leading to a more sustainable system that works cohesively with the greater community.
UW-Stevens Point
48
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