ABOUT USConnecting the knowledge of generations
Wisdom Exchange is an online education platform designed to make it easy for our osteopathy mentors to share their knowledge and possible for all of us to access their wisdom and guidance, without needing to travel or allocate valuable time and resources simply to learn and connect with our mentors.
Through this exchange of information from mentor to students, we can preserve, integrate and embody the wisdom of our mentors, strengthen our expertise as an entire community, and build upon the insights gained for generations to come.
THE STORY BEHIND WISDOM EXCHANGE
Meet Thanuja
“Wisdom Exchange has been a dream that has been within me for years. The seeds were planted when I was just a student at university. There was a presentation at university called “The Osteo’s Greats”. There were four presenters, four guru’s of our profession talking about their experiences in the profession. One of these presenters was someone I really looked up to in our profession. As they were presenting, I thought to myself, I wish that one day I could talk to him, just say “hello”.
I sat through the presentation in awe of how wonderful these presenters were, their manner, their poise, their presence and their knowledge - I aspired to one day be like them. Years later, I was in my fifth and final year of study and was looking to apply for work as an Osteopath. I came across a job that was advertised, it was for an experienced osteopath and it was with one of “Osteo’s Greats”, the same osteopath that had presented to me years ago at university. I was only going to be a new graduate, I wasn’t experienced but I put in an application anyway. I was accepted for an interview. I was so scared and nervous, however, I went to the interview. Wow! This osteopath was incredible, yet was so very humble. I left the interview and three weeks later, I just wanted to know if I had got the position or not. I reluctantly rang this osteopath and he said, of course you have the job, I told you in the interview. I had been so nervous in my interview that I had missed this vital information.
For the next few years there I was working alongside one of “Osteo’s Greats”, he was humble, he was kind, he was generous in sharing his knowledge, experience, skill and art of osteopathy with me.
Those years were invaluable to me as a practitioner. I was able to learn everyday just from being around my teacher, my mentor, my guru. I learnt about osteopathy and also about the manner of being a great osteopath.”
—THANUJA VANDERHOEK,
FOUNDER, DIRECTOR, OSTEOPATH WHY WE DO WE WHAT WE DOIndividually we learn. Together we thrive.
The challenge many of us face as osteopaths is that once we graduate, we go out into the workforce and are creating changes in our patients, but we can also feel very much alone. While continuing education courses allow us to grow intellectually, and oftentimes sporadically, my dream is to create a space where we can connect with our mentors and learn and grow professionally throughout our whole career.
Wisdom Exchange is dedicated to bringing back the magic and wonder of being a student, even if we have been in the profession for a long time, so that we can continue to grow and thrive through all stages of our professional life.