Stepping down

A big decision, but the time is right

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

There’s a story about David Sackett, the originator of the evidence-based practice movement, that he deliberately changed his career every 10 years. He believed you constantly needed to press the reset button, and he did that for all of his working life. I don’t know if that’s true, but in the spirit of David Sackett at least, I’ve decided to step down from the CPN at the end of the year and start something new.

The CPN was formed early in 2014, and I’ve been chairing the Exec from Day 1. And during those eight years, it’s felt like the CPN has been party to an incredible transformation in the physiotherapy profession.

When I started out as a physiotherapist in the late 80s, I thought I knew what I’d be doing for the next 30-40 years. I don’t think that’s the case for new graduates today. No one quite knows what might be possible for a physiotherapist in 10 years’ time, never mind 40. And I think the CPN has been part of that. I think we can be proud of how we’ve helped to make an otherwise physiotherapy now seem possible.

Either through your reading and writing, your teaching and practice, through ‘spreading the word’, a million social media posts, conversations, and everyday decisions made differently, through your lobbying and mentorship, or just your encouragement to others, you’ve shown people a thousand new doors that didn’t seem to exist before.

So why step down now? Well, there are a number of reasons. Most importantly, the Network needs a new face, and preferably not a privileged white European guy. And I’m not just talking here about value signaling.

Despite many of the successes of the last eight years, I’ve always felt uncomfortable being so prominent in the Network. I’d always wanted it to be an engine of creativity; a safe place where people could say and do radical things. But I know that it’s much easier to do that if you have autonomy in your work, security of employment, time, and space.

At the beginning, it was easy to leverage that privilege to get things going, and it’s been a beautifully symbiotic relationship. But all good things come to an end, and now’s definitely a good time for both of us to look to something new.

The CPN is in good hands. The Network has an Exec that’s evolved considerably from its early days, and it’s run by some very capable people — any of whom could take over as Chair.

It also has a body of work in place — including the new Critical Physiotherapy Course on Vulnerability, and a 3rd critical reader in the pipeline — that will occupy lots of people in the Network for at least the next 18 months. So there’s still plenty of work to be done.

For me: I have a few plans for 2023 but so far only a few. I’m keeping my mind open to possibility. I know that I want to do more work in a creative community of peers, and I’ll always be using physiotherapy as my springboard for ideas. I’ve started a third book, but it will be a couple of years at least before that sees the light of day. And I’m hosting an international conference in Auckland in February 2024 which, hopefully, will attract enough CPN members to allow us to hold another Salon.

But I didn’t want to finish this message without saying a particular thank you to the people who have been at the heart of everything for me over the last eight years. To the small group of friends who got the CPN going in the first few months of 2014; to Jo Bloggs, whose unheralded labours kept us safe online; to the past and current Exec members; to all of you who gave your time freely to nurture the CPN; and to the thousands of people who have shared their dreams and ideas with me over the last eight years. I can’t thank you enough for your fellowship. It’s been an honour and a privilege to work with you.

And so to one last plea. If you’ve been a CPN member for some time and watched it from the fringes, think about getting involved now. The CPN is a living, breathing thing, and it needs the oxygen of your ideas, your inspirations, and your desires. Get involved.

As the great Margaret Fuller once said; “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it. Very early I knew that the only objective in life was to grow”.

Viva la revolución.

Dave