“When the going gets tough, put one foot in front of the other and just keep going. Don’t give up.” – Roy T. Bennett. 

Our 900th CNT™, Brittany Lewis, has been practicing at the 55-bed Level 3 NICU at Covenant Healthcare in Saginaw, MI for over 3 years. She is now one of the 3 full-time occupational therapists, who are all Certified Neonatal Therapists™ (shout out to Janelle Myers, CNT™ and Mary Reed, CNT™!), and 1 part-time occupational therapist (shout out to Nicole Danz!) who staff the unit. 

As many of us can relate, life is always full of surprises. Brittany’s OT journey began 8 years ago with the geriatric population. After 5 years of practice, Covenant Healthcare had a full-time OT position in the NICU become available. With encouragement from her fellow therapists, Brittany took the leap of faith and began her new journey as a neonatal therapist. Brittany’s new teammates reached out to lend their hands in training and supporting her in this new practice area.

“Well as most of us know, NICU becomes more than just a job, and I fell in love with the babies, parents, and staff.”

You never know who you will meet or what opportunity will come that will change your life forever. Back then, Brittany would not have ever imagined herself sharing her story as the 900th CNT™ and identifying the impact she makes in the lives of high-risk infants and their families. 

Brittany’s opportunity to become a CNT™ didn’t appear immediately nor fall into her lap overnight. Upon entry into the NICU, having strong mentors can make all the difference in terms of acclimating to the high-risk environment. The two other CNTs in the unit helped train Brittany.

“[Janelle and Mary] have been amazing mentors and truly helped shape me into the neonatal therapist I am today. I think sometimes we don’t realize the effect we have on others and how much we can teach other therapists. I am here today and was able to pass my certification because of the mentorship of my fellow CNTs/co-workers.”

Brittany also succeeded in becoming a CNT™ by committing herself to becoming certified. She wanted to prove to herself that she had the knowledge and skills to be in the NICU. As she went through the process of studying and taking the exam, she learned just how much she actually knew and put into practice each day. The certification exam reflected what she and her co-workers do daily in the NICU.

To help her prepare for the exam, Brittany reported that she read and reviewed the articles provided by the NCTB™ and also took the Neonatal Therapy Review and Certification Preparation Course offered by NCTB™. She made flashcards from the articles and exam review course to help her with studying. She recommends the Neonatal Therapy Review and Certification Preparation Course as an excellent resource for those seeking certification as well as for therapists who are new to the NICU setting. Although Brittany felt well-prepared to take the exam, she still felt nervous on test day.

“As nervous as I was, once I got going with the test, many of the scenarios and questions were noted to be things that we all deal with daily. Because of the strong foundation of my mentors who helped me learn NICU basics, I was able to easily answer the questions with confidence.”

Now with more confidence in herself and respect from the entire care team, Brittany continues to provide care for all types of infants in the NICU—from their smallest micro preemies to term born infants with medical conditions. In her unit, the 3 CNTs work on feeding, positioning, head shaping, massage, orthopedic conditions that may arise, as well as providing parent education. Her team is also very active in other team-based activities in the NICU including length-of-stay meetings, discharge planning, developmental care meetings, and the developmental assessment clinic for infants after NICU discharge.

Besides the value placed on CNT™ status within their NICU, Brittany also now appreciates belonging to a body of fellow therapists to advocate for the profession, collaborate with other experts in the field, and organize emerging evidence to enable the best care for high-risk infants and their families in the NICU.

“Becoming a CNT™ was never in the plan for me, nor was being in the NICU in general. As therapists, we all want to make a difference and help ensure our patients have the best quality of life possible. This idea was in play for me in the geriatric population, however, it became so much more once I entered the NICU. On a daily basis, I have the privilege of caring for people’s infants with  parents who are scared, stressed, and many of whom have no previous knowledge of NICU/prematurity. I have taught parents how to care for their babies at the youngest of ages; I have laughed and cried with these parents; and I have watched these children go home and thrive. Being a CNT™ is much more than just a certification. It is providing the best care to the littlest of babies and supporting parents and staff. I hope I will be able to use this certification to continue to provide the best care for my babies, enhance parent learning, educate and encourage staff, and also mentor the next generations of CNTs.”

Congratulations and welcome to the CNT™ family Brittany, our 900th CNT™!

                                                                                                                                                                                                    

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Testimonials

See what others have to say about their experience with us!

“The process of preparing for the neonatal therapy certification exam was as beneficial as taking the examination because of the knowledge gained. The resource list is invaluable and I refer to it almost daily.”
Lauren Adams
PT, PCS, CNT
“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to become a Certified Neonatal Therapist (CNT) in 2018, through the Neonatal Therapy Certification Board (NTCB).I believe this qualification is very relevant to practice in the United Kingdom (UK) as it helps raise the profile of neonatal therapy and also promotes a core knowledge base and practice. I truly believe that all neonatal therapists should have the same theory and knowledge base when working with this high-risk population, their intervention and level of involvement for each patient may well be slightly different. The certification process requires collaborative working. I am extremely fortunate in my setting to have a speech and language therapist who was prepared to relentlessly ask me questions on neonatal feeding, until she felt I was competent enough to the take the exam. I hope that more neonatal therapists in the UK consider taking this examination, the more people who talk about neonatal therapy, the louder our voices will be. I hope that one day every family and their baby who enter the neonatal unit continue to have access to good medical and nursing care, but also have access to all neonatal therapy; occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy. I hope that every therapy discipline has the credentials to highlight their specialty and knowledge and that no family is asked to choose between receiving occupational therapy or physiotherapy or speech and language therapy again. I believe that becoming certified in neonatal therapy is definitely a step in the right direction.”
Emily Hills
OT, MSc, CNT, NTMC
Before the exam:
“The Neonatal Therapy Certification process has made me a more well rounded developmental care specialist. It has forced me to step out of my feeding/dysphagia bubble and I have been able to apply my new knowledge every time I interact with a baby and their caregivers.”

After the exam:
“The test was a challenging yet fair representation of what an advanced NICU therapist should know. I strongly encourage every NICU therapist to pursue certification. You owe it to your patients to be the best therapist you can be!”
Chelsea Moss
MA, CCC-SLP, IBCLC, CNT
“As a new therapist, I was passionate about achieving certification to demonstrate competence and promote our profession as an advanced area of practice. Following extensive mentorship in the NICU, and after meeting the minimum requirements for certification, I became a certified neonatal therapist! I am thrilled to be a part of a growing profession who now has a successful pathway for developing competency that will continue to establish our profession as an essential component of NICU care.”
Lisa Olsen
OTDR/L, CNT
Vanessa Nimon
PT, CNT
“I was so worried that I would fail the exam (and be embarrassed) that I did not tell my boss I was taking it. Then I took it and found out right away that I aced the exam.It helped me be more confident in myself as a clinician. Reading the literature that was provided was great in helping me prepare and helped me understand what parts of my practice are evidence based.”
Ruth Wilkerson
OTR, CLC, NTMC, CNT
Heidi Stubb
OT, CNT
“I feel like I come to the NICU with a wider breadth of knowledge and appreciation for all the aspects of developmental care.”
Julie Ecclestone
MA, CCC-SLP, CNT
“I have spent many days fighting for respect and proving myself to other professionals in the NICU. Earning the title of Certified Neonatal Therapist has helped minimize that fight.”
Casey Manning
M.S. CCC-SLP, CNT, NTMTC
“I pursued the Certified Neonatal Therapist Certification because working with infants in the NICU is a passion of mine. It has grown exponentially through the years and I felt the time was right to prove to myself, my team, and my management staff that I had the skills and competency to lead in the NICU.”
Cameron Harris
OTR/L, NTMTC, CNT
“As a speech pathologist in the NICU, I was initially hesitant to become a CNT because I thought it would be more geared towards OT/PT studies. What I learned in my journey towards the certification is that everyone who comes in contact with an infant in the NICU benefits from the complex knowledge of neuro development. A different mindset, apart from simply “safe feeding” engulfed my daily practice. My OT coworker (and also CNT) and I began to tag-team ways to incorporate gentle, kind touch into each interaction with the infants. Often our efforts “rubbed off” on other coworkers and parents. My feeding skills have been enhanced by my all-in focus when encountering each baby. It’s not just safe feeding with no aspiration, it’s enjoyable experiences at each feeding time, whether bottle feeding or tube feeding. It’s preventing severe oral aversions in complex cases instead of undoing negative feeding experiences for years to come. I am a better therapist because of my studies to become a CNT.”
Cynthia Armstrong
M.S., CCC-SLP, BCS-S, CNT

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