To most, Post-traumatic stress disorder is a phrase synonymous with war veterans and coping victims. But to me, PTSD simply sums up my childhood. My mother immigrated to the United States when she was twelve years old. An orphan of the Cambodian genocide, she was scarred mentally and physically by years of enslavement and inconsolable abandonment. My mother’s PTSD gave way to her everyday paranoia, and being raised by her has made growing up very challenging.
and intrigued by the mind-body connection as well as the importance of human activity and occupation in maintaining mental and physical well-being. At the same time, my desire to work directly with people and be able to make a positive and lasting change to their lives by empowering them and helping discover their strengths and confidence in themselves to achieve their goals, led me to a realization that a career in occupational therapy would be a perfect fit for me. To me occupational therapy is a dynamic, rewarding, challenging, and inspiring field where I can fully realize my skills and knowledge. Having always been a firm believer in the patient-centric approach, I am passionate about providing excellent service to patients by improving their performance, preventing illness and disability and promoting adaptation to life
One of the assignments for the Introduction to Occupational Therapy is to select an article and write a review about it. The article that seized my interest is “Starting a Private Practice: The First Steps” by Tara J. Glennon. In this response paper, I am going to discuss about how to start a private own business. My discussion will include the fate of small businesses in the United States. However, this effect will less likely to impact potential occupational therapy practice entrepreneurs because of the higher demand of occupational therapy, and therapists in the future.
. Another problem during the accreditation of Ayres work is she decided to use sensory integration as an isolated anomaly, rather than embedding it entirely in the context of Occupational therapy. Ayres main goals of her work was more based on what Occupational Therapy alone, can achieve, such as individuals can follow routines that are involved in daily life like, eating, sleeping getting ready, etc. Reseatchers trying to replicate the treatment developed a goal attainment scale, to help measure the effectiveness of studies. This was a breakthrough, allowing goals for the families and individuals and comparison across the wide array of people using this method.
Occupational Therapy is a health care profession in which we facilitate maximal independence and quality of life throughout the lifespan. As an Occupational Therapy Assistant Student, I want to be able to make the difference in the individual life to reach the patients goals and helping them back to be independent as possible. “The mission of the University of Charleston is to educate each and every student to their life of productive work, enlightened living and the community involvement.” (The University of Charleston, 2017). Liberal Learning Outcomes helps the student to be able to communicate effectively and engage in creativity in our professional and personal life (The University of Charleston, 2017).
During the summer I worked alongside an Occupational Therapist and I was with children that had severe special needs that used an Ipad. The device had special apps, which allowed them to communicate with us and practice simple tasks by themselves. Being able to be apart of the Technology Awareness Program will increase my horizons, and learn the technology behind amazing apps that some these children used. When my sister was apart of this program she expressed how much she greatly improved in her presentational skills and ability to solve real world problems. Being able to participate, will give me an amazing opportunity to work on presenting in front of a crowd and learn different ways that technology is implemented into our daily lives.
Occupational therapy saved my family. Growing up with a sister with severe spastic cerebral palsy to include both cognitive and functional deficits, life existed on a day to day, hour by hour basis, as we were unsure of challenges each moment would bring. This all changed the moment occupational therapy brought quality of life back to me and my family. My very personal experience defined my purpose to become an occupational therapist, to pay the gift given my family forward.
I have struggled for years attempting to decipher what I should pursue as a career. However, when considering top priorities in terms of a career, helping others and variety are the most important to me. Occupational therapy definitely fits those parameters, and through my shadowing experiences, I feel confident that this is what I am meant to do. I admire that occupational therapists care for a wide range of patients across the lifespan, with each patient offering a unique perspective and a chance to learn something new. I also appreciate the flexibility of this field in regard to the broad definition of “occupation” and the variety of settings that occupational therapists can be seen working in.
Occupational Therapy “I didn't really have an idea for what I wanted to do, I just knew I wanted to help people,” said Grace Milward, OT at Mercy Hospital. Grace goes on to say in the interview that occupational therapy allows her to maintain a stable and flexible job, helping people in a variety of ways, and in a variety of settings. Occupational Therapy is a fulfilling career, because it is both flexible and stable, improves patient ’s quality of life, and uses creativity to help patients Occupational therapy can provide stability while also being a flexible career.
At the age of five years old, my parents enrolled me in an at-risk preschool program and I was taught how to speak and communicate with my peers in the classroom. I believed that was the only time I would experience speech therapy, but it was not. My second experience arose from truly unfortunate circumstances, and differed as I was 18 years of age, within a month of starting college at a prestigious university and intending to move out of my parent’s house. In the summer of 2011, I was diagnosed with viral meningitis after I complained of arduous migraines for a week.
I have always had the intense desire to care and look after people from a very young age. I firmly believe that everyone deserves the best quality of life possible and this is what had drawn me to occupational therapy as a career path in the first place. It is so easy to take for granted all the everyday tasks we can do and we seldom consider the effect of not being able to complete them. As an occupational therapist I would be able to make a positive impact on someone’s life and make it possible for them to enjoy their life. I want the opportunity to provide support to people, help them gain independence and watch them grow more confident in their own ability.
Volunteering at McKenna Farms Therapy Services I was able to observe pediatric occupational therapy sessions. Not only did I get to observe Occupational Therapy sessions, but I observed Hippotherapy sessions too. What I found so unique about McKenna Farms is that they had Speech Therapist, Physical Therapist, and Occupational Therapist all together at one clinic. This allowed me to witness how the different types of therapy fit together and how the therapist would collaborate to find the best way to treat the children. My favorite part was finding ways to communicate with the kids.
Becoming an occupational therapist is my passion and my long-term career goal. Since a young age I have been incredibly inspired and motivated to befriend and help disabled individuals. Having grown up with a disabled mother who benefited from the services of occupational therapy I had the opportunity to see first hand how the experience gave can give individuals like her fulfilling and productive lives. With both parents working as healthcare professionals, including my mother who is now an occupational therapist herself, I see every day how rewarding the field is. Through my life I have had unique personal, professional and educational experiences that have shaped me into a strong candidate for an advanced education in occupational therapy.
When I was in the 10th grade, I was close friends with a young man named Alex Koser. He was not the type of person who was easily scared. In fact, he had very few fears, and he rarely was frustrated when life presented him with obstacles. In high school, being brave is not hard to do.
It’s been a rough journey trying to find a career that I am interested in for my profession. When I discovered occupational therapy, I didn’t know much about the field. A family friend of mine was the one who introduced, because I always knew that I wanted to work with families and infants. I then did some research and found occupational therapy that specializes in infants. I wasn’t aware that you could be an occupational therapist that works with infants, until the end of my senior year of high school.
