Occupational Therapy for Whatever Occupies Your Life
Collect stamps? Play the piano? An Occupational Therapist can employ that which is beautiful in your life to help you heal that which isn’t mentally and physically. Who knew???
What Is Occupational Therapy? 1 “Occupational therapy practitioners ask, ‘What matters to you?’ not, ‘What’s the matter with you?”
“In its simplest terms, occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants help people across the lifespan participate in the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of everyday activities (occupations). Common occupational therapy interventions include helping children with disabilities to participate fully in school and social situations, helping people recovering from an injury to regain skills, and providing supports for older adults experiencing physical and cognitive changes. Occupational therapy services typically include:
*an individualized evaluation, during which the client/family and occupational therapist determine the person’s goals,
*customized intervention to improve the person’s ability to perform daily activities and reach the goals, and
*an outcomes evaluation to ensure that the goals are being met and/or make changes to the intervention plan.”
Researcher, Guidetti S, Tham K, 2 “Self-care training is one of the most frequently used interventions in rehabilitation. However, there is a need for clear descriptions of what occupational therapists do during self-care training with clients. Findings showed that the occupational therapists’ strategies focused primarily on how to create a relationship built on trust with their clients, how to find the right way to motivate clients, how to support the setting of goals, and how to provide enabling occupational experience and adjust training to the needs of the client, rather than focusing on teaching clients how to use technical and compensatory strategies. The general aim of using the strategies was to support the clients in taking control of their lives again. One conclusion from this study is that occupational therapists could, through understanding the individual’s unique situation, vary their strategies and adapt themselves, like a chameleon, to meeting clients’ experiences and needs during self-care training.”
Scheinholtz, 3 “Mental illness is the leading cause of disability in the world. It can significantly impact an individual’s ability to engage in daily life
activities that are meaningful and lead to productive daily routines. Occupational therapy is a profession vital to helping individuals with mental illness develop the skills needed to live life to its fullest.
Individuals of all ages who are diagnosed with a mental illness can benefit from occupational therapy. Furthermore, friends and family members can also benefit from these services to learn ways to deal with the stress of caregiving and how to balance their daily responsibilities to allow them to continue to lead productive and meaningful lives.”
Counseling on Demand’s team includes Occupational Therapy.
We are online at CounselingonDemand.com
Effective Online Counseling…only a click away
- The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc., aota.org/About-Occupational-Therapy
- Guidetti S,Tham K, National Institutes of Health, Pubmed.gov, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
- Scheinholtz, M. (2010).Occupational therapy in mental health: Considerations for advanced practice. Bethesda, MD: AOTA Press.
