cOnnecT with Dave Robens

My name is Dave Robens and I am one of the luckiest people around – I have the privilege of being an Occupational Therapist. To think that in 2001 I returned to Vancouver after living, working and traveling abroad to become an actor. I was in the process of receiving a second bachelor’s degree in acting. On February 4, 2002, my father had a massive hemorrhagic stroke affecting his right side and leaving him with aphasia. I quit school and work in order to help my family adjust to my father’s functional change. During my years of daily involvement in my father’s recovery process, I realized how challenging it is for individuals and family members to navigate through the many changes required to maintain a high quality of life. Building on his own extensive research and experience, Dave created Helping Hands Family Care Management to ensure that people who have acquired a disability, and their families, can still live happy and manageable lives. Helping Hands was established in 2003. But I was not an OT.

As I was marketing my new company, people were asking me about my background – I had an undergraduate degree in psychology and an unfinished acting degree. Potential clients and referrers did not see me as qualified to provide the services offered through Helping Hands. So I sought out help through the BCSOT special interest group for private practice occupational therapists and learned about the new Master of Occupational Therapy program at UBC. I completed my MOT in 2007 after having had my first child, Molly Ava, who was born 1 week before our Neuroanatomy class and lab. Luckily, I was up for the challenge!

I have had a great variety of opportunity as an OT and an OT student. My five practica spanned mental health inpatient, paediatric feeding and seating, seniors’ outpatient, and inpatient/outpatient/community brain injury. My work life has been all community based with Fraserhealth, Vancouver Coastal, and Helping Hands. I currently work in a VCH program called Home ViVE (Visiting Vancouver’s Elders) Plus which was established to help prevent hospital and residential admissions for frail seniors who would prefer to stay at home. So the focus of my public and private practice is seniors. I feel incredibly thankful for the amazing components of my life that have been nourished by my occupational therapy practice – the learning, the teaching, the helping, the growing, the community, the collaboration, the innovation, and on and on and on.

Outside of my OT life I strive for the health and well-being of myself, my family and friends. First and foremost is being a loving and supportive father, partner, son, brother (in-law), friend, and colleague. In addition to loving and supporting my family, I work full time with VCH, I work part time with Helping Hands, I captain 2 adult co-ed recreational soccer teams, I do Bikrams, I help provide care to my father, I sit on the Board of Directors of a theatre company, I co-lead a men’s emotional evolution group, and I further care for my body and mind with massage, counselling, and coaching. When I think of the things I choose to prioritize in my life, it comes down to being the best me I can be without taking myself too seriously – a work in progress.

If you would like to learn more about the Home ViVE concept: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=5f335dae-b37f-4da7-90ef-d8b7fe7535de

If you’d like to learn more about Helping Hands Services: http://helpinghandsfamilycare.com/services/

If you’d like to learn more about me: drobens@telus.net

Thanks so much for reading!