cOnnecT with Miranda Doherty

Why did you choose OT as a career?
I started looking at careers in high school and heard about physiotherapy from a friend.  I knew I was destined to help others and saw myself working with children. As I began investigating and researching in various university calendars, I naturally looked at related fields and found OT.  The profession spoke me through its creative, holistic, and functional approach to rehabilitation. I visited various OTs, including OTs and PTs at Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children and BC Children’s Hospital.  Suddenly, everywhere I turned, I found OTs willing to share their love of the profession – flexibility, thinking outside the box, problem solving, spirit-building, belief, and hope.

Tell us about your current and/or past research projects. What led you to pursue this research? 

I have always stated my professional goal was to be a good clinician, and I have never had any aspirations to be a researcher. For the first thirteen years of my practice, I avoided research like the plague. There were the standard excuses – not enough time, don’t know how to do a literature search, not enough resources, don’t know where or how to start.  Eventually, I realized I had many questions about what I was doing or recommending, but no proven evidence, except that I knew it had worked for another client. For the past four years, with the driving force of an ADHD clinic colleague, Dr. Janet Mah, and the support of my clinic, I've found myself part of a research project looking at the effects of the Alert Program for Self-Regulation® on attention in children with ADHD. We just received a grant this year to start phase 2 of the project, which includes expanding to an 8-week intervention program and using fMRI to study brain activity associated with a component of the program. So, after years of denying any researcher qualities, I have realized we all have questions about what we do, which is the impetus for research and evidence-based practice.

Where have you worked over your career? Where do you work now?

My first job in 1999, was working in St. John’s, NL, which I mistook for Saint John, NB. With my poor knowledge of eastern Canada geography, I pulled out a map to locate the city and was surprised to find I had accepted a job in NL! Having no knowledge of either city, I knew the experience would be what I could make of it. I was happy to work in any area to gain as much experience as possible – adult neuro rehab, vocational rehab, functional capacity evaluations, return to work, and acute orthopedics. After Newfoundland, I worked at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax for 8 years mainly in pediatric brain injury, then moved back to BC in 2008 to work at BC Children’s Hospital in oncology. I also worked for the BC Centre for Ability with the Early Intervention Program in the community. Since 2012, I have been working part time with the ADHD Clinic at BC Children’s Hospital and part time in private practice in community pediatric brain injury rehabilitation. 
When the sixteen-year anniversary of my OT graduation passed by, I decided it was time to refresh myself and my perspective of OT.  In 2015, I returned to student life in the UBC MRSc program, to help answer my clinical “why” questions and ultimately help me to be a better clinician.  The course work and meeting other clinician-students, has been invaluable in furthering my practice.     

Tell us about someone who has influenced your OT practice?

From 1991-1993, I volunteered at Sunny Hill Health Centre while I was applying to OT school. It was my first experience in the rehabilitation world. The recreation therapy staff (Sheila Kennedy, Kelly Duckworth, Candy Hitch, Morag, Conrad, Earl, and Kim) showed me the meaning of ability, quality of life, inclusion, navigating obstacles, perseverance, strength, and courage. Through them, I worked as a personal care worker for a few children at Sunny Hill. I met Janice Duivestein (OT) and Janice Evans (PT) then, who encouraged me to continue pursuing OT and have inspired me as a clinician. 

What do you do when you aren't working? 

When I am not working, I can be found spending time with my husband and two boys, aged 5 and 9, playing music with our community concert band, and helping with the school PAC. Having a family has changed the clinician I thought I was. I have a greater understanding and perspective of the roller coaster of life. I appreciate better the role of OTs in family-centred care and “making it work” for families.