Why did you choose occupational therapy as a career?
I could speak at length about this, but I will (try) to keep it short! For as long as I can remember, I have had a desire to care for others but it was not until my experience volunteering in a long-term care home did my concept of working in a healthcare setting truly materialize. After completing my research thesis in physiology/kinesiology, I did sway into the world of academia, but after engaging in multiple informal interviews with OTs in the profession, my curiosity grew. I remember the first week of my OT program where I learned that OT practice encompassed the physical, mental, cognitive and spiritual elements of the human experience to all be determinants of health. This created in me a deep appreciation for what OT practice really stood for: A practice that really gets people. A practice that works and creates significant change. From there I was hooked and knew I was part of something really special.
What is your favourite thing about CAOT-BC?
It would be a toss up between two things:
- I appreciate all the work CAOT puts into advocating for the profession and providing us professional support. Just knowing that we have an organization that is there to better our profession helps give me confidence to focus on providing excellent clinical care.
- I have always appreciated the prompt communication from the CAOT staff. All the way from organizing our professional insurance to setting up meetings with their awesome service coordinator Sarah!
What has been your most interesting job?
During my undergraduate studies, I spent some time working as a bicycle mechanic fixing and tuning up bikes. It was a fantastic way to merge my hobbies of mountain biking with the tinkering of tools. To my delightful surprise, my skills learned from this job has actually helped me in my OT practice when working with wheelchairs and other mobility equipment.
What do you like about occupational therapy?
If I am to reflect even from my work yesterday in clinical practice, I would say that I love that OT practice has such diversity that it can allow for us to exercise and celebrate our creativity. I consider myself a child at heart (and probably forever) and I love using Lego blocks to create Star Wars ships. I had the opportunity to utilize the cognitive activity of Lego building into a treatment session for a mental health client and guess what? He loved it! He has been more engaged now then he has been in the last year working with him and it has been a medium for me to start discussing with him about his previous leisure pursuits. This along with hundreds of other examples just shows how absolutely lovely it is to have a profession that can be stylized and made into your own when serving our clients.
What do you find most challenging about working as an OT?
I feel the most difficult element of being an OT is the challenge of maintaining a healthy balance of being both empathic and invested without succumbing to either compassion fatigue/burnout or jadedness. Of course, this is something that is not unique to OTs in general, so I am thankful that this is an ongoing conversation with rich input from many other health professions.
What would you tell someone who is thinking about becoming an OT?
Firstly, I would say that OT is an exciting profession. Rich, full and rewarding. I would say that if this is an area you are wanting to pursue, keep an open mind about what area you would like to delve into. There are enough practice areas and even sub-practice areas (and perhaps sub-sub-practice areas) that it would take awhile to even break the surface. I recall many individuals in my OT class were quite firm that they wanted to work in pediatrics or geriatrics, only to realize after a few practicums that they had a greater passion elsewhere. Same thing happened for me as well. I knew I had a love for working with the elderly, but I have realized only after working and trying new areas of practice about my love for the exciting world of ergonomics.
#OT365
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