Position: Occupational Therapist with the Seneca All-In Partnership.
What led you to your current position? After graduating as an OT, I was looking for a pediatric or mental health OT position. I was excited to come across the OT opportunity at Seneca, that incorporates both! I was drawn to Seneca's unconditional care (and unconditional education) philosophy and wanted to work collaboratively with others who believed in and worked towards that.
Fun Fact/Quote? OTs work in many settings (hospitals, schools, clinics, in the community, shelters, home health, nursing homes) and with any population (newborn through older adult/end of life, physical medicine, mental health, and a combination)! OTs strive to support a person, and their community to do what they need and want to do (occupations) through the therapeutic use of every day activities.
What does your average day look like? Each day of the week I travel to a different school(s) and provide direct treatment, consultation services, conduct observations and evaluations, attend IEP meetings, and do documentation. Students on my caseload have challenges in the areas of fine motor, gross motor, bilateral coordination, visual motor and perception, and/or sensory processing skills, to the extent that it impacts their success and participation at school. We play games and do activities that target these areas in a fun way (that's the hope!), that relates to the students interests. An area that requires a lot of these skills is handwriting, so I work to target the underling components that are impacting legibility, strengthen them in sessions and provide adaptive resources to teachers. My day also includes tons of animal walks, infinity breathing, hand and body compressions, and obstacle courses to help get my kiddos regulating input to support their attention and well-being. Also as a new practitioner, I spend time researching questions I have, different treatment ideas, and doing case consultations with more experienced OTs (shout out Marika Minczeski).
Why do you do this work? I believe everyone should have the right to accessing what they need and want to do in life, and I believe in advocating for that right and finding creative solutions to making it happen.