Held every April, National Occupational Therapy Month recognizes occupation therapy while thanking the therapists who work nationwide to create fuller lives for clients and their families. Its the only profession that helps people across the lifespan to do the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of daily activities. Occupational therapy practitioners enable people of all ages to live life to its fullest by helping them promote health, and prevent injury, illness, or disability.

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.

Every day, occupational therapists have the opportunity to meet and change the lives of others.  To celebrate the month, we want to introduce you to one of our therapists at our facility.  Courtney has been an OT for over 14 years, after graduating from Mountain State University in Beckley, WV.

To introduce Courtney, we asked her a few questions about being an OT:

• Why did you get into occupational therapy?  What interested you in OT as a career?

I became interested in OT when I learned that OT was about helping patients get back to what they want/need to do.  It’s not just about strengthening but it’s about getting our patients to doing the activities that are meaning to them such as getting out into the community, hobbies, and everyday responsibilities like household duties.

• How would you describe OT to someone?

OT is about helping people get back to doing the things they love to do.  There’s more to OT than meets the eye.  It’s getting to know people and their interest while putting that into OT session in a functional way.

• Has there been a patient that, in your career, really stands out to you or a time that you’ve been most proud of?

Actually, I just ran into her [patient] just a few days ago.  When she came to our facility, she was not in the best health condition.  After a team combined effort from OT & PT (physical therapy), we were able to get her back into the community.  When I saw her, she was driving.  She’s been able to get back with her normal day-to-day activities.  We’re super proud of the progress that she has made.

We want to thank Courtney for her time.  We appreciate her and all of the occupational therapist, in our facility and throughout the world.

If you’re interested in learning more about Occupational Therapy, please visit the American Occupational Therapy website by visiting their website: https://www.aota.org/