Why Occupational Therapy?

Throwback to my Senior Year of High School!

We had a class called "Service Learning" which allowed students to complete an internship during the school day as a class for school credit. This is a great way for high school students to figure out what they want to do! A family friend, that I had babysat their youngest for years, had connected me to a local pediatric occupational therapy clinic where I did my internship and ended up logging over 150 hours at. I fell in love with the practice. I fell in love with helping people. I fell in love with combining art and science.

What is Occupational Therapy?

Honestly, the best way to describe Occupational Therapy is to start with what Occupational actually means. Occupations are what people do. Seems simple enough. The general definition is that occupation is your job, your career, your Occupation. But it is not just work, it is literally anything a person does. It ranges from showering, feeding and swallowing, to imaginative play, to education, to cooking, and cleaning. And yes it also includes jobs. Occupational therapy is using therapeutic tools to achieve occupational goals. 

Why Theater and Psych and Occupational Therapy?

Why Theater? Easy. Before I learned about Occupational Therapy, theater was my life. I knew that I wanted to go to school for theater because there was so much I didn't know and didn't understand. 

There is actually no Occupational therapy bachelor's degree anymore. There are five-year programs where you get your bachelor's and master's, but no other undergrad options. One of the recommended areas of study that feeds into Occupational Therapy was psychology. Once I took the introductory course I knew that Psych was perfect for me! 

Flash forward to my first semester of grad school for Occupational Therapy and I have never been more sure of past choices. I have used so many skills from theater and knowledge from psych in my first semester of grad school. I can do a whole thing on that later, but what I am trying to get at is that in undergrad I did the art degree and the science degree and now I am in a degree that combines the two to help people. 

My plans for all of this are: Develop a theater program that combines occupational therapy tools, theories, and theater education to create inclusive and accessible theater! This includes accessible buildings and rooms, sensory-friendly spaces, a lengthened rehearsal process to accommodate chronic illness, accommodative sets and costumes, mobility aids for performance, and so much more!