Blissful Ordinariness

As a new MOT student I have had several opportunities to explain what OT is to friends, family and many strangers. In fact, one of my PDE goals is to become more confident in my elevator speech. While I believe that I know exactly what OT means to me it can be difficult to summarize. I really enjoy how Cynthia Cooper explains the "mystique" in occupational therapy. It is hard to convey to someone who has never seen OT in action what it can actually be effecting. The tasks we may have a client perform as a means might seem frivolous to some. An example of this could be having a client play candy land. This is where the holistic nature of the OT profession comes in to play. With OT we are looking at the whole person and forming our goals based on their priorities as well as their previous/current social, educational, and vocational performance. The client playing candy land may be a grandparent working towards a goal of restoring an aspect of communication with their grandchildren after a medical event. The therapist would recognize this priority from the client during the initial evaluation and discuss other challenges the client might have. The therapeutic relationship between the OT and the client is important during the evaluation. When actively listen to what is important to the client we connect on a deeper level. This allows us to recognize situations or experiences that may present a challenge that the client hasn't articulated. In sum, the air of mystique in occupational therapy encompasses the ability that we have to connect with our clients and the importance of the awareness of blissfully ordinary activities.