My Occupational Therapy Blog

Before beginning occupational therapy school, I completed 100 hrs of observations in various settings. One setting I observed in was a hospital on a subacute floor where often physical therapists and occupational therapist would co-treat. I am reflecting now and acknowledge some areas that I am still uncertain about. I noticed in my observation that there was a lot of overlap between the treatment of the PT's and OT's and sometimes the treatment appeared the same. I observed that the main goal of most of the treatments was to get the patient up, out of the bed, in the chair, or walking down the hallway. I rarely observed discussion with the client about what was meaningful to them or work towards a specific occupation. My current thoughts now are that my observation was limited and I know I didn't see the full scope of what OT's do in a hospital setting. I also wander if OT's in this setting focus more on evaluation, ambulation, and then referral to an outpatient se...

         As someone who loves to be outside and believes time outdoors is very healthy and often times healing, I enjoyed a recent podcast titled "Nature Based Therapy". Here Amy Seymore, a pediatric occupational therapist, discusses this type of therapy and how she uses it in her private practice.         She starts the podcast by explaining that nature based therapy is basically occupational therapy that happens outdoors. For example, in a clinic a practitioner may have a child step across colorful rubber "river stones". In nature based therapy, however, a practitioner would instead go outside and guide the child to step across actual river stones in a stream. In this natural environment, a child would have to compensate for other elements such as the sun in their eyes, the breeze across their skin, or the sounds of the water. She goes on to explain that other environments could include therapists working with clients at a beach, in the w...