April: Occupational Therapy Month

In honor of OT Month, two of our founders decided to write about their passion for this field. We love what we do & hope to share it with the world. Write in the comments below about your experience with OT. We want to know the good, the bad, & the even the ugly!

Ring the alarm! It’s OT month!! I am excited to celebrate, and be apart of this extraordinary profession that has been around for many years. Sadly, I never heard about it until my guidance counselor brought it to my attention after I decided to change my major for the hundredth time. Unfortunately, I paid for that mistake in student loans. When I chose to pursue this career path people were either clueless about the profession or had jokes. “What’s OT?” “Does it stand for overtime?” “Can you help me get a job?” “Why didn’t you choose PT? Everybody knows them.” The American Occupational Therapy Association defines an occupational therapist as someone who “helps people across their lifespan participate in the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of everyday activities (occupations).” When I learned of all the exciting, fun ways, therapist used play and therapeutic activities to develop, recover, improve, as well as maintain the skills needed for daily living and working, I was sold. I am a proud occupational therapist (OT) who has been practicing for over ten years. On a regular basis, I apply all my natural skills (i.e. humor, creativity, versatility, empathy, etc.), and abilities as “Macgyver” to change lives. I’m never bored. OTs can work in hospitals, nursing homes, mental health, academia, early intervention, etc. We can also specialize in the following: environmental modification, driving and community mobility, low vision, feeding, swallowing, and eating, and more. I’ve worked in various settings, and with different age groups and populations, yet I’ve only scratched the surface. This has been a very rewarding career, and I look forward to what’s next.

To celebrate OT month, I thought I should discuss my journey to become an OT. To be honest, I never wanted to become an occupational therapist because I didn’t know this profession existed. I always wanted to be a veterinarian. Between the ages of 8-10, I made the announcement that I was going to attend Cornell University, become a veterinarian, & save the lives of animals. Well, life has a way of laughing at one’s plans. After high school, I attended Bucknell Univeristy (‘Ray Bucknell!). I majored in chemistry for about 2 semesters and I was failing! I still had a love for animals, so I majored in Animal Behavior & Spanish. No, I do not speak Spanish to animals (LOL). Graduation was around the corner & I didn’t have the grades for veterinarian school. I applied to 4 graduate schools for zoology, animal science, etc. I was rejected by every single school. I graduated in 2002, 8 months after September 11, 2001. The economy was bad, & there weren’t too many job opportunities. I worked for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories as a tech. I cleaned the mice & rat cages for various science experiments. I knew this wasn’t what I should be doing with my life. I decided to research other career opportunities to work with animals. I came across occupational therapy, physical therapy, & speech therapy. I knew physical therapy wasn’t for me & I did consider speech therapy. Once I read about OT, I was instantly attracted. I thought this might be the profession for me; I could do animal assisted therapy. I researched various OT programs & discovered Long Island University (LIU; Brooklyn Campus). I applied to the program with 0 volunteer hour with an OT. Dr. Gutman interviewed me & gave me a shot. She explained that I was missing some courses, but if I took the courses & passed, I could attend the program. Well, guess what happened…I was accepted into the program!! I guess you can say I was meant to be an occupational therapist. LIU was the only OT program that I applied to & Dr. Gutman allowed me to attend with no previous experience. This is where I met Myrna, my future business partner (I just didn’t know it at the time). I LOVE my profession & talk about it regularly. I look forward to expanding my knowledge in the field & making a difference in the lives of my clients. Although I didn’t pursue animal assisted therapy, I did have the opportunity to do volunteer work with my dog & it was great! I still have the goal to bring my dog to work one day!