Occupational Therapy Personal Statement

Occupational therapy is the ability to provide help to others fairly and respectfully by doing everyday activities that can actually benefit the patients by improving the quality of his or her life. By doing so, this patient will be able to return to their loved ones and their daily activities. As a future occupational therapy, I will try my best to help these patients reach their goals of becoming dependent again. The passion that I have to help those that are in needs of treatments. There are several reasons that I choose to become an occupational therapist, among those reasons are the desire I have to help those that are in need of medical treatments. To continue, I wanted a career that would not take too long to complete and not have a long waiting list.

Most of my professional life to date has focused on working with people with disabilities and in helping them identify and achieve their goals. As an occupational therapist, I had coursework in psychology, but no formal training in counseling. My ability to help my patients reach their highest potential really depended on my professional relationship, or what as therapists we referred to as “therapeutic use of self”. I certainly learned and used specific techniques and assessments over the years to help me achieve better outcomes, but never identified with any specific theory as the framework of my interactions. I recognize there were times when my personality and my skills were a great match and other times when I felt like I just couldn’t figure out the right approach. Thankfully for much of my career, I worked with an interdisciplinary team that included some very skilled psychologists, so I always had the ability to consult.

Ever since I was a child, people always asked me what I would like to be when I grew up. At first, I would always say that I wanted to become an engineer because of my love for hands-on learning and my exceptional problem-solving skills. However, when I grew older I found that similar spark of fascination in the medical field. I wanted to go into a profession where I could help others and use my love for problem solving and hands-on interest. This is when I became interested in occupational therapy and fell in love with the profession. Occupational therapy has several elements I find passion in such as, the ability to be hands on and help change other people’s lives in a positive manner. My goal in life is to become an occupational therapist and help others live independent lives again. As I work to obtain this goal, I am doing many things such as strengthening my writing skills because this major involves many various aspects of writing. To succeed in this field, one needs to be able to write strong research-based papers and cite all sources correctly. I am striving to master these skills in hopes that I can succeed in and accomplish my academic goals.

The occupational therapy profession shares many objectives across the communities, clients, and families they serve. Some of these aims include: “Developing the field of occupational therapy and enhance the professions capabilities to meet the needs of the entire population, providing evidence on the efficacy of occupational therapy. This includes working with organizations and local communities, incorporating education, research, and practices as a complete whole. In addition, developing a team of professionals that innovates and adapts to the developing health needs of the population” (AOTA, 2013). This includes advocacy efforts with policymakers to ensure continued funding to provide care to individuals (AOTA, 2013). Occupational therapy is a distinctive profession that helps

Growing up, I have been an individual who has pushed myself beyond the minimum requirements in order to succeed. In high school I excelled in both academics and athletics. I graduated in the top 10% of my class and lettered in hockey and tennis my sophomore, junior, and senior year. I worked hard and put in extra time in order to set myself apart from others. Succeeding in both school and athletics made me a responsible, reliable, and an organized individual. These experiences made me a versatile individual and have given me a work ethic that has benefited me with my academics in college and with my work and volunteer experiences.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Occupational therapy assistants and aides help patients develop, recover, and improve the skills needed for daily living and working.” OT Career Path.com also states that, “occupational therapy assistants assist with the rehabilitation and care of patients with mental, developmental, physical, social, and emotional disabilities” Occupational therapist may provide many different forms of service from setting up materials, moving a patient, explaining exercises, preparing reports and implementing treatment plan as prescribed by the Occupational Therapist. An OTA’s duties vary greatly an example of their duties include helping patients acquire fine

With my past work experiences as a case manager, I 've had various meetings about what services my clients were going to need and what my involvement was going to be in meeting their needs. This has helped me strengthen my communication skills and I have learned to talk to a variety of different individuals. I especially find myself to have confidence which has also helped me sound relaxed and approachable when meeting someone for the first time. With this in mind I felt positive I was going to do well on my interview reflection assignment for my Introduction to Occupational Therapy class.

I am thankful for having the opportunity of applying to the Occupational Therapy program at Abilene Christian University (ACU). My decision of becoming an occupational therapist arose my sophomore year in North Lake College. Ever since, I have worked toward taking the prerequisites and then transferred to the University of Texas at Arlington, where I obtained by bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science. So later, I could pursue obtaining my master’s in Occupational Therapy. I am applying to the occupational program at ACU because, it is a Christian school, its excellent degree plan, along with experienced faculty, and my eagerness about of becoming an occupational therapist would equip me with the tools I need to perform the occupation with quality and humanity. I am ready to commit and serve others by putting to use what I have learned from occupational therapy experiences and to take advantage of all the resources the program has to offer.

The occupational therapist, I interviewed was Lorena Ortiz, MS, OTR/L. She is from Columbia, South America and currently lives in Greenville, South Carolina, where she has been a resident for sixteen years. She has three sisters, one brother and a son that is two years old. She attended Brea High School her junior and senior year and later graduate from Mauldin High School. Her favorite subject in School was anatomy because she enjoyed learning about the human body and the way it functions. In her opinion of what an occupational therapist is, she stated, “Helping people become as independent with daily activities as they wish after injury or disease.” The facilities where she works are, Greenville Health System, PRN acute care/In-patient rehab and Greer Memorial Hospital, out-patient rehab fulltime. Other areas she has worked are, subacute, long term acute care orthopedics. She worked as an occupational therapist assistance at St. Francis Hospital for seven years. While she worked at St. Francis Hospital, she later went back to school, for her master’s degree,

From a young age, I have always wanted to understand other people’s thoughts and feelings. As I have grown older, I have grown even more curious about not only understanding people, but learning how to help them. With this guiding me, my future career goal is to become an Occupational Therapist. Occupational Therapists work with a wide variety of people to help them overcome obstacles in their lives in order to achieve a better quality of life. I specifically hope to work with young children, adolescents, and teens who suffer from emotional, mental, or cognitive impairments. This is due to growing up in a family who fostered challenged children, having siblings with their own challenges, and having many young friends who could have benefitted

I was at ease because I was in the best hands when my father sat me up on a table to wrap my sprained ankle after a reckless fall in gymnastics. He lectured me while handing me crutches and pulling me back onto my feet. “You have to take it easy until it heals,” he said as he continued to demonstrate how to properly apply my own bandages, ice my ankle and safely walk. This occurrence was not something new to me. Growing up, I was often inspired by the struggles my father underwent as an Asian immigrant fighting to open his own primary care clinic in America. However this gave me the freedom to interact directly with patients to educated people on how to promote their health and the steps to take in order to recover and return to their original lifestyles. My father’s influence and tenacious work ethic instilled in me the dedication to provide the best care possible throughout all my experiences and cultivated my desire to become an occupational therapist.

In this day and age, there are so many health careers out there most people don’t even know where to start when looking for an occupation that truly interest them. I’ve spent my whole life not knowing what I wanted to grow up to be and worrying about not knowing what to study in college. This past year I have recently been looking into Occupational Therapy. This form of therapy is to help those recuperating from physical or mental illness that encourages rehabilitation through the performance of activities required in daily life (What Is Occupational Therapy?, n.d.). People who work in this field are referred to as Occupational Therapist.

It is that excellent mentor or coach that leaves a mark in your life after going through a catastrophic situation. What if it is not simply done in the field and your needs are met simultaneously? I believe there is more to assisting patients then providing pills in an attempt to maintain health in our country. I want to make a positive impact on people's lives, contribute to society by enabling people of all ages and ability to engage in their regular activities of life. I want to help people and empower others to help themselves. For these reasons, I am passionate about pursuing a career in the field of Occupational Therapy at Adventist University Health Sciences.

Occupational therapy is focused on developing creative ways to resolve problems in order to maximize independence, making these skills essential for the job. I am also goal oriented, self-motivated, and have a strong drive for academic excellence. Through volunteering in a variety of health settings, I have developed a great level of patience, as well as strong communication skills. I have experience in designing adaptive equipment through computer aided drafting and engineering courses. Through focusing my projects for these classes on adaptive equipment, I have gained spatial and visual skills, as well as an understanding of the importance of technology in occupational therapy. In addition, I have a very compassionate attitude and desire to help others. I believe that these traits, skills, and experiences, will contribute to my success as an occupational

An occupational therapist is a trained and licensed health care professional who can make a complete evaluation of the impact of disease on the activities of the patient at home and in work situations. Hobbies and recreational activities are considered when an assessment is made. The most generally accepted definition of occupational therapy is that it is an activity, physical or mental, that aids in a patient’s recovery from disease or injury.