Occupational Therapy Personal Statement

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.

The Occupational Therapy Assistant lab at University of Charleston is unavailable after normal business hours to complete tasks hands on and to work on homework effectively; with no computer lab available for additional knowledge on the subjects, OTA students of University of Charleston is at a hindrance, resulting in tasks being completed off campus. The OTA program is at an educational disadvantage because the main resources are limited to a Monday through Friday schedule, which entitles students to rely on unscholarly articles and websites for information.

A myriad of challenging experiences have molded my life serving as a catalyst to become an Occupational Therapist. At age eighteen, I was diagnosed with a progressive form of bilateral hearing loss. Due to the sudden and severe nature of my hearing loss, I was able to participate in a rehabilitation program. Overcoming adversity provided a sense of purpose and vocational direction. The last 20 years, I have guided others confronting equally daunting hardships.

When I attended the Terrace Child Development Centre, I witnessed one therapy session with a 7.5 month old who was born 5 weeks earlier. This child had two prior sessions with the occupational therapist to work on independent sitting, and rolling over. The therapy session for that day was about getting the infant to roll over properly and trying to get the infant to start crawl. The infant would roll over with a wide stance of legs and arms, using the arms and head to roll over, and not using the hips or legs. The occupational therapist showed the parents how to properly help the infant to roll over by getting the infant to roll with the leg and hip first with the use of the parent’s finger to guide the hip to roll over. The occupational therapist

Have you ever thought about what life would be like if you had a life-altering disability that completely changed the way you were able to function on a day-today basis? Have you ever given thought to how frustrating your new reality would be? I would venture to guess that most therapy patients likely never anticipated the depth of challenge that would become their new reality. These patients come to occupational therapists for help and are oftentimes afraid, confused, and doubtful they will ever have again the life they once knew. They are depending on their therapist to play many different roles for them and be able to guide them through this new and possibly frightening time in their life.

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,

When asked what I want to do with my life, my answer is simply to help others. Although this answer is one would expect to hear from just about anyone, I have always been encouraged by mentors and parents to do what I love. In my case, helping others brings me a great deal of satisfaction. The human body and how it is able to adapt has always been a fascination of mine, and from a young age I identified the health care field as an ideal fit for my interests in medicine, as well as my passion for helping others. With these two drives in mind, I found myself at the age of sixteen with a career goal in mind: Occupational Therapy.

I am writing to apply for the Master of Occupational Therapy Practice with Swinburne University of Technology. I initially studied Bachelor of Health Science and Master of Occupational Therapy Practice at La Trobe University from 2013-2017. I took an alternative exit to Bachelor of Health Science as I was excluded from the course due to failing the same subject/placement three times. Despite difficulties and failures, I am determined to strive and become a qualified and competent Occupational Therapist. I always want to become an Occupational Therapist since I was young.

When I came to SLU, I had trouble finding where I fit in. I tried club volleyball and Greek life, but I never felt that those places were where I belonged. Finally, I joined Alpha Phi Omega (APO), a service fraternity on campus, but I still was not as involved as I wanted to be. While APO taught me about the importance of leadership, friendship, and service, I knew I wanted to be involved in an organization that would support me professionally in my future career. Thus, when I started my junior year, I realized that the occupational therapy community at SLU was where I belonged, and Pi Theta Epsilon could provide me an opportunity to merge the two together.

I am fascinated by the “tool”, consequently ponder upon keeping ones “tool” in check. Resembling my practice focus on mainly treating the body. Through occupational therapy I hope to practice my ideas on dualism and aid my clients in keeping their bodies healthy. Additionally, help combat other bodily complications in which will affect their mind and soul in a negative way.

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.

Seeking to learn more about the ways a person can recover led me to volunteer at a rehabilitation unit within a nursing home. I enjoyed watching the occupational therapists care for their patients in a specific, yet holistic way. Speaking frequently with a patient about hockey, despite the communication difficulty caused by his stroke, prompted his therapist to hand us hockey sticks; together we passed a bean bag back and forth prudently, engaging the side of his body affected by his stroke. His therapist took his interest and assimilated it into his therapy; this

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.

Helping People in Need One Career at a Time Choosing what you want to do for the rest of your life can be a major challenge. “50-70% of students change their majors at least once, most will change majors at least 3 times before they graduate” (University of La Verne). Helping people has always been a big interest of mine, and with both occupational therapy and special education, I think that can be achieved.

A clinical situation that has taken place that has enabled me to incorporate the “Occupational Therapy Practice Framework Domain and Process (3rd Ed.)” (AOTA, 2014) into my approach was when an individual that has had a car accident during an ice storm. We will refer to this individual as Jane. She was a 55 year old housewife that was the primary caretaker of her husband who had suffered a stroke a few years ago. Jane took care of all the home management as well as transportation and health care needs for her husband. Jane was very active in her community as well as her family that lived several hours away.