Entry #1

 

There are plenty of reasons when choosing your career path. For me, I have a couple reasons that guided me into the direction of occupational therapy(OT). In the beginning, I was introduced to the job as a child. As I’ve grown into an adult, and entering the program; I see this ‘job’ as my calling in life. OT is a unique field that incorporates different styles of therapy that alter based on the patient’s life style and desires. The main reasons I wanted to become an OT consisted of the following: seeing the drastic success it had on my grandfather after breast surgery, and the simple fact of how deep an OT will go to ensure the growth and safety of the client’s body, mind, and spirit.

Being at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s MOT program for 4 weeks; I have learned an abundance of amazing aspects and facts regarding OT. One major I learned was about the style of approach that OT’s use, and how it differs from many other therapeutic strategies. This style of therapy is defined as the holistic approach, and it focuses on adapting the therapy to aid the client’s mind, body, and spirit. As a kid, I never knew the technicality of this, but I could understand the style based on the therapist’s characteristics. It separates OT from other forms of therapy by not looking at them as an object or a diagnosed issue. It looks at them as a human that just so happens to have some current issues. Strength in muscles is necessary, but it isn’t the sole factor in making one back to their every day self. It focuses on every aspect of their life to make them adaptively functional. This is one major thing I have learned in grad school so far, and I cannot wait to continuously grow within this career!