One really doesn't know quite where to begin with things like this. The obvious answer is to begin at beginning. But what is the beginning? If I knew that, I wouldn't have rambled incoherently for the previous two sentences.
I suppose the polite thing to do is start by introducing myself. My name is Audrey. I hail from St. Louis, Missouri. I could give you a cute list of my favorite things, but I have a feeling that you'll get a good idea of my likes and dislikes as this whole blogging thing progresses. So I'll leave you in suspense for a bit. One "like" that I will immediately mention is my current course of study. I am in my final year of obtaining my Master's degree in occupational therapy. It's not really a "like", per se, more of a love, a passion, and a lifestyle.
I would imagine that my readers (if any) are probably quite familiar with OT, as they are most likely my family and friends. If that is not the case, however, I am quite prepared to give my official definition of OT. Really, it's super official. It's one of the first assignments in graduate school--coming up with our own definition--because it's usually the first question we hear when we introduce ourselves and mention our profession. (Side note, anyone already familiar with OT can feel free to skip the next paragraph and continue on to the "purpose" section of this post.)
"What is occupational therapy?"
Occupational therapists work with people across the lifespan to help them live life to the fullest. This takes on a unique meaning for each person. Our overarching focus is occupations. An occupation is, very simply, anything that occupies your time. We might do anything from helping someone who has had a spinal cord injury become independent with driving their car, to teaching a child sensory strategies and techniques to help them focus and perform better in school. We practice in many settings; hospitals, schools, nursing homes, outpatient clinics, home health, community programs--just to name a few. In some settings, we work on teams with physical therapists, speech therapists, and social workers. In other settings we might collaborate mostly with nurses, or teachers.
The thing is, OT has such a wide-reaching net, that I could go on and on about what OT is and isn't. But, I'm going to exercise self-control, with the understanding that through this blog, many of these things will be covered eventually.
It's only fair that I should provide some rationale as to why I have suddenly decided to share my opinions with the world through this blog. I'm not even a licensed OT practitioner yet, so isn't it a bit pretentious and presumptuous to put myself in this role? I would say absolutely yes. But, I want to explain why I'm still doing it, despite this. First, this blog is a project for a class. My professional development class. We are supposed to choose a project that will use our strengths and challenge our weaknesses. I love writing and ideas and finding out things. Things I'm not so hot at? Sharing my opinions and putting myself out there. Is writing a blog putting myself out there? It is for me. Despite my love of writing, only close friends, family members, and professors are ever allowed to read it.
At the same time, I don't want you to think that I am writing this blog to pass a class. Because I am, first and foremost, writing it for my own learning and enjoyment. Enjoyment of writing, in general, but also finding and sharing cool stuff about OT.
This is a weekly blog, posted on Thursday or Friday. Academic OT topics will be covered, in addition to other fun things like literature and films that relate to OT, or lesser-known therapy techniques (like my favorite, pet therapy). Most often, topics will be based on research, but there may be a couple where I draw on personal experiences. And, as this is already a much longer post than I had anticipated, and probably much longer than you want to read, I will create a conclusion. I promise that, in the future, I will try to be more concise! If you are not already bored to death, I invite you to return to this site at the end of this week, by which time I will have posted the first official entry of "A Preoccupation with Occupations". Thanks for reading!
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