When I grow up...

I’ve always known I wanted to be an occupational therapist since high school. When I started Breathe the AIR I had a hard time figuring out how the two were going to meet. (I mean I didn’t want to have two separate careers) In a pervious post I addressed this as well and now that I’m one year closer to graduating I’m one more year closer to figuring out my life goal.
Currently we are working evaluation in class starting with an introduction that goes something like this… “Hello my name is Kayla and I’m going to be your occupational therapist today, have you ever had OT before? … No? Well let me explain what OT is an what we are going to today…” I understand the importance of learning OT in all domains; pediatrics, acute/subacute care, rehab, mental health, and so on and so forth. I become frustrated at times because I now know what I want to do. I figured out how to merge my two roads (OT & my non-profit) together into one cross country highway.
I know I want to work in mental health which is one of the more challenging domains of OT because we have to prove what we are doing is different than a psychologist or other counselor. It usually comes down to payment and insurance claims. It will be nice to get paid but honestly I want to this because I know its going to make happy and that its the only job for me. We have theories to follow in practice but I have my own theory…

My mom wanted me to see a psychologist after she found my notebook about being sexually abused. I went for her because I knew it would help heal her but I knew I didn’t need to go. I have nothing against psychologists they help plenty of people but I knew she wasn’t going to help me more than I could help myself. I remember one exercise she made me do about closing my eyes and seeing my past (blah blah blah). I closed my eyes and saw the back of eye lids and made things up to humor her but really, why are making me relive my past instead of helping my present or future? I don’t believe you have to relive what hurt you in order to learn for it or move past it. So when told me to close my eyes and that she would close hers too, I kept mine open and that only lasted a couple of weeks before she finally said I didn’t need her help. Now knowing what the field of occupational therapy is I would of rather saw an OT (not that I believe I needed help because I found my own healthy coping strategies).
An OT can provide so much more than a psychologist in situations of abuse or neglect. The profession prides itself on being client centered or in other words gets to know their client before treating them. They want them to feel comfortable, safe, and not as if they are on a time clock (I would normally stare at the clock in my sessions waiting for the minutes to tick down). They build relationships with the people they work with to help address the goals that the client tells them are important. OT is fun, helpful, and you see results. It’s creative and has the motto of living life to the fullest (the perfect motto when someone might not see the light at the end of a dark tunnel). So what am I going to do when I grow up? I guess I am a grown up and feel like school is taking over and although if I could sprint to the end I would it’s long distance run. One day I’ll be an occupational therapist.
So what does all of this have to do with Breathe the AIR. One day I’m going to open my own advocacy center (hopefully more than one) and have array of services to offer but one of them will be occupational therapy (helping others see their future when they might be able to see their present because of their past). I’ll have my own practice doing what is most important to me, sharing my voice with others in hopes they can find theirs. I’ll introduce myself as “Hello, my name is Kayla and I’m going to be your occupational therapist and together we are going make a difference.” That difference will be up to the individual because not everyone is given a choice in life but they can always choose what to do with it.