World Occupational Therapy Month

Written by Grandview Kids OT, Suvaathy V.

October is Occupational Therapy (OT) Month in Canada! OT month is about celebrating and raising awareness about occupational therapy, a very diverse profession with one main goal: helping people live the best lives they can.

What is Occupational Therapy?

When we think of the word “occupation,” we often think of “work,” but occupations are everyday activities that you need to do, want to do or are expected to do. Occupations generally fall into three categories:

• Self-care: feeding, sleeping, dressing, toileting, personal hygiene
• Productivity: participating in school activities (handwriting), routines, chores, job skills
• Leisure: play development, participation in community activities, sports

OT is a health profession that enables people across their lifespan to engage in activities essential for their well-being, independence, and overall quality of life. OT considers the person as a whole by considering how their ability relates to their environment and the activities they want to do.

What do Occupational Therapists do?

When someone cannot participate in daily activities due to injury, illness, disability or social and environmental barriers, an Occupational Therapist will work with them to develop strategies to help them participate in meaningful occupations. Occupational Therapists work in various settings, such as hospitals, clinics, schools and the community.

At Grandview Kids, Occupational Therapists work with children, their families and other professionals to help children carry out their daily activities to the best of their ability. Occupational Therapists can help identify the child’s strengths and abilities, suggest ways to simplify the activity, implement adaptive equipment to help the child do the activity, suggest changes to the environment to support the child in doing the activity, break down the activity into small steps and help the child develop new skills to do the activity.

In honour of OT Month and World OT Day, we asked staff what OT means to them and why they chose to pursue the profession.

“I love the variety of the work I can do as an OT. The fact that it focuses on the person and what brings value to their life and what they want to be able to do is key.  I can pull out my creative and practical brain to help solve their challenges as they see them.  I became an OT after being amazed by young people doing their thing at Easter Seals camps and wanting to support them to be able to do that.” – Marika Beaumont, Clinical Manager

“My favourite part about working in Cccupational Therapy is how creative we get to be to support our clients in a way that is meaningful and motivating to them! Every person is so unique, and being able to support a client in a way that suits them is super rewarding!” – Emily Fredericks, Occupational Therapist

“I love OT because it is a profession embedded in kindness and human connection – dedicated to understanding a person and their dreams, learning what is meaningful, inspiring hope-filled environments and discovering how to get there together. We choose to look at things from a different perspective. To see a person with an injury, illness or disability and to also see the same person’s strength, potential and goals is a pretty incredible thing.” – Suvaathy Vigneswaran, Occupational Therapist

During OT month, there are two special dates to remember:

• October 12: Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) Appreciation Day
  • By working collaboratively with occupational therapists, OTAs play a key role in supporting the delivery of OT services to clients, families, and communities.
• October 27: World Occupational Therapy Day
  • This year’s World Occupational Therapy Day theme is “Occupational Therapy for All.”

Let’s take this month as an opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate the dedicated OTs and OTAs who positively impact so many lives. If you know an OT or OTA, take a moment to express your gratitude and recognize their tireless efforts in helping others!