Student Blog
A chance to be the client and clinician ⟩
February 23, 2011, by Austen
One of the electives I chose to take this semester is Lifestyle Redesign. This class is taught by Dr. Camille Dieterle of the USC Faculty Practice for Lifestyle Redesign. Some of the topics we are learning about include the foundation of this practice area, the populations that benefit, the programs offered at the USC Faculty Practice, ways to develop programs and modules, and methods for helping people establish a healthier lifestyle.
A large portion of the class includes role-playing with a partner, taking turns playing the parts of the client and the clinician. We work in our “diads” to practice self-reflection and analysis, goal-setting, problem solving, and solution generation on each other. While one person acts as the client and identifies complaints, areas for improvement, things they would like to change, and/or what their goals are, the other person acts as the clinician, helping identify outcomes to work towards, possible solutions to get there, and ultimately collaboratively establishing an action plan with the client. This role-playing aspect of the class has been the most valuable to me so far. I am learning to communicate effectively in the clinician role, asking open-ended questions, avoiding judgement, and using non-directive comments. It is very challenging to not give advice when that may be what someone is looking for, but we are learning more effective ways of empowering the client so that they can reach their own solutions.
Not only am I learning skills I will use in the workplace next year, but I am also getting a lot out of being the client during our one-on-one sessions. I have learned a lot about myself, what is bothering me that I may not have been aware of, what I want, and what I want to change. It has been a great opportunity for self analysis and reflection, allowing me to identify aspects of my life that could be improved. In essence, it has been like free therapy. What a bonus!
This class has already equipped me with effective communication skills that I will be able to use in practice, no matter what setting. I have many more “tools” to add to my bag of tricks as a soon-to-be clinician, which makes me feel more confident and excited. When looking at the elective courses available, I highly recommend this one!
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M.I. ⟩
February 15, 2011, by Yao
Classes School/Life Balance What are OS/OT?
A great opportunity and a blessing in disguise.
I just finished my first session and am about to start working on the homework for my second session of Motivational Interviewing. Motivational Interviewing is an elective class that is offered the spring semester over three Saturdays with days starting at 9am and scheduled to end around 4pm. I originally elected to take the class not only because one of my favorite professors was teaching it but also because it was a method that I planned to use in my research project. I went into class that first Saturday with the mindset of just learning a clinical skill and perfecting and perfecting until I felt that I had it right. Boy did I have the wrong idea!
The day started off with the basics and the history behind motivational interviewing and some video examples of practitioners incorporating it into practice. Then it came time to practice. Like I had mentioned before it was not a skill that should just be learned cold and practiced numerous times, rather it’s a skill that you need to feel and experience. This feeling and experience will guide your use of the skill, a real feeling and investment in the person that you’re talking to. To me it’s not a skill that you can just practice with a partner and in the middle ask if you’re doing it right, but something that when given the opportunity should be used to help fully understand the origin of certain actions and feelings. And as my professor mentioned, “If you do it well, people won’t even know it”; not to echo what I mentioned in my previous entry but sometimes listening can bring about more answers and chances for change than automatically trying to fix the problem as soon as you hear one.
On another note this motivational interviewing class has allowed me to tap into my emotions for the first time in about a year and a half. When things happened over these past two years that required emotional investment I tended to push them aside because there was that ever present need to do well in school and live in the moment with school and my social life here in Los Angeles. I was surprised at how I felt, not to say that there was a huge revelation and that I was denying my feelings these past two years. But I was able to identify emotions and feelings that I thought I have overcome or had just died down over the past years. I’m looking forward to the second session to further explore these feelings and try and resolve them instead of just pushing them aside and making school the excuse for not addressing them. It’s a nice complement to the other coursework this semester. It also is a reminder that no matter what is going on you have to consider taking care of yourself so you can provide your best care to others.
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Finished a half marathon! ⟩
February 6, 2011, by Austen
This morning my OT friends Jen, Lauren, and I ran the Surf City Huntington Beach Half Marathon! A good number of first and second year OT MA students ran in the race, and it was great to see some familiar faces down there.
I typically run 3-4 miles a day, at about a 9:30-10 minute per mile pace. The farthest I have ever gone is 6 miles. But at the beginning of this year, Jen encouraged me to start building on some more distance. Little did I know, the Surf City Half Marathon was on her radar. She told me and Lauren to register and do it with her, so that is what we did! I have never run in a race before, but always wanted to someday. I guess I did not realize that day was coming so soon.
I started training over winter break. I would do 4 short runs, about 4-5 miles, a week, then one long run (7 or 8 miles) on a weekend morning. Once we got back to school, Jen and I ran an 8.5 miler together. That was the longest I had gone, and farthest I would go before race day.
So after Motivation Interviewing on Saturday, Jen and I drove down to Huntington Beach and stayed at Lauren’s parents’ house for the night. We loaded up on carbs (spaghetti and garlic bread) and had big bowls of oatmeal for breakfast. We certainly were energized! At 8:12am, we were off, starting the 13.1 mile adventure. Jen and Lauren bolted out, weaving through the slower runners. I decided I could not do that and wanted to keep an even pace. So I stayed behind maintaining my comfortable pace. Mile 5 I was feeling good. Lauren’s parents were on the sideline cheering us on there. But by mile 7 I was seriously doubting why I chose to do this. When the mile 10 marker showed up, I was feeling great again, on that runner’s high. Only 3 to go, and they flew by! I ran all 13.1 miles in 2 hours 8 minutes 52 seconds, with a pretty steady pace of 9:50 minute miles. I beat my goal of 2 hours 10 minutes!
I never really understood why people run marathons. But now I do. It was a great feeling running alongside thousands of other people who enjoy doing the same thing you do. The other runners kept me going, they kept me energized, they kept me strong. Even though I was separated from my running buddies, I had lots of other runners to keep me company. There is also quite a bit of an adrenaline rush, especially when all the friends and families are yelling on the side line down the entire route. What a rush! It was just a great experience overall. I think I will do one again someday.
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Life and the meaning it holds ⟩
January 31, 2011, by Pierre
Everyday we go through our daily routines. Some of us wake up, take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and go to work. For others they may be getting ready for school, volunteering, homemaking, or sleeping in. We take for granted the many objects we use due to the consistent routines and habits we have.
For some, a walking cane can mean dependence on others or independence and empowerment. What about a car? This object could mean either losing out on going to a party or getting to a job site. Sometimes a pet can unintentionally influence our ability to go outside and take a walk. How we dress can impact our self image and social life. What we construct or accomplish with our hands can build one’s self confidence. Being able to use a stove to cook a healthy meal for your family can impact ones health and wellness.
All these objects are instrumental things that can help us accomplish our daily activities and occupations. We sometimes don’t realize how important they can be and how meaningful they are until we have lost the ability to access or use them. OTs take into account the many unique aspects of occupation and find the meaningful instruments within our routines to live satisfying lives with whatever situation one is in. It’s important to see the uniqueness of each person’s occupation and identify those things that have and instrumental influence on them.
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Supporting Coursework ⟩
January 31, 2011, by Amanda
To complement the clinical coursework, there are a few classes that enhance your ability to understand client needs and address them from an occupational science perspective.
Throughout the clinical coursework, there is supporting coursework to enhance your understanding of occupation and multiple dimensions of practice. To begin, there is a medical lecture component to your coursework, the purpose of which is to introduce students to varying diagnoses and conditions. Guest lecturers that specialize in working with various populations are the ones delivering the course content. The information from this course serves as a great reference. As an entry-level practitioner you are faced with so many new populations and your notes from school are something you will return to refresh your understanding and knowledge of the details of the conditions you see in practice. What I also found fascinating was when a professional from another discipline presented his or her perspective of a diagnosis. For example, there was a bariatric surgeon presented on obesity. From his professional perspective, bariatric surgery was the answer to the obesity and type II diabetes epidemic. This compares with the occupational science and therapy perspective that would intervene through understanding an individual’s occupational habits, roles, and routines and develop strategies to address the chronic weight management issues that the individual faces. Both interventions require major lifestyle changes, depending on the individual, one, the other, or both interventions may be appropriate. From these lectures, you begin to build your sense of how OT would approach a condition compared to another professional. You see how important the OT perspective is in healthcare.
Occupational science is an academic discipline devoted to the systematic study of the form, function and meaning of occupation. USC’s Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy is committed to understanding the human experience of occupation in order to apply that understanding to the practice of occupational therapy. Coursework in occupational science is part of the curriculum for occupational therapy students at USC. Students explore the various dimensions and interdisciplinary knowledge that underlie occupation. Topics include how routines, habits, culture, environment and preferences contribute to health and well-being. Guest lecturers present how they have taken concepts from occupational science and developed programs that increase well-being, such as in the programs at the USC Faculty practice and in the Well-Elderly Study. As a student, you begin to see occupation through different lenses and how to identify supports and barriers to occupation. The study of occupational science informs occupational therapy practice through asking how we may best understand and enable occupational performance.
The Skills for Occupational Therapy coursework that I previously wrote about in a blog post continues in the subsequent semesters. You expand your knowledge from analyzing tasks to understanding the therapeutic relationship and how to design occupation-centered programs. I found that these classes gave a space for discussing the tough issues you may see in practice. We explored our strengths and weaknesses in terms of building relationships and how we may best serve clients therapeutically. As a therapist you are not only providing an intervention, but you are using the relationship with the client to see successful outcomes. We also had the time to discuss what we were seeing in our level I fieldworks: what we liked and what we didn’t like. Based on what I saw in fieldworks and from discussions in this class, I began to imagine how I want to be as a therapist in the future. Skills for Occupational Therapy also allows students to explore interests in program development. We had a semester-long project aimed at founding the skills for surveying a population’s needs, designing an evidence-based program, and how you would go about implementing that program. Although not required, some students realize their occupation-based program or continue on to the OTD program to run their program. Topics for this project varied from addressing returning veterans needs to the use of pets in therapy to educating other professionals about effective “sensory strategies” in pediatric settings. Medical lectures, occupational science and skills for occupational therapy all enhance one’s ability to understand client needs and how to address them in occupational therapy practice.
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