Student Blog
What are OS/OT?

How I Fell in Love With OT! ⟩
August 24, 2018, by Melissa

What are OS/OT?

Hey everyone! As my first post, I thought I’d share a bit about how I ended up at USC studying occupational therapy!

I’ve always known that I want to work in healthcare — I was actually studying to become a nurse when I first learned about OT! After my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, I helped my family care for her. She suffered some nerve damage as a result of her radiation treatments, therefore she was referred to an occupational therapist in order to restore some function and increase her independence. It was then that I was first exposed to the profession, and I fell in love with its holistic approach. The therapist was kind enough to answer all of my never-ending questions — as my interest increased the more I learned about it — and I immediately went home to do some additional research.

Soon after, I made the decision to pursue occupational therapy, and I began to volunteer in different settings in order to increase my exposure, as well as to see if OT felt like the right fit for me. Some of those settings included a hand therapy clinic, an elementary school classroom, an outpatient pediatric clinic, and hippotherapy. Despite the differences in the settings, I realized that occupational therapy offers a unique lens in the healthcare industry with its holistic approach. Fortunately, I can say with confidence that I have had no doubts about my career choice since embarking on this journey.

This year, I have learned more about this field than I could have ever imagined, and I’ve realized that the possibilities about what you can do with a degree in occupational therapy are endless! I’m excited for what’s to come, and I can’t wait to share the rest of my journey with you guys!

Fight on!

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Beautiful Disruptions ⟩
August 23, 2018, by Joyce

What are OS/OT?

While you can easily Google the definition of OT, more often than not, you will find that each individual explains OT in unique ways. It goes to show the power of personalization that OT practices. To me, OT is all about taking disruptions in your life and turning them into something beautiful . . . beautiful disruptions.

What do I mean by that? When I get asked the question, “Why did you choose OT?” I never leave out the story of my grandmother. She experienced a car accident decades ago, before I was born. It was a T5/T6 incomplete spinal cord injury. She was paralyzed from the waist down and as the years passed, the caregiver burden grew and my grandfather could no longer care for her alone. That is when my family decided to move in.

I remember I would use my grandmother’s reacher as my play toy to pinch my little brother. I would also get in trouble riding around in her wheelchair. To society these are representations of disability, weakness, and annoyance. But I saw the little but impactful influences they had on my grandmother’s quality of life.

My grandmother’s accident and injury disrupted my family’s lives. My father had to quit school and my mother was constantly caring for her mother-in-law. Family trips were difficult to plan because at least one of my parents had to stay home to be with my grandmother. Our day-to-day schedule worked around my grandmother’s bowel and bladder movements. As a child, I envied other grandmothers who drove their grandchildren around!

However, these disruptions were beautiful in themselves. I created an important and healthy relationship with my grandparents. Many of my friends grew up without grandparents! All in all, I realized that I am the happiest when I am serving others. This has led me to a career path that sets my heart on fire! This specific disruption brought my family closer as we worked to overcome every obstacle together.

OT guides the individual to take the disruptions in their life (like physical illness, mental health, financial difficulty, medication management, etc.) and turn them into something meaningful, something beautiful, thus turning them into beautiful disruptions.

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Why OT? ⟩
August 22, 2018, by Evan

What are OS/OT?

Timothy Leary said, “if you don’t like what you’re doing, you can always pick up your needle and move to a new groove,” and when I was 29 years old I took this message to heart. My first career was fulfilling in a lot of ways, but lacked a component of service that I had come to realize was important to my own emotional health. So there I was, passionate about helping people and interested in research, but unsure how exactly I fit into the greater landscape of healthcare. I began to actively volunteer in a variety of settings and was finally introduced to OT. I’ll never forget it, because it felt like at last there was a word for what I wanted to do!

OT’s primary concern is quality of life, and I fell in love with the holistic and patient-centered approach of our discipline. I find that OTs are uniquely qualified to address both mental and physical health in a broad variety of settings with patients/clients across the lifespan, and I love being part of it. I am honored to study in the USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy and am filled with eagerness to apply that knowledge during real world patient encounters both in fieldwork and beyond.

Today is our first day back at school after 3 months summer fieldwork. It feels so good to catch up with my student colleagues but I find myself thinking about my patients and clinical instructors I had gotten to know so well this summer. What are they up to?? How are they doing?? No way for me to know right now sitting in class . . . but I do know this: I think the fact I’m thinking about them is evidence that I’ve found the right groove for me.

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Hello, it’s me again! ⟩
August 21, 2018, by Jessica P.

Fieldwork What are OS/OT?

It has been quite some time since I last blogged as the summer student ambassador, but I am thrilled to begin blogging again and sharing my occupational therapy journey. The past year has been a whirlwind, starting the master’s curriculum and graduating with my bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy this May. I have previously talked about my experience falling in love with OT and why I chose USC, but after immersing myself in the master’s program I feel even more passionate and lucky to be able to pursue the profession I love.

Last fall, I began my OT grad school journey with the mental health immersion and I loved being exposed to areas of OT I had never seen before, such as in forensic mental health. At times, I felt overwhelmed by exams, quizzes, and projects but this summer I was able to reconnect with the reason why I am pursuing OT: to help others.

This past summer, I completed my Level II Fieldwork at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL. When deciding where I wanted to do my fieldwork, I chose to go out of area to explore a new city for the summer. At Rush, I worked on four different inpatient psychiatric units — child/adolescent, general adult, mood disorders, and geropsych. Throughout my Level II Fieldwork, I realized how prepared I was to be an entry-level practitioner from everything I had learned in my classes and previous fieldwork experiences. Since I was able to work with clients across the lifespan, I learned how to rapidly shift the different therapeutic modes I was using based on the client and situation.

Over the twelve weeks, I gradually gained more independence and eventually was carrying a full caseload where I evaluated 3 patients daily and ran 2 groups. In addition to assessments, treatment plans, individual interventions, group interventions, and progress notes, I was also able to pursue research on OT’s role in medication management in this setting. I loved being able to apply evidence-based practice and see the progress in my clients. Coming back after my fieldwork experience, I feel more prepared and energized to take on my second year!

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The Roads That Lead to Rome ⟩
August 6, 2018, by Bethany

Diversity What are OS/OT?

There is one downside to being an undergraduate OT. I mentioned in a previous post that when I talk about Majoring in Occupational Therapy, I get the reaction: “Oooh, what is Occupational Therapy?” So I had to quickly adapt to giving my fifteen-second pitch about what OT is and how I found it. Sharing about OT is definitely not the downside. Neither is being part of this incredible program (I am often reminded of how lucky I am to have known so early on in life what I want to do in the future). The downside is that the only other people who seemed to know what OT was, were on the same road I was on: We were all passionate about helping others, all had discovered OT early on in life, and all were part of the same program. The downside is that as an undergraduate OT, I was only aware of one way to get to OT.

But this summer, as a Student Ambassador, I had a chance to recognize that all and any roads truly do lead to Rome. Through tours, information sessions, and even meeting the incoming Entry-Level Master’s class, I have been able to see the diversity of those who stumble upon OT, not just in ethnicity and age, but also in interests and walks of life. For example, in our incoming Master’s class, there are people with degrees in Biology, Kinesiology, Psychology, and other health sciences (Majors that would be helpful for completing some of our prerequisite coursework while also highlighting the student’s passions). But then we have others who pursued other interests during their undergraduate study, perhaps the French language, Economics, or even Dance. And somehow they ended up all in the same OT Master’s program at the same time. In our information sessions, there are people who simply went to different college but have always been interested in OT, some who found OT during undergraduate study, and even those who are coming to OT as a second career after seeing OT in the second-grade classroom where they taught for the past few years.

My own Bachelor’s to Master’s class is diverse in and of itself. We have our own stories for how we each found OT, whether it was shadowing a practice or perhaps watching a loved one grow through OT, and we have the honor to be part of an incredible program that allows us to engage in our specific passion for OT, even through our undergraduate years. But our paths to OT were quite direct, and it is amazing to listen to the stories about others’ journeys to where they are today. After all, it is said that more often than not, the journey matters more than the destination.

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