using “self” therapeutically

what is the therapeutic use of self?

It’s going to be different for everyone. For me it’s going to be doing my best to envision myself in the individual that I’m treatings position so I can attempt to grasp what they are going through. Most people will say that therapeutic use of self is drawing on past experiences, I think that is a huge part of developing a therapeutic use of self. However it is also important to balance your own personal experience (because those are unique to you) and what the individual you will be working with is going through.

Disability Over Time: A Lecture Review

On Thursday March 14, 2019 I had the opportunity to sit through a guest lecture on the history of disability in the United States of America. The lecture made critical points, had imperative take aways, and was all together eye opening. 

Dr. Bruce Keisling, PhD presented to the UTHSC 2021 occupational therapy cohort on a subject that many shy away from: the dark history of our countries treatment of individuals with various disabilities over the past 150 odd years. This lecture highlighted the past present and future. The past being the institutionalization of individuals from birth prior to the 1970s. It was in the 1970s when parents, mother specifically, took a stand and began choosing to keep their children out of the institutions with largely treated individuals with disabilities as less than human. The lecture also touched on some of the important legislation passed in last 30 years, like the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with allowed for more equal rights for individuals with disabilities. In my opinion my favorite take away, a point I have heard made before but really took to heart from this lecture was disability rights are civil rights and should be considered as such. 

How does all of this apply to a fUTure OT? Well... one of the final points made by Dr. Keisling was "Should be all be so lucky, we will all be disabled during our lifetime." This is reference to aging and needing assistance as we age in various parts of our life. As occupational therapist we will be working with special populations of kinds. Largely those affected by some degree of disability at any point in the life span. Understanding the evolution of services available and the meaningful role advocacy has played in changing and challenging those services will make us the most effective generation OTs we can be.