It's Occupational Therapy Month! We're Celebrating! 

We rejoice in the healing and superior patient care that goes on every operating day at our OT and Speech Clinic at Albemarle Square in Charlottesville, VA, but this month, we focus a special light on our amazing Occupational and Hand Therapists. 

AOTA honors and supports the vital contributions of occupational therapy practitioners

AOTA represents more than 244,500 occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and occupational therapy students in the United States and beyond, to advance occupational therapy practice, education, and research.

Occupational therapy promotes health, well-being, and participation

Occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants focus on the things you want and need to do in your daily life. Occupational therapy intervention uses everyday life activities (occupations) to promote health, well-being, and your ability to participate in the important activities in your life. This includes any meaningful activity that a person wants to accomplish, including taking care of yourself and your family, working, volunteering, going to school, among many others.

Occupational therapy services typically include:

• an evaluation made just for you that lets us know your history, life experiences, and your interests. We call this your occupational profile, and it tells us what values and activities are important to you during this conversation.
• an intervention plan that is unique to you to improve your ability to perform daily activities and reach your goals,
• and an outcomes evaluation to make sure that the goals you set with your occupational therapy practitioner are being met.

WHAT IS OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY?

Your life is made up of occupations—meaningful everyday activities. These occupations can include many roles, such as being a parent, a friend, a spouse, a tennis player, an artist, a cook, or a musician. We generally don’t think about our daily occupations until we have trouble doing them. Everyone has occupations— from the toddler whose occupations are play and learning to develop important skills, to the older adult whose occupations are engaging with family and friends and managing his or her home. If you are recovering from an accident or injury, your valued occupations may be disrupted. Occupational therapy incorporates your valued occupations into the rehabilitation process.

WHEN DO I NEED OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY?

Have you or a family member ever been diagnosed with a new health condition and found yourself asking, “now what?” Maybe you have a child with autism who is having trouble succeeding in school, or an aging parent who wants to remain at home but you’re worried about safety issues, or you are experiencing depression and having trouble doing everyday activities. Occupational therapy can help you answer that “now what?” question. An occupational therapy practitioner will keep the focus on the things you need and want to do—your goals, your activities, your independence. With occupational therapy services you can:

• Achieve goals, such as helping your teenager with a developmental disability gain the skills to transition from high school to independent living as an adult.
• Stay as healthy and productive as possible, while managing a chronic medical condition.
• Maintain or rebuild your independence, such as using assistive devices so you can care for yourself after a stroke.
• Participate in the everyday activities important to you, such as driving, visiting friends, going to church, and other activities that keep you involved with your community.

In short, an occupational therapy practitioner can help you live life to its fullest no matter your health condition, disability, or risk factors.

Source: https://www.aota.org/-/media/corporate/files/practice/manage/presentation-resources/brochure/what-is-ot-brochure.pdf