Faith And Wellness Reset with Dr Katherine Lanning

But would you mind just letting them know what the difference is?

Yes, absolutely.

So within occupational therapy, that word occupation is a little bit confusing and misleading for people who are not familiar with the profession.

So typically when we hear the word occupation, we immediately think of work or vacation.

But really the word occupation in occupational therapy means a meaningful activity of life.

So from the moment you wake up until the moment you go to bed, all day long, we're engaging in occupations.

So you're engaging in your self-care tasks, the things that you have to do to get ready, like brush your teeth and brush your hair and get dressed.

Then we have work.

We have our health management.

We have leisure and play and social participation and education.

So all these different categories of occupation, we're constantly working.

engaged in.

And so the idea behind occupational therapy is that when an individual experiences some type of injury, illness, or disability, engaging in those occupations that we so often take for granted can actually become very difficult.

So a lot of times in traditional settings, like in a hospital or maybe in a nursing home or an outpatient pediatric clinic, You might see occupational therapists working with someone who had maybe like a birth defect and is now trying to help them engage in those occupations as meaningfully or functionally or independently, if that's the goal, as possible.

Or all the way up to, you know, hospice, end-of-life care, even just keeping people comfortable or able to rest or giving caregiver education so that...

Those individuals can be supported.

So with that understanding, we can see just how broad the scope of occupational therapy is, especially considering that we do work with individuals across the lifespan and just the variety of settings that you could find us in.

So as an occupational therapist, ultimately, we have to have a really holistic way of looking at how to work with individuals because we consider that every individual is so different and is made up of all kinds of different abilities and interests and needs and personality types.

different diagnoses.

So having an understanding of how that diagnosis is going to impact their abilities who engage in certain things.

And then it's really becomes a matter of examining those different aspects of things.

So looking at the individual and seeing are there any skills or abilities that we can help foster or build up within a person that would make engaging in activities easier? Or is there something about the activity itself that could be tailored or adjusted in some way, perhaps by introducing some type of strategy or a tool or a compensatory aid that would make it easier? Or is there something about the environment that could be adjusted as well, even if it's a simple change like turning down the lights to reduce sensory overstimulation or removing distractions or bringing in some visual cues or a caregiver? So we're just constantly...

Kind of examining those three different areas just to find that optimal fit between.

Right, that's going to support that person in that

stage.