i had a 'moment' today in a teaching conference that (and along with several 'moments' during my fieldwork so far) reminded me that becoming an Occupational Therapist is my true passion. WHY? why did i want to become an OT? i am affected by people who are limited, isolated, inhibited, disabled, restricted, disconnected, disheartened, or dispirited. i tried to choose these words carefully. in otherwords: i am affected as i see people who are without. without = physical proficiencies, support system (family), joy and pleasure, etc. etc. etc. in my 'moment' today we were learning about and discussing one particular patient who touched some softs spots for me. broken family relationships, unattended grief, incredibly low self love, avoidance, and major depression. this endearing patient shared their story and it got me hard. i am proud that i withstood the consideration of leaving the room. i found myself on the verge of tears several times during the session. it pained me to see someone going through such very difficult experiences. i wanted to reach out and reaffirm the patients' self worth and make everything be okay. not that easy. i learned a lot today. and the reaffirmation that OT is my true passion? i love my love for the patient. who they are and what they are about. i love the the ability to dig deep and become close to the patients and develop a strong sincere relationship of collaboration between me and the patient. however, this environment is acute and short term therefore there is not a lot of time to spend developing relationships with patients. i look forward to working in an environment where i can sit down with my clients and talk: "hey mr. K let me see your glasses, they look a bit spotty, can i clean them for you?" or "miss. C i noticed that you really enjoy taking pictures, i have a camera here, maybe we can go for a walk and snap some?" as i reflected over my 2 years at BSOT in a final paper (i will add as a post when i get home from work) it is SO important to not forget the roots/heart of the profession: the CLIENT, and get carried away with the medical model of doing things. i know OT is for me because my first and foremost interest is the CLIENT.
not sure if this post is coherent. comments are welome if you need clarification. i guess i am just very pleased and excited to begin this fieldwork journey and i am learning and loving it!
2 comments:
YEAH LAUREN!- I love hearing your confidence- sounds like you are in the perfect place to learn and grow into the amazing OT that you will be!
Hang on to the client first mentality. It was good to read this post, I thought I was getting hard and desensitized to the plight of others, in psyche it seems to be the way to survive at times, but this post got me thinking of the numerous opportunities I have had to intervene at the lowest point in anothers life and using self therapeutically to make a positive difference.
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