Occupational Therapy: Everyday Strategies For Promoting .
Occupational Therapy: Everyday Strategies for Promoting Positive Mental HealthMental health is a state of successful performance of mental function, resulting in in productive activities, fulfillingrelationships with other people, and the ability to adapt to change and cope with adversity. (Surgeon General, 1999)VISION: Occupational therapy practitioners will be leaders in mental health promotion. The occupations we us to promote positive mentalhealth are similar to those we use to prevent mental health challenges or intervene when a person experiences a mental illness. Meaningfuland enjoyable occupations foster participation in daily life, positive social interaction and a sense of emotional well-being.Participation in enjoyable occupations: Promote positive emotions – Help clients explore and participate in occupations that areenjoyable. Experiencing positive emotions like joy, inspiration, and pride enhance emotional well-being. Moments of positive emotions can be subtle orfleeting, but can be powerful ‘nutrients’ in helping people be mentally healthy. How much is enough? Overall, people need to experience more positiveemotions than negative ones in a 3-to-1 ratio throughout the day.1Caring connections – Connect with your clients in caring ways and encourage them to connect with others. People with strong social relationshipsare happier and healthier. Close relationships provide meaning, support and a sense of belonging. Doing enjoyable activities together helps peopleconnect.2Focus on feelings – Make a point to ask ‘How are you feeling?’ and take time to listen to what your clients have to say. This communicates caringand also helps promote emotional literacy - the ability to identify, understand and respond to emotions in oneself and others in a healthy way. Peoplewho have a strong foundation in emotional literacy are mentally healthier and enjoy positive relationships.3Focus on strengths - As, or more important than skills and abilities, are a person’s unique character strengths – morally desirable traits such askindness, creativity, courage, persistence, humor, and humility to name a few. Evidence suggests that recognizing and using one’s unique characterstrengths can help promote happiness and mental well-being – and decrease depression and anxiety.4 Make a point to help the clients you serve notice,value and use their strengths in their everyday lives.Talk about mental health – Make positive mental health a natural part of everyday conversations. Talking about mental health can promotemental health literacy – by helping all persons develop a working knowledge of positive mental health as well the signs of mental illness.5,6 Make a pointto emphasize that taking care of one’s mental health is as important as taking care of one’s physical health! Come up with creative ways to teach clientsabout the 4 characteristics associated with positive mental health7 and ways to promote feeling good emotionally: 1) Positive emotions– feeling happy(participate in enjoyable occupations); 2) Positive psychological and social functioning – feeling good about oneself (e.g aware of strengths); gettingalong with others; having at least 1-2 good friends; 3) Engaging in productive activities – doing well in everyday activities (school, work, play/leisure,rest); and 4) Coping with life stressors – having strategies for dealing with life challenges (e.g. relaxation strategies, thinking positive, etc.).Offer calm moments: Help clients manage stress – Disability, injury, trauma and illness are significant situational stressors that may leadto anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. Learning how to cope with stressful situations and everyday challenges is an important life skill. Relaxation,yoga and mindfulness approaches are found to be promising practices for improving coping abilities and reducing anxiety. Such practices help people to‘step back’ from stressful situations by teaching them how to purposefully and non-judgmentally ‘be in the moment’.8
Think positive: Promote positive self-talk - Sometimes changing how we think, helps to change how we feel and behave. People who thinkpositive tend to be happier, healthier and cope better during challenging times – but it’s important to be a ‘realistic optimist’. Being a realistic optimistrequires being able to put situations in perspective by using thinking skills to help develop a positive outlook. Encourage gratitude (an appreciation oflife and the moment) and cultivate optimism. Help the clients think about one or two good things happening at that moment – being mindful of whatcan be seen, heard or felt that is positive.9Promote health behaviors (exercise, sleep and healthy diet) - Physical activity and exercise have both short- and long-term effects onmental health. Usually within five minutes of moderate exercise such as walking, there is positive effect on mood. In addition to helping people feelgood emotionally, moderate-intensity exercise on a regular basis can help to reduce and prevent anxiety and depression.10Foster kindness - Being kind to others increases levels of happiness in others as well as our own feelings of happiness.11Kindness is any act ofgenuine care or thoughtfulness. Acts of kindness help people connect with others in positive, supportive ways. Small, spontaneous acts (e.g. giving acompliment, smiling at someone, including someone who is alone) and larger, planned acts (e.g. volunteering, writing a thank you note) fosterthoughtfulness, cooperation and positive feelings about oneself.Create positive environments – Do what you can to create positive physical and social environments to help people feel good emotionally(calm, safe) and physically (comfortable) in order to function successfully. So ‘tune into’ all of the social, physical and sensory aspects of the spacesyour clients and families spend time in. For example, the Comfortable Cafeteria and Refreshing Recess programs create positive environments forstudents to enjoy eating lunch, socializing with peers, and engaging in active play.12 Think about waiting rooms (clinics, hospitals), patient bedrooms,school classrooms, homes, and dining halls (assisted living and skilled nursing) – how can you help make them more positive places for participation andenjoyment?References:1Fredrickson, B. L. (2009). Positivity: Groundbreaking research reveals how to embrace the hidden strength of positive emotions, overcome negativity, and thrive. NewYork: Crown Publishing Group.2Ten Keys to Happier Living. Retrieved from er-living3Durlak, J. A., Domitrovich, C. E., Weissberg, R. P., & Gullotta, T. P. (Eds.) (2015). Handbook of Social and Emotional Learning: Research and Practice. Guilford Press. Seehttp://www.casel.org/sel-handbook4Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. New York: Free Press.5Jorm, A.F., Korten, A.E. , Jacomb, P.A., Christensen, H., Rodgers, B. & Pollitt, P. (1997). “Mental health literacy”: A survey of the public’s ability to recognize mentaldisorders and their beliefs about the effectiveness of treatment. Medical Journal of Australia, 166, 182-186.6Barry, M. M., & Jenkins, R. (2007). Implementing mental health promotion. Edinburgh, Scotland: Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier.7Keyes, C. L. (2007). Promoting and protecting mental health as flourishing: A complementary strategy for improving national mental health. American Psychologist, 62,95-108.8Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10(2), 144–156.doi:10.1093/clipsy/bpg0169Lyubomirsky, S. (2007). The HOW of happiness: A new approach to getting the life you want. London: Penguin Books LTD.10Peluso, M. A., & Andrade, L. H. (2005). Physical activity and mental health: The association between exercise and mood. Clinics, 60, 61-70.11Otake, K., Shimai, S., Tanaka-Matsumi, J., Otsui, K., & Fredrickson, B. (2006). Happy people become happier through kindness: A counting kindnesses intervention.Journal of Happiness Studies, 7, 361-375.12Every Moment Counts: Promoting Mental Health Throughout the Day. http://www.everymomentcounts.orgDeveloped by: Susan Bazyk, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA (2016)
Mental Health Promotion, Prevention and Intervention for Children and Youth:Suggested Strategies for Occupational TherapySusan Bazyk, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTAMental Health is more than the absence of mental illness – it refers to a positive state of functioning resulting in feeling good emotionally and functioning well in everydaylife. Tune into students’ affect (seem happy or content?), ability to perform needed tasks, interaction with peers/adults, and ability to adapt to everyday challenges. Mentalhealth is one aspect of overall health.UNIVERSAL, TIER 1 Promotion efforts: focus on competence enhancement in all children/youth – building strengths and resources in students with and without mentalhealth challenges, behavior problems, and disabilities.Components of PositiveMental HealthEvaluation (guiding questions)Promotion Intervention StrategiesResourcesPositive affect; feeling ‘happy’Joy, contentment, pleasure,optimismPositive emotions reducenegative emotions andpromote emotional resilienceand psychological well-being(Fredrickson, 2004).When OTs engage childrenin activities that are ‘fun’, weare contributing to mentalhealth. Explain this toothers, “having fun helpschildren feel goodemotionally which is acomponent of positivemental health”.Note the types of engagement thatproduces positive emotions in thechild/youth. What is the child doingwhen he/she appears happy?Does the child/youth demonstrateperiods of joy/happinessthroughout the day?Note whether there has been anobservable change in the child’soverall disposition - for example,from ‘sunny’ disposition towithdrawn.Tune into healthy occupations thata child appears to enjoy – physicalactivities? Art? Music? Reading?Socializing?Help children explore a range of occupations and identifythose that add meaning and joy to their lives.Consciously design occupations for children and youththat lead to enjoyment and positive emotions andencourage continued participation. Why ‘enjoyment’matters – participating in enjoyable occupations can helppromote mental health and foster resilience.Recognize features of activities associated with positiveemotions (e.g., those that utilize personal strengths, offera just-right challenge, and allow choice)Observe and articulate the mental health outcomes ofparticipation in enjoyable occupations to children, families,and other health care providersHelp children become aware of the activities that bringabout positive emotions so they can build these into theireveryday lifeWebsite: Actions for HappinessPositive character traitsHumor, love, kindness,artistic talent, curiosity,persistence, positivedisposition, creative,humorous, sociable, kind,flexible, energetic, nurturing,cheerful, spiritual, etc.What positive qualities are uniqueto each child? Look for qualitiesthat reflect personality traits versusspecific skills such as having asense of humor or a naturaltendency to nurture others.Identify the child’s interests whichmay fall outside of a traditional skillset such as interests in trains,Help all children identify their unique signature strengths &engage in occupations that support & cultivate theirexpression (e.g. artistic talent, volunteer work)Expose children to a variety of artistic, musical, and othercreative activities in order to explore possible interests.Avoid focusing solely on skills. Children with limited skillsalso have character strengths that must be acknowledged,celebrated and fostered.Guard against framing ‘intense interests’ in a negative lightWeb resources:HandsOnScottland: Information on flourishing andcharacter strengthshttp://www.handsonscotland.co.uk/page pdfs/flourishing/character strengths.pdfAlliance for Children and Youth – w.actionforhappiness.orgBazyk, S. (2010, September). Promotion of positivemental health in children and youth with developmentaldisabilities. OT Practice, 15(7), CE-1-CE-8.Bazyk, S., & Bazyk, J. (2009). The meaning of occupationaltherapy groups for low-income youth: A phenomenologicalstudy. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 6,69-80.Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). The broaden-and-build theory ofpositive emotions. Philosophical Transactions of the RoyalSociety B: Biological Sciences, 359, 1367-77.1
Positive institutionsEnvironmental factors suchas families, caring adults,and programs that fostercharacter strengths andpositive emotions.Competencies/StrengthsSocial and emotional skillsSkills needed for school,work, play, leisure, ADLsand restCoping abilitiesAbility to cope with lifestressors and challenges.ResilientAdaptableFlexibledolls, collecting rocks, painting,nurturing animals, etc.Make a point of noting the child’sunique character traits to the childand family (e.g. sense of humor,natural ability to nurture).Do the settings where the childlearns, socializes & plays fosterpositive emotion and personalstrengths?Use strength based assessmenttools such as The DevereuxStudent Strengths Assessment (K8) (DESSA) (LeBuffe, Shapiro, &Naglieri, 2009)Use a variety of functionalassessments to evaluate skillsneeded for successful participationin home, school, and thecommunity.Observe how the child reacts toeveryday challenges such asstruggling with an assignment orlosing a game.Identify if the child uses problemsolving skills during the stressor.Identify whether the child usesstrategies to modify negativeemotions during the stressor suchas relaxation strategies orcognitive restructuring.(e.g. obsessions). Use intense interests to fosterparticipation in a range of activities revolving around theintense interest. Example: Develop a book club focusingon reading books that involve trains, for a child who hasan intense interest in trains.Consult with teachers, administrators, and youth workersto create and/or adapt activities and the environment topromote positive experiences.Advocate for programs to emphasize mental healthpromotion.Modify the sensory environment to promote participationbased on the child’s unique sensory needs.Incorporate the child’s strengths and interests intointervention activities.Embed SEL goals into intervention activities. SEL areasinclude self-awarenesss, self-management, socialawareness, relationship skills, and responsible decisionmaking (www.casel.org).Help children identify and talk about their feelings andthink about how feelings influence behavior.Help children become aware of how they can change howthey feel by participating in enjoyable activities (i.e.occupational reflection); doing enjoyable activities canlessen feelings of depression; doing relaxation activitiesmay help reduces stress; etc.Modify the environmental demands to match the child’scapabilities.Teach child problem-focused coping including efforts tochange the source of stress (e.g. seeking support orassistance, modifying the environment)Teach emotion-focused coping including efforts to managenegative emotions associated with the stressor (e.g.emotional regulation, cognitive restructuring, cognitivedistraction, thought-stopping, etc.) (Pincus & Friedman,2004).Kuypers, L. (2011). The zones of regulation: a curriculumdesigned to foster self-regulation and emotional control.San Jose: CA, Social Thinking rish, T. (2004). Drive Thru Menus for Relaxation,Stress Busters, Attention, and rogramsP209352.aspxResources – see www.casel.orgLook under tab for SEL grams/sample-selactivities/There are many excellent resources here.Websites: Our Mental Health Matters – Stress anagement.html Stress Free Kids – See ‘Resources for reducingstress’ ds Association for Mindfulness in Education http://www.mindfuleducation.org/ Mindful Schools http://www.mindfulschools.org Yoga Kids http://www.yogakids.comCopyright 2013 [Bazyk, Susan]2
Targeted, Tier 2 Prevention Efforts for Children and Youth At-Risk of MH Challenges. Focus on preventing the development of mental health challenges andpromoting mental health and well-being.At-Risk ConditionAssociated Mental HealthRisksOccupational Performance RisksPhysicaldisabilities(Petrenchik, King,& Batorowicz,2011) Over-emphasis on rehabilitation of May have fewer opportunities to participate Autism SpectrumDisorders(Crabtree &DeLany, 2011) ADHD, LD, DCD(Poulsen, 2011;Young, 2007)physical impairments overshadowsattention to social and emotionalneeds.More likely than typical peers toencounter negative socialenvironments (stigmatized,marginalized, socially excluded, andbullied) 1 in 3 children with developmentaldisabilities are identified as having aco-occurring mental health conditionsuch as anxiety and depression(Schwartz et al., 2006) .Social-cognitive challenges may leadto difficulties in establishing andkeeping friendsHigher rates of anxiety, depression,obsessive-compulsive and ADHDdisorder than the typical populationOver 90% experience sensoryprocessing challenges which areassociated increased stress and socialand communication challenges Low self-esteem due to difficulties inschool and home performance Social exclusion Anxiety Depressionin extracurricular activities resulting inboredom and delayed skill development. Social isolation may result in delayed socialskills, lack of friends, and limitedopportunities to develop extracurricularinterests Poor self-confidence, depression and/oranxiety may contribute further to socialisolation Challenges with social participation, makingand keeping friends and social isolation dueto sensory modulation and communicationdifficulties ADL – May see restricted diets and clothingchoices due to sensory modulation issues Delays in academic, independent living andwork skills due to social, cognitive andsensory challenges School - Failure to attend to details,careless errors, avoids challengingacademic tasks that require sustainedmental effort, frequent shifts in attention),difficulty organizing school materials inlocker or desk, forgets homework. ADLs - Messy eating or drinking; irregularsleeping IADLs - Disorganized bedroom and studyspace, homework incomplete, poor followthrough with chores Leisure - Inattention to instructions,performance erratic, difficulty waiting turn,may have coordination problems (DCD) Social participation - May bet teased orbullied for poor performanceSuggested Occupational Therapy Interventions Promote a balanced view of health including attention to both physical andemotional needs of the child. Foster sustained participation in enjoyable neighborhood- and community-basedout-of-school activities to promote the development of interests, friends, and tobuild on strengths and talents. Encourage the child to express and processfeelings related to reduced physical functioning Help create school and community environments that are inclusive, stimulating,satisfying and enjoyable Contribute to whole school approaches emphasizing disability awareness andacceptance of differences. Promote social participation in natural contexts with typically developing peers inorder to foster generalization of skills Foster participation in extracurricular activities to promote the development ofinterests and meaningful friendships Apply a cognitive-behavioral approach to social development to teach cognitivestrategies for understanding and managing emotions (Sofronoff, Attwood &Hinton, 2005) Use Social Stories to teach the child how to respond in a specific situation. Develop peer support
Think positive: Promote positive self-talk - Sometimes changing how we think, helps to change how we feel and behave.People who think positive tend to be happier, healthier and cope better during challenging times – but it’s important to be a ‘realistic optimist’.
Occupational Therapy Occupational Therapy Information 29 Occupational Therapy Programs 30 Occupational Therapy Articulation Agreements 31 Occupational Therapy Prerequisites 33 Physical Therapy Physical Therapy Information 35 Physical Therapy Programs and Prerequisites 36 Physical Therapy Articulation Agreements 37 Physical Therapy vs .
(2008). Occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and process (2nd ed.). American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 62, 625-683. American Occupational Therapy Association. (2013). Guidelines for Documentation of Occupational Therapy. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 67 (6), S32-S38. American Physical Therapy Association. (2009).
1When the term occupational therapy practitioner is used in this document, it refers to both occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants (AOTA, 2015b). Occupational therapists are responsible for all aspects of occupational therapy service delivery and are accountable for the safety and effectiveness of the occupational therapy .
Both the Occupational Therapy Assistant program and Occupational Therapy Doctorate programs are housed in the Occupational Therapy Department. The Chair of the Occupational Therapy Department is Dr. M. Tracy Morrison, OTD, OTR/L who also serves as the Director of the Occupational Therapy Doctorate Program.
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Documentation of occupational therapy services is necessary whenever professional services are provided to a client. Occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants1 determine the appropriate type of documentation structure and then record the services provided within their scope of practice. This document, based on the Occupational .File Size: 540KBPage Count: 9Explore furtherDocumentation & Reimbursement - AOTAwww.aota.orgNEW OT Evaluation and Reevaluation - AOTA Guidelinestherapylog.typepad.comWriting progress notes in occupational therapy jobs .www.aureusmedical.comDocumentation & Data Collection For Pediatric Occupational .www.toolstogrowot.comSOAP Note and Documentation Templates & Examples Seniors .seniorsflourish.comRecommended to you b
therapist or an occupational therapy assistant. (6) "Occupational therapy assistant" means a person licensed by the board as an occupational therapy assistant who assists in the practice of occupational therapy under the general supervision of an occupational therapist. Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 388, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999. Sec. 454.003.
professional excellence in occupational therapy. MISSION STATEMENT Entry-Level Doctor of Occupational Therapy Program Through its innovative curricular design and delivery model, the entry-level Doctor of Occupational Therapy (O.T.D.) program prepares qualified students to become successful occupational therapy practi-
