Showcasing Student Impact

I was inspired to pursue an occupational therapy (OT) degree after working with marginalized individuals for 10 years and seeing the impact of social inequities and injustices on a daily basis. Many of the marginalized people I worked with lacked access to occupational therapy. I witnessed radical transformations in the lives of the clients who had access to occupational therapists who saw them through a holistic lens and addressed their occupational participation and engagement. Through the privilege of working with OTs, I saw the shifts for social change at the individual and community levels. I aspire to work alongside these remarkable practitioners because I believe in bringing the benefits of OT to all populations within our community, regardless of demographic.

I chose Western University because it offered the highest level and breadth of education in the area of occupational therapy within Canada. Western utilizes threads of learning (enacting professional citizenship, attending to diversity, applying critical perspectives to occupation, honouring Indigenous ways of knowing, and ethical practice) to provide foundational knowledge and training in critical thinking skills in order to produce future practitioners who are well equipped to facilitate change. Another unique aspect of Western’s program is its opportunities for international placements. It was important to me to have international placement experience, and Western delivered on their support through every step of this endeavour.

My most memorable experience in the OT program thus far has been my international placement at Amar Seva Sangam Ayikudy in rural India. I had the opportunity to work with a variety of patients with spinal cord injuries, stroke and neurological deficits, cerebral palsy, and pediatric clientele within a resource-impoverished area in southern India. This was my final placement in the Western OT program and it taught me a great deal of creative thinking, problem-solving, gratitude and humility. The patients I worked with had admirable outlooks on life and, even in their darkest moments, were laughing and upbeat with clinicians and peers alike, seeing every situation at hand with optimism. I am continuously inspired by the clients' determination and respect, and I admire their tenacity to prevail with their goals and dreams.

Western has undoubtedly prepared me for a career in OT through teaching skills such as measuring manual muscle testing and measuring range of motion, prescribing adaptive equipment and seating systems, and becoming familiar with common OT assessments and intervention approaches. Perhaps even more importantly, Western has taught me how to be critically reflexive, which will not only serve me personally but will also benefit the people I support for years to come. We learned early in our training that we will learn niche skills along our careers, however, it is our schooling that prepares us to assess how and why we do our work and the ramifications our work has, not only for the individual but on systems at large.

After graduation, my short-term plan is to work as a clinician within the spinal cord injury or pediatric population to gain additional practical experience and expertise within physical health practice settings of occupational therapy. In the longer term, I foresee myself in managerial positions moving towards system-level change by utilizing my expertise working with marginalized populations within both the mental health and physical health domains. I am passionate about removing systemic barriers and creating equitable access for all. Using my education from Western University, I believe I can improve lives and be a meaningful agent of change.