Occupational Therapy
Everyone deserves a safe space to build life-giving skills.
We can help.
What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational Therapy helps you and your loved ones live a meaningful and independent life to the fullest. It is a combination of science and creativity, wrapped in empathy. Occupational Therapists meet you where you are at and help you achieve your goals. It is not about curing or masking, but about giving tools and support for your body and mind to thrive. Occupational Therapy is for young kids, teens, adults and the elderly alike.
Common Issues Addressed in Occupational Therapy:
- Sensory Processing
- Activities of Daily Living (dressing, grooming, feeding, toileting, bathing, functional transfers etc)
- Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (money management, food preparation, medication management, grocery shopping, community navigation, etc)
- Visual Motor skills
- Handwriting & Fine motor coordination
- Motor planning & Bilateral Coordination
- Executive Functioning skills (Impulse control, shifting attention, working memory, frustration tolerance, emotional regulation, task initiation, organization, etc)
- Postural support and core strengthening
What sorts of diagnoses benefit from Occupational Therapy?
- Sensory Processing Disorder
- Autism
- ADHD
- Pervasive Drive for Autonomy (also known as Pathological Demand Avoidance)
- Feeding challenges such as ARFID
- OCD
- Developmental delays
- Dyspraxia, Dysgraphia, Dyslexia
- Physical Disabilities
- Anyone!
Typical Outcomes for Clients in Occupational Therapy:
- Learn to identify dysregulation and know how to address it
- Expand food intake
- Better identify what is happening inside the body, which is giving signals to physical and emotional needs
- Independence gained in daily living skills
- Improved handwriting
- Ability to attend to tasks longer with fewer disruptions
- Improved ability to play and interact with peers
- Better organization of homework, getting chores completed independently, planning ahead
- Meet developmental milestones
- Be encouraged and learn to advocate for themselves, at any age
- Accommodations made and encouraged
- Parent/Client education and carryover
Where can I find an Occupational Therapist?
We are pleased to introduce Lydia Hagerty, MS OTR/L to the Creative Family Counseling team! She brings a wide array of experience with her and is eager to get started with us.
The Occupational Therapy process at CFC will consist of a 90 minute evaluation, which will include both parent and child if your child is under 18 and optional for ages above. During this evaluation, a series of assessments will be completed as well as a parent and/or client interview.
Once this is complete, an optional consultation will be offered to review results from the evaluation, allow for further questions, a deeper explanation of how OT could be beneficial for you and/or your child, review goals and setting you up with a plan for carryover at home.
If you’d like to further pursue Occupational Therapy, you will then be scheduled at the frequency recommended by the therapist. Depending on the needs and goals, therapy may only be needed for a few weeks. Dependent upon which goals are to be addressed, Occupational Therapy may need to be a longer process, which varies from client to client.
It is recommended that for the first three months of OT, the parent schedule a separate session with the therapist once a month to allow for longer education, help understand how to carryover the skills at home, and to refine goals and objectives.
You can expect that the treatment sessions are fun and meet the client where they are. Typically 45 – 60 minutes in length which are client centered and goal driven. Occupational Therapy will often give a home program to follow specific to the client to work on between sessions.
We agree to provide a safe space that allows clients to reach their goals in a collaborative manner.
How do we get started?
- Contact our Practice Administrator to be set up for an initial evaluation with our Occupational Therapist.
- Schedule an OT Evaluation to discuss your concerns and goals.
3. Allow your Therapist to create an individualized treatment plan.
4. Work together to meet your goals.
5. Enjoy the benefits of using your life-giving skills.
Still have Questions?
Visit our Frequently Asked Questions page to have additional questions answered!
