Occupational Therapy

Amongst every great profession, there is a strong foundation that it was built on. However, change over time is what keeps the profession moving forward and being successful. We live in a world where things are changing every second, so if we remain in the past, we will let every great opportunity to grow past us by. Occupational Therapy was built to help those who suffered from both physical and mental disabilities. It was the foundation of moral treatment from Philippe Pinel and William Tuke which requires people to treat people with compassion. Also, the Arts and craft movement by John Ruskin and William Morris, that we believed that those who uses arts or crafts, helps them physically and mentally, thus make them healthier (O’Brien et al.,

2012). It was founders like Herbert Hall and Dr. William Rush Dunton Jr. who is considered to be the father of occupational therapy, to continue to build on the art and craft movement. Others like Adolf Meyer, who introduces the holistic perspective and the developed the psychobiological approach to mental illness. He eventually formed the philosophical base of the profession (O’Brien et al., 2012). It was the foundation and growing throughout the years that we can now call OT a profession.
When one builds a home the foundation of the home is what keeps the home stable and in place, but one can’t just live on a foundation you have to build rooms, kitchens, bathrooms.

It is the same as Karen Jacobs cheese story, the foundation was the maze and the Cheese was the different knowledge and growth. We have to keep moving the cheese. Take Larry and Lucy, for example, they were stuck in the past and refused to move forward, they allow the other to pass them and not only did the other have the old Cheese but they had a new one also (Kielhofner,2009). The world is changing every day, new technology, new ways of treating clients and having more knowledge of how to treat the different disability. So if we are stuck on what worked in the past, how can we treat those in the present. However, acquiring new knowledge and making changes can be scary because of the thought of failing and trying something new. As the story of moving the cheese states “Change can be exciting; it can reinvigorate us not just as occupational therapy practitioners, but also as vital human beings. Still, change can be an intimidating venture, especially when it requires us to cast aside familiar, comfortable patterns of assumption and action” (Jacobs,

2002).
Once there is having a strong foundation, we can attain new knowledge.

Therefore, different layers of knowledge like paradigm, the conceptual practice models, and related knowledge are what keeps a growing profession. The Paradigm is the core layer, this is where you find the purpose and value of occupational therapy. This layer of knowledge allows all OT to be able to example to each client, what OT really mean and what is our line of work. The conceptual practice model is the layer where we are able to know the clients need and be able to create a different intervention to help each client. The final layer is the related knowledge being able to learn from other profession and use different techniques to better serve each client. In a healthcare profession we work together as a team, we have to work as a team; from Doctor to different the therapy needed to best care for the client

(Kielhofner,2009).
Throughout the centuries the OT profession has developed into the profession it is today and it will continue to grow with AOTA’s Centennial Vision. This vision allows us to grow by teaching the foundation, provide new knowledge, and different resource for both professional and those who just want to learn about this profession. The AOTA vision also allows feedback and identify important barriers. Consequently, with this vision the states that “they considered 10 important trends and change drivers in a society that are believed to be relevant to the future needs for occupational therapy services. The relevant drivers of change included: aging and longevity; health care costs and reimbursement; prospective and preventative medicine; assistive technologies; lifestyle values and choices; stress and depression; information access/learning; universal design for active living; the increasing diversity of the population; and the changing world of work” (AOTA’s Centennial Vision, 2006).