Hello and welcome to the Inquisitive OT! This is my first blog post, so I thought I would start out by sharing a little more of what I’m about, what I question in our field, what I stand for, etc.

I feel like my mind is always buzzing, and I’m always writing thoughts down and processing my experiences to see how they fit into my current beliefs, or if they’re going to change my beliefs in any way. Rather than just being stuck in my own thoughts, I want to get them out and hear your thoughts. 

There will be posts where I just lay out the raw truth of my thoughts about our field, but please know that I never mean any disrespect to all the amazing OTs out there making huge differences in peoples’ lives. I’m hoping you can either validate some of my thoughts, or give me different perspectives to chew on. And maybe I’ll do the same for you!

With that being said, let’s get started…

I believe our field is still in an identity crisis and has been since it officially began around WW1. 

I believe that part of my problem with our field may stem from the generation I’m in; it seems that a lot of OTs my age are struggling more with OT than others, which makes sense since all our lives we were handed an education that told us exactly what to do, how to do it, and when to do it, so living in the unknown is uncomfortable and something for us to grow in…

I believe that there won’t be 100% certainty in any medical field…

But I also believe that our field lacks boundaries and clarity like no other field, and this is a genuine problem.

I believe we need a clearer definition of OT that spells out exactly the different forms that our field can take (when you think about it, we claim to do almost everything, and a lot of non-OTs can do those things, too. This will be another blog post. My point right now is that we need to start specifying who we OTs are). 

I believe we need to identify parameters around using bottom-up approaches vs. true occupation-centered top-down approaches.

I believe we need to identify parameters around how far we can go with treating all different underlying factors, because everyday I feel like I am trespassing into everyone else’s territory and am very unsure about my distinct role as an OT. 

I believe the phrase “jack-of-all trades, master-of-nothing” is NOT something we should celebrate, because we received a Master’s degree…we cannot do this and also claim that we are technically “Masters-of-nothing” (“Master’s of occupation” is a whole separate blog post).

When it comes to working with kids, I believe we should be returning to the basics. Specifically, allowing kids to spend hours of their time, every single day, playing outside with mixed-age peers, just like the “olden days” (aka all of history up until the mid 1980s). 

I believe that much of our profession (pediatrics specifically) is spent trying to put bandaids on issues that stem from much larger, deeper issues in how we raise kids today, and I also believe that more OTs can and should be addressing these deeper issues. 

I believe that pediatric OTs should be the biggest advocates for the occupation of unstructured outdoor free play, and at the same time caution parents against signing their young children up for too many (or any) structured activities. 

And I believe that I should not have to put the term “unstructured” before the phrase “free play”, but I have been bitterly disappointed with the number of OTs that have large misconceptions of the word “play”, so there it is. 

P.S. “Outdoor free play” is different from organized outdoor sports or anything else adult-led that happens to occur outdoors. 

I believe that most of our pediatric classes in grad school should be centered around learning the science, history of, and sociology around play. We learn so little about the occupation we claim to champion. 

And I believe that if we spent more time learning about play, we’d also be learning about how kids truly learn the best, and therefore have some very different perceptions of our mainstream school system (again, most of what we do in schools is a mere bandaid to much deeper issues). 

I believe that even OTs working with medically complex children should always be focusing on “how do I help this child engage in outdoor free play”, because it is something that every single child needs. It’s a must, whether you yourself are an “outdoorsy” therapist or not. 

I believe that we should branch away from our American- and OT-only sources for learning about regulation, and see how non-OTs all around the world approach things…you might be surprised by how little we actually know despite our fancy degree and even fancier handouts we pass out to parents.

I believe we take “sensory” wayyyyy too far. Way too far. 

Way. Too. Far. (Should I say it again?). 

And I believe that grad school should’ve explained that there is a difference between formal SI therapy that you get trained for, and “sensory-based approaches” that have very murky research and no clear guidelines as to how and when to use them. 

Switching gears, I believe that maybe I’m just not meant to stay in traditional OT for much longer, and that’s okay. I’m really trying to give the field a shot, but in all honesty there are a lot of things in my everyday job that make me feel icky, and I don’t think my generation and 1.5 years of experience are completely to blame for these icky feelings. 

I believe our field needs to start having some conversations, which is what I hope this blog will encourage. 

Now that I’ve rattled on about what I believe (like everyone else in my generation, sorry guys), I would truly love to hear your thoughts (unlike most in my generation, you’re welcome). Did you agree/disagree with or merely feel intrigued by anything? Did anything surprise you or take you back a bit? I hope to be one of the few Gen Z’ers who can handle some debate and opposing viewpoints. 

Click on the ‘Contact’ tab of this website and let me know!

Until next time,

The Inquisitive OT