Level 1 Fieldwork

I’m one week away from finishing my first level-one fieldwork. I cannot believe how fast this semester has gone by. It’s been a blur between quizzes, assignments, tests, and projects-- I can barely keep track of the day. While I love being in class (if you haven’t caught on yet, I’m a huge nerd) getting to practice my OT skills is amazing.

I have been working at Palmer Courts since January. Palmer Courts provides long-term housing for people who are chronically homeless. Mental health disorders and substance misuse is very common in this demographic. The combination of these disorders is incredibly tricky to treat. There are many aspects of health and wellness that are disrupted because of these diagnoses. I honestly don’t know how therapists and case managers handle everything so well because it can be so overwhelming.

For my first fieldwork, I have really lucked out. My supervisor has given me and my partner, Abby, a lot of support, and also autonomy to do our thing. She and the other case managers have been so helpful and given us insight about effective strategies to connect with the residents. We have been able to practice a lot of the skills we’ve learned this semester. Abby and I have worked on a lot of different ideas for clients and for the facility to enhance occupational participation. Some of our projects include:

1. Performed an initial interview with two residents to establish occupational goals
2. Creating an exercise program for a client who wanted to improve mobility
3. Organize an apartment to increase apartment accessibility for a resident who had a stroke
4. Create a weekly chore chart to help the resident with a stroke maintain apartment organization
5. Designed healthy, and easy recipes that incorporated common items from the food pantry
6. Teach a class on health and wellness. We are actually doing this next week. We will be providing nutrition information and making smoothies!

As you can see, no day in fieldwork has been the same. We really aim to promote health and wellness through an occupational frame. As I continue in the program, my skills will become more refined, and technical. Right now, our focus has been to build strong relationships with clients, incorporating our therapeutic use of self, and improving my critical thinking skills.

Abby and I have talked, and planned, and executed a lot of different ideas and strategies. It’s thrilling, and also exhausting. Fieldwork feels like I’m exercising a muscle that I have never used before. It’s critical thinking at its finest. We are constantly evaluating ourselves and refining ideas. It’s the best space to practice and play with ideas. If they are not successful then we can go back and re-evaluate.

Although it’s my first fieldwork, and I have nothing else to compare it to, it’s been incredible. We have two, level-one fieldworks that are community-based. This first one does not have an OT in the setting. Our program places students in a non-OT setting for two reasons. 

1) OT is community based, and is always striving to expand 

2) It introduces OT to settings that might not know about occupational therapy.

The beautiful thing about this profession is that it’s what you make of it. There is so much creativity that is based in the practice. Occupational therapy is about people. It’s about human nature, helping others thrive, and discovering ways to enhance our client’s quality of life.