Quote of the day

Today’s quote comes from author Cherie Carter-Scott, a quote I discovered in a course I just recently took:

I recently took a course by Moira Pena (Check her out here! https://moirapena.com/) , who is an occupational therapist with 20+ years of experience, and an international speaker who has dedicated her career to working with and supporting individuals who experience sensory processing differences. She focuses on neurodiverse affirming approaches to sensory processing and has some incredible knowledge.

As an occupational therapist (OT) myself who works with neurodiverse individuals, I am always choosey about my professional development courses because a lot of times the information provided is based on neurotypical research and doesn’t apply to my kids. It seems dramatic for me to phrase it like that, but if you are someone who is neurodiverse or has a child that is, you may be able to relate to this statement. Often times the families I work with have been told “just do ______” when bringing up challenges with their children, and when they finally find me, they’ve tried everything they can find on the internet. Often times the research that has been done doesn’t encompass their needs and my work becomes a grand collaboration of creativity and trial and error with the client, the family and their whole care team.

This is the way I love to work, but it can be overwhelming to embrace, and often leaves me feeling like I’m not good enough at my job because I don’t have all the answers. I have written about imposter syndrome in a post ages ago (check it out here if you like), which I am sure is a familiar feeling to those even outside of occupational therapy. If you haven’t experienced it, I’m really glad for you!

This quote was one I wanted to share as it was very validating for me and my occupational therapy work, and I thought it might be helpful professionally and also personally for people!

Every day we face new challenges in our personal lives and at work, and it can be really easy to feel like you are stuck, doing things wrong, or not growing because you feel failure. If there is one thing that working as an OT with neurodiverse individuals has taught me, it is that often times we get fixated on making the “right” or “most accepted” choice in situations because of society. We are made to feel like there are designated choices and paths that we have to take to be successful, and if we don’t see success right away, we fail.

With OT, we learn in school a very black and white path of therapeutic relationship with a client, called the CPPF. In the image, you can see clearly that the path is quite easy to see and to understand how you get from enter to exit of the relationship. In reality, OT is a lot of trial and error just like life! It is so important to be able to try different things and then remind yourself that the little failures in your experiments are just things that didn’t work in that situation and it is ok! Teaching clients and their families this can be the hardest part of being an OT (or another educating profession) as people want things NOW and are struggling where they are at, but every human on this planet is different so there are hardly ever one answer for problems.

I write this from a professional and personal perspective. Professionally, from my OT experience, find jobs that will acknowledge the importance of collaborative trial and error. Take time to do the research, find the evidence informed practices and explain to your client and their care circle that these are recommendations, not cures. Try things and keep record of what worked and what didn’t and note the patterns for future clients! Even if you are just able to provide education to increase understanding and validation about the situation the person is in, this can be extremely helpful and supportive in their life journey. Personally, take the same approach to life. We are all living life for the first time, and as much as others have paved a path before you, this may not be the blueprint of your life. It is ok to make mistakes, to fight for things you are passionate about and to express who you are even if it isn’t along the lines of what the rest of society says.

In the beautiful nostalgic words of a favourite science teacher:

Give yourself the power of believing in yourself and making choices that you fully can stand behind and feel good about 🙂 You are incredible and you are growing every day!