The goals of occupational therapy are to promote engagement in functional activities, including things people need, want, or expect to do in a typical day, according to Emma Kaplan, MSOT, OTR/L, Allied Clinical Therapist for the Princeton House inpatient program. These activities may range from the logistics of daily life to whatever brings someone joy.
“Occupational therapy is very process-based,” explains Kaplan. “We first determine a person’s values, interests, and everyday needs, and pinpoint where the barriers are. Then we identify solutions from personal, environmental, and occupational perspectives.”
For example, if someone who had a stroke has trouble cooking, an occupational therapist would examine factors ranging from cognitive capacity to kitchen counter height and adaptive cooking equipment. Likewise, for mental health, occupational therapy analyzes and addresses how symptoms impact daily life.
In helping patients at Princeton House, Kaplan incorporates these perspectives:
Personal – Focusing on executive functioning, including decision-making skills, organizational skills, judgment, and emotion regulation or sensory integration difficulties.
Environmental – Examining how to optimize the home/work environment, support system, and access to care.
Occupational – Looking at how to modify or accommodate meaningful activities to promote involvement.
Kaplan puts these perspectives into action through several groups currently available for inpatients, including “Healthy Lifestyles Through Occupational Therapy” and “Coping Through the Senses with Occupational Therapy.”
The healthy lifestyles group focuses on goals like effective decision-making, leisure awareness, and time management, which is particularly helpful for patients who need to replace time spent using substances with healthier options. Examples of group activities include:
- Creating a schedule of life prior to treatment, and comparing it with what a schedule in their ideal life might look like
- Selecting one goal and breaking it down into its smallest possible components, such as making a list of potential job opportunities and applying to one
- Working as a group on a mock budget, including how to allocate money to specific expenses and handle unanticipated costs
“Incorporating occupational therapy into treatment complements and broadens what patients are learning in their psychotherapy and psychoeducation sessions,” adds Kaplan. “Through small, methodical steps, we’re working to remove barriers to what people want in life and make progress more attainable.”
