Hi! I’m Grace.
First of all, I’m so happy you’re visiting my site! I hope my thoughts are helpful to you in some way, whether they provide inspiration, a new perspective, or confirmation of your own.
A little about myself:
I am an occupational therapist
My favorite place to be is on my paddleboard on a river
I like dogs, making art, and gardening
Okay, that’s enough of that. What we all really want to know is, why I’m here. My goal is to try to bridge part of the gap between public knowledge and the healthcare industry. Throughout my experience working as an occupational therapist, I have found that so many of my clients ask the same questions. I then continue to provide the same education over, and over, and over again. The information I provide to them isn’t particularly complex or special. It is just that our healthcare system (to boil it down) is based on gatekeeping. The system tells us that we aren’t smart enough to care for ourselves or decide what would be the best treatment for our bodies. They do this for profit. By making everything so specialized that you have to see four different providers to meet your needs, the system makes money. If you knew how to care for yourself or at least prevent illness or injury in the first place, the system wouldn’t make money (or not as much as they do now).
So, the only thing to do about it is educate yourself. We should all have some basic knowledge to use when we run into everyday trials and tribulations. For example, “I woke up with a sore neck, how can I prevent this from escalating into a chronic condition?”, or “My six-year-old is struggling to pay attention and follow directions, he is constantly jumping from one activity to the next. How can I help him?”. Sound familiar? “My doctor recommended PT for my neck.” “His teacher recommended an OT eval.” Those things cost money! Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to try a few solutions before paying for a physical therapist or occupational therapist to evaluate and give you the same exercises or behavioral techniques that they just gave to the last person they treated as well? Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do and appreciate all the hard work and time that we therapists put into each individual client. BUT, let’s not pretend that we have never reused a home exercise program or a behavior plan. Of course these ALWAYS come with a wealth of expertise tailored to each specific situation, and it is necessary in a lot of cases, but I am not going to sit here and tell you that every case I’ve treated truly NEEDED me. I’ve definitely received referrals for clients who truly just needed 2-3 sessions to master a home program that they could have come up with themselves if they just had a TINY bit more knowledge, or a beginner’s understanding of searching for credible information on the internet.
So that’s what I’m doing. I’m contributing my bit of knowledge and experience, to reach more people than just one at a time, to provide BASIC information and education on everyday topics. Hopefully empowering you to think more critically and creatively, to care for yourself and your loved ones, and to keep more money in your pocket.
