“What is an occupational therapist”

“Is it like physical therapy?”

“What is travel therapy?”  

“Do you like moving around all the time?”

““Do you have children?”

“How can you find a husband if you are moving so much?” LOL.

These are definitely just some of the MANY questions that I’ve received.  The more you get asked these questions the more creative your answers become. “Children? Oh no!” (Not yet at least). “Well I guess my husband will have to find me.” 🙂 After the intense line of questioning , they often  tend to offer some encouragement —

“You are so brave as a young woman to be traveling on your own.”

“That’s great, you can see a lot of the country.”

“Keep doing what you are doing, I bet you’re getting a lot of experiences!”

I decided to start this blog in hopes to share my experiences as a travel occupational therapist, and to encourage other therapists (and healthcare professionals) who are considering travel to go for it! What are you afraid of? What is the worst that can happen? Well, many things that can happen. LOL! Of course there are some real horror stories out there, but there are also unforgettable, life-changing experiences. Like anything, there are pros and cons. Hey, travel is not for everyone! However, I hope to use this platform to provide my personal experiences and lessons learned on this ongoing journey to help others determine if travel is right for them.

Before I get ahead of myself, here’s a little about me! I’m a black woman, in my mid-twenties, from Queens, New York! WHOOP WHOOP! I enjoy travel (obviously, lol), learning, meeting new people, and gaining new experiences. I went into college sure of who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do…. I thought. And then, BOOM! I had an epiphany that I was to pursue a entire different career, my meticulous plan had changed. I didn’t always want to be an occupational therapist. But like many, I had NO IDEA what occupational therapy was initially until…

Freshman year of college I entered as a health science major leading into physical therapy. I had to complete shadowing hours observing a physical therapist to get a good idea of what the job entailed. Throughout the shadowing process, I was given the opportunity to shadow an occupational therapist completing an evaluation in an outpatient clinic. From then on, I realized my career path had changed!

I was struck by the nature of the evaluation, especially how it was considerate of common tasks we all do daily. I now refer to these tasks fondly as “ADLs”. The therapist began to ask things like, “Do you have difficulty styling your hair? What about putting on a shirt?”. After staying late to chat with the OT, I found occupational therapy intriguing. I loved the idea of understanding the dynamic relationship between a person’s physical, cognitive, and psychosocial abilities, and how that impacts their participation in meaningful and purposeful activities. The unique role of the OT drew me in completely.

Well the next semester, I immediately changed my major to health science leading into occupational therapy. I was accepted into the accelerated OT program, and received my diploma as a Master of Occupational Therapy from Sage Graduate Schools in December 2016. Now, almost two years later, I have experienced SO much in my OT career!  Time flies! To see how my journey continues, tune into my next post and to see photos of my OT travel journey, be sure to follow my Instagram @antiestravels! 🙂