Becoming Better Therapists

Nicole P.
Bejasa
BSOT 2-2
Module 14: On Becoming Better Therapists
Occupational therapists are concerned with individuals who was being limited by their
condition/disabilities, helping them by a suitable intervention to make them adapt and regain
independence with their condition. That is why in all lecture OT, we tend to focus in studying different
theories, FORs, milestones, reflexes, interviews, and all the important factors we have to know in the
OT profession. We memorized and study in the lecture part while in the laboratory part, we apply
these learning into situations. However, I noticed that none of them discusses or focuses on how we
will approach each type of client, which is the most important since it is the first thing we have to do in
order to know our client. This is why therapeutic use of self is introduced. The therapeutic use of self is
a deliberate use of ones’ self-insight, perception, personality and judgement as an important factor for
therapeutic process. It was a helpful way to encourage clients be engaged in the therapy session by
building a trustful bridge which connects the client and the therapist. This is basically how our actions
and thinking influences our clients in a way that they will be more motivated to perform in the therapy
session and therefore elicit a better outcome in the therapy session. Our words are not enough to
make them feel that way, we have to use actions in order to empathize and build good relationship
since they may forget our words but not how we act.
Relationship between the therapist and the client is the most important factor in the outcome of
therapy. So, before anything else, building a good impression with the client is important especially in
the first meeting. Clients must know that we empathized, we respect them and we care for them so
that they would trust us, in this way they will be more open to share information and facts needed for
the occupational profile. This is helpful for us to know more about our client, to be aware of their
routines, their occupations, their hobbies and their goals in the therapy session. Next is we have to
sustain that relationship throughout the therapy session. This is because, building and choosing
therapy goals and tasks must carefully be done in collaboration with our clients, to avoid conflict or
misunderstanding which may lead to failed therapy sessions. Lastly, as we encounter difficulties, we
must remain our relationship with client unstained and strong so the modification of the activities,
adaptions and gradation used will be dealt correctly and openly. This is really helpful to improve how
our clients behaves and develops throughout the session.
During my first year, I asked myself how occupational therapist treats their clients but now I
realized how time flew so fast, becoming a better occupational therapist was my today's concern. I
never know that I would make this far though I was still far from my dreams, I can now see how
different I become from all those years of studying frameworks, developmental milestones, reflexes,
theories and interviewing techniques. Those sleepless nights really paid off, now I am dealing on how
to make myself better as a future occupational therapist not just by treating the client with a certain
intervention. This time the discussion really completes the question in my head, this ends the puzzle of
IHP. I just realized that from OT1, OT2, HUMDEV1, HUMDEV2, OTTP and IHP, all these subjects
aims to teach us how we can become a better occupational therapist, how we can help our clients
using the TUS and applying it in practice. From engaging and motivating our client, modifying their
environment or other variables, using adaptive equipment, observing our client's development, using
purposeful activities and building therapeutic alliance, all these things are combined parts of ever
subjects we took. The concept of TUS is important in having grounds for rapport and trust-building
with our clients, there is still vague parts but generating all my knowledges in practice will give light to
those ideas that I find difficult. For now, I am contended on this weeks’ discussion and so far ending
IHP with this topic is really fulfilling for me.

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Nicole P.

Module 14: On Becoming Better Therapists

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