#87: Community-based OT with Ryan Lavalley

In our OT work with individuals, there can be a feeling of futility. 

As there is a growing collective consciousness around what we, as OT professionals, experience day in and day out: 

The communities in which we live have such a profound impact on our health. 

And, we can fail individuals by focusing only on their individual choices—and not the larger driving forces of their lives. 

I think this expanding view of health is why we see so much interest in community practice from students, new grads, and tired clinicians. Community practice does have a long history in occupational therapy, but currently very few clinicians find full-time work in this practice area. The authors of this course’s featured article, believe this may be in part to a lack of frameworks for community-based OT. So, today we’ll explore the framework they put forth and their call to “reimagine occupational therapy clients as communities.”

Next week on the podcast, we will welcome Ryan Lavalley, PhD, OTR/L. Dr. Lavalley is the founder and primary lead of the Community Practice Lab at UNC School of Medicine.

You can find more details on this course here:
https://otpotential.com/ceu-podcast-courses/community-based-ot

Here's the primary research we are discussing:
Re-imagining occupational therapy clients as communities: Presenting the community-centred practice framework.