Occupational Therapy is a health profession concerned with promoting health and well-being through occupation. Occupation refers to everything that people do during the course of everyday life (CAOT Position Statement on Everyday Occupations and Health, 2003).
The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in the occupations which give meaning and purpose to their lives. Occupational therapists have a broad education that provides them with the skills and knowledge to work collaboratively with people of all ages and abilities that experience obstacles to participation. These obstacles may result from a change in function (thinking, doing, feeling) because of illness or disability,and/or barriers in the social, institutional or and physical environment. (Adapted from the World Federation of Occupational Therapists, 2004)
Occupational Therapy Services
In-Home Assessments
Home Modifications Optimizing the fit between individuals and their environments helps them use their functional abilities to participate in daily life activities. Occupational therapy plays a key role in identifying strategies that enable individuals to modify their homes to meet this need. Assessments completed in the client’s home environment, are available to address safety concerns in the home, potential need for assistance or supervision, and/or recommendations for adaptive equipment or functional strategies to improve level of functioning
Activities of Daily Living
Occupational therapy practitioners are experts at identifying the cause of difficulties in performance of activities of daily living (ADL). Our therapists assist clients in returning to their highest level of function in basic self-care skills such as eating, bathing, toileting, dressing and grooming.
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living
As the result of injury or illness, a client’s function in household activities is sometimes compromised. Our therapists can assist in improving functional ability in the areas of cooking, cleaning, shopping, laundry, money management and other homemaking tasks.
Community or Work Reintegration Therapeutic Services
For clients who are experiencing difficulty in resuming former or developing new worker and community-based roles (e.g., student, volunteer, parent).
Energy Conservation and Work Simplification
With the goal of improving overall endurance and ability to complete daily tasks independently, our therapists teach clients effective organizing and simplifying strategies that focus upon using one's energy in an efficient manner after illness or injury.