Kim Mikalson
Passionate and empathic occupational therapist.
Currently collaborating with clients with mental health issues promoting their participation and engagement in meaningful activities
Expert in Enabling Occupation
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Expert in enabling occupation is the central role and competence of an occupational therapist.
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Occupational therapists use evidence-based practice and knowledge of occupational performance, occupational engagement, and other therapeutic interventions in the provision of services.
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An exemplarily enabler of occupation involves providing current, ethical, and resource-efficient services to clients and communicating these services effectively to clients and other service providers.
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In order to be an expert in enabling occupation, I will take the client’s perspective and diversity into account when designing individualized therapeutic interventions that are holistic, context sensitive, and adaptable to changes in occupation, person, and environment of the client or other organizations.
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This role is an umbrella concept and draws on all the other competencies in the Profile of Occupational Therapy in Canada.
Evidence
My first placement was in outpatient mental health at Hotel Dieu Hospital where I worked with individuals in the Mood Disorders clinic and the Early Intervention Psychosis program. These clients came from diverse backgrounds and had a range of occupational performance issues. The goal for therapy was to build therapeutic rapport, understand and empathize with the client’s lived experience, and collaborate on goals for therapy. In this setting, I used my interview skills to complete an assessment of occupational performance and engagement issues using a variety of assessment tools (e.g. COPM, OCAIRS, Test of Everyday Attention, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, etc.).
My second placement was at the Peter Lougheed Centre in acute care orthopedics. My main role was to ensure that clients were safe while performing activities of daily living and connecting them to appropriate support services prior to discharge. Here, I had to synthesize the assessment findings to determine that an client was safe to be discharged and perform activities of daily living independently. If this was not the case, I collaborated with the inter-professional team to explore alternative options for discharge whether it was a referral for home care or to a sub-acute rehabilitation program. In order to make a discharge recommendation, I needed to take into consideration the physical, social, psychological, and environmental determinants influencing each client’s recovery.
My third placement will be taking place in Ayikudi, India at Amar Seva Sangam. This placement will be a combination of clinical experience in the centre working with children and adults with a range of disabilities (e.g. spinal cord injury, stroke, and congenital disorders) and community development. I am looking forward to being in a new culture, adapting my clinical skills to the environment, and being creative with resources.
Future Learning
At its essence, enabling occupation is focused on clarifying client expectations and determining what client’s need and want to do. I will continue to use a holistic mindset and work with clients to create individualized intervention plans. This role constantly evolves and changes, thus, it is one competency that I will keep striving for. I will aim to integrate all of the occupational therapy competencies as they each influence and impact this central competency of being an expert in engaging occupation.