Therapy is a Partnership

Last week I wrote shared that therapy works. This week I write about the necessity and power of the therapeutic partnership.  

Individuals seeking healthcare often take a passive approach to recovery. Our pharmacologically dependent society directs us to “Get a pill to make it go away”.  In therapeutic situations we expect practitioners to, “Do what they do so we will get better.” However, when we delve into this thinking, we know nothing is that easy. Experiencing a quality of life takes work. Recovery takes work. Maintaining and improving our health also takes work. Few things of worth come automatically and if they do, keeping them, also takes work.

At Healthrough Action, we work to create a partnership in recovery and health maintenance. We as practitioners listen to the individuals, educate them about their condition/s and how they can be proactive in addressing the illness and its’ consequences. The skillfulness of the practitioner is essential yet regardless of how skillful a therapist is, without the participation of the “patient”, less will be gained and little will be sustained.  

Ask yourself the following questions. “What does recovery mean for me?”  ”What can I do to help myself feel better?”  “What interferes with my participation in my therapy program or for that matter, managing my overall health?”  When we explore the answers to these questions, together we work to overcome your barriers to restored and sustained health.   

Be your own hero by following a home exercise program and assert your newly learned skills and abilities into your everyday life.  Remember, recovery is measured not by range of motion but by how successfully you re-engage in your life. As Helen Keller said, “Life is an adventure or nothing”.

Occupational Therapy Works

Positive results abound! This past week has been both satisfying and gratifying. My patients are indeed moving better, thinking better, feeling better and participating more fully in their lives.

The first case is a 6 year old girl who was referred to occupational therapy for what is termed, “tactile defensiveness.” When someone experiences this sensory processing disorder, s/he has a limited tolerance for things rubbing against their skin and sometimes things in their mouth. Each case is different. In this case this young girl has been unable to tolerate clothing around her neckline, waist, groin, and feet. Straps of bike helmets bother her so much that as much as she loves to ride her bike, she chooses a less irritating activity. Getting dressed and arriving at school on time has been traumatic for both this child and her mother. Desperate and exasperated, the mother called several weeks ago for an immediate appointment. Treatment began including both the development of a sensory diet and behavior management. Each week the dressing got a bit easier but the last frontier was her feet. Seamless socks and carefully chosen sneakers, put on only once her sensory system was primed, allowed the breakthrough. I received a breathless, excited, telephone message from this little girl thrilled to have her socks and new sneakers on her feet. This week we will have a race down the hall both clad in our sneakers and socks.

  

On a completely different front, a woman came to my office, again about 3 weeks ago, with complaints of daily headaches.  The doctor felt sure it was not coming from her cervical spine and sent her a headache specialist. Before seeing this specialist, we did an assessment and found severe tightness of the muscles around her neck and upper back, an asymmetry in her posture, and generalized weakness. We began with soft tissue mobilization and neck exercises.  After two such treatments she reported that she hadn’t had a headache in three days although she did have more neck pain. She also reports improved awareness of her posture and neck position. Medication that she has been using over the last six months was not needed. The appointment with the headache specialists was cancelled.  

Three treatments have eliminated the need for expensive testing and money for pharmacological solutions. Back and neck health move to the forefront. A woman, who came with certain hesitancy, now leaves with a smile.  

Therapy works.  It is a partnership between the therapist and the individual.  It calls for hope and draws on resiliency. The result is the ability to step back into life more fully and with less effort.

Life through the Lens of Learning

For the past 3 weeks I have been immersed in both teaching and learning. For five years I have been teaching Temple University OT students about motor learning and neurodevelopmental treatment.    It is an intense 2 weeks, equaling 20 hours of teaching, and though it creates mild havoc in my schedule, I love it. 

Why, with all the added intensity of preparation and teaching do I enjoy teaching so much?”  By asking myself this, I realize that teaching helps me assess what I know, what I don’t know, how I can learn what I don’t know, and what is important to teach. It is exciting to read and learn in my profession as well as other related fields.  Then I enter the classroom.  Thirty-four graduate students open up and engage with me and their own learning.  

A day later I am a participant in a workshop on ADHD and a week later a certification program for a skill building program for caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s and other related dementias.  The tables are turned, I am the student; I open up and engage and learn.  

I complete this period with new energy, information and ideas.  I immediately begin to apply my new learning, testing it, playing with it and integrating it into my knowledge-base.  This exchange as teacher/learning is the perfect paradigm for life, regardless of your occupational roles, whether you are a teacher, parent, student or worker.  Every day offers us lessons to learn and opportunities to teach, directly or through role-modeling, and in doing so we grow and flourish, find satisfaction and contribute to those around us.