Continuing with our 2020 World OT Day celebration posts, today we are sharing with you an interview with Miss Elyse, one of our wonderful OTs!

We hope you enjoy it! Stay tuned for the next interviews!

How you’ve been reimagining participation in occupations throughout your career?

To me, being an occupational therapist means using a holistic and strengths-based approach to help clients participate in activities that are meaningful to them while promoting their overall health and well-being. I believe that occupational therapists are well suited to “reimagine doing,” as we work collaboratively with clients and their families to highlight the client’s strengths and create innovative strategies to enable their participation in activities that are important to them. This can include modifying the environment, adapting the activity itself, or working with the client and their family to build different skills to support their participation. One of the most valuable lessons I have learned as an occupational therapist is the importance of critically examining and reflecting on my own assumptions of meaningful engagement and participation, so that I do not make assumptions that will limit how I reimagine participation for my clients.

More about Miss Elyse

What I like most about being an OT is being able to help dancers achieve goals that are meaningful to them! I also love collaborating with dancers and their families to identify the dancer’s strengths and come up with creative strategies to enable their participation in dance while having fun!

I’ve joined the Dance Ability Movement because it provides the opportunity for me to combine my passion for dance with my clinical experience as an occupational therapist to help individuals of all abilities engage in a dance class and reach their full potential!

I am excited to dance because I can’t wait to see returning dancers and meet new ones! It is so rewarding to watch the dancers progress throughout the season and to celebrate their successes when they perform at the final recital!

I want to learn how to do the dances on TikTok!

My favourite music/song is Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa.

Something that makes me happy is seeing the friendships and connections that form between dancers, families and volunteers throughout the dance season.

A special message to our DAM community: THANK YOU! The DAM community is so amazing, welcoming and supportive. I feel incredibly grateful to be part of this community.