Welcome to the DAM Community Spotlight!
Our incredible team makes our world go round at DAM and we could not be more grateful. We are thrilled to be sharing a series of stories from current volunteers and alumni.
This community spotlight focuses on Crystal Chan, DAM alum!
Crystal joined the DAM team around 2013, after a chance encounter with Mallory. Curious about Occupational Therapy, she joined the team in Mississauga, providing support and volunteer training. Crystal recounts the value and learning she gained from this experience.
“As an eager undergrad, I was soaking everything in—learning about movement, about people, and about the magic that happens when creativity and care come together. Now, I’ve hopped back in more ad hoc, but there’s something about DAM that always feels like home.”
Crystal (second from the left) and the Team – Community at DAM!
From Crystal’s perspective, that feeling of home and community spans farther than her. In her time after DAM, she has connected with countless other colleagues who have also been involved in our community, crediting the sense of connection at DAM for its reach in the OT field.
“The deep spirit of inclusivity and the way DAM holds space for small, meaningful moments. There’s an openness here—to people, to possibility, to the unexpected. Some of the most profound things I’ve learned about connection and creativity happened in those spaces.”
Currently, Crystal is working as a Senior Project Manager on clinical projects in geriatrics at CAMH and has also just wrapped up her studies to complete her Masters of Design. In the past, Crystal has also been able to support other OT students in their placements at dance studios. The experience and knowledge Crystal gained at DAM continue to shape her work
today. Crystal shares how Mallory and Jade showed her that Occupational Therapy can be a fluid, fun, creative, and personal practice, allowing an approach that blends interests, studies, hearts, and values of the OT. This perspective has fostered a care philosophy for Crystal.
“That what we do, at its best, is relational. It’s about people first.”
We couldn’t agree more, Crystal!
