Occupational Therapist Carol Stormer to be Featured on CUTV News Radio

ABERDEEN, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES, December 4, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ -- While physical therapy focuses more on one’s lower body strength and range of motion, and psychotherapy focuses our mental and emotional health, occupational therapy bridges the gap, encouraging rehabilitation through the performance of activities required in daily life.

Carol Stormer is an occupational therapist who works for Jackson Therapy Partners.

“Occupational therapy is all about the bigger picture,” says Carol. “We look at the whole person, both in terms of their physical abilities, their cognition, their mental abilities, and how they're performing in life, and determine how our work can translate into making your life better. Can you really apply it to your life?”

Carol says she was first drawn to the field through her personal experience.

“My father had heart issues when I was growing up. When I observed what he went through with his rehabilitation, and how it had made a real difference in his life, I found it fascinating,” recalls Carol. “I just loved that it was very holistic, it was based on nutrition, exercise, and teaching people to have awareness of their own body.”

Having an awareness of your body may seem like a strange concept: how can you not be aware of your own body? But think of all the movements you make throughout a day, and the habitual movements you make every day; over time your lifestyle may be contributing to your issues.

“There's something at the root cause that is causing a complication,” says Carol. “Something needs to change, whether it's activity or how the patient approaches daily tasks, or it could be that their entire system is out of balance. What is it that they’re doing in their lifestyle that is placing them at risk for injury? And how can we reduce that, whether that's changing the environment, changing the tasks, or alternating the tasks. It’s looking at that whole cycle of a lifestyle and trying to make an intervention that is going to promote less risk.”

Still, says Carol, she can never get someone to change their lifestyle if they don't want to, but if we can raise awareness the patient may be able to gradually develop new habits.

“Of course, there are certain things we can't fix. That's the reality,” says Carol. “You can't change permanent damage to bone structure through therapy, but if you can avoid a surgery, by God, do it.”

It’s for this reason that occupational therapy also has a mental health component. Indeed, occupational therapy is unique in that most occupational therapists are educated in both mental health and physical rehabilitation and the future is headed to holistic occupational therapy by 2025.

“OT is uniquely focused in the whole self. That's what I love about it: the more they can recognize within themselves, the more we can empower them,” says Carol. “The more motivated people are, the better they do. Our job is not unlike being a coach or a cheerleader. We're really excited about what you're doing, and we encourage and support what you’re doing to find what works to keep you on that path to recovery.”

CUTV News Radio will feature Carol Stormer in an interview with Jim Masters on December 6th at 3pm EST.

Listen to the show on BlogTalkRadio.

If you have a question for our guest, call (347) 996-3389.

Lou Ceparano
CUTV News
(631) 850-3314
email us here
Visit us on social media:
Facebook