therapeutic relationships

After learning about therapeutic relationships, I feel confident that I will be able to have positive relationships with my future clients. As an occupational therapist it is important to possess the trait of empathy. Empathy is the ability to put yourself in one's shoes and have compassion but without feeling sorry for the person. This trait is important for an occupational therapist because we will work with clients with a wide range of disabilities. Since we will be exposed to people with a variety of disabilities, it will be crucial that the client knows and feels that we, occupational therapist, care about their needs and future well-being. Also, certain traits are important when working with clients. These traits include active listening, respect, empowerment, honestly, empathy, efficient verbal and non-verbal communication, and many more.

Knowledge check survey. 3/14

After watching the presentation today, I was in complete shock about how individuals with intellectual disabilities were treated. I was aware they were put into an institution, however I did not know how terribly they were treated. The presentation hits home for me because I care take for an individual, Sammy, with down syndrome. The thought of Sammy being put into one of those institutions makes my heart hurt. No person deserves to be treated they way they were.

What I learned today that I can relate to the era presentations is how much history changes over time. About 30-40 years ago people were still using derogatory words like "retard, imbecile, and moron" to describe individuals with intellectual disabilities. However, as time has passed people are advocating for a transition of terms to be used. For example, instead of calling someone "retarded" the person should be referred to as "a person with an intellectual disability." Also, advocates are pushing for people first language. This means referring to a person as a "person with down syndrome" rather than a "down syndrome person."

I think learning everything I have so far will shape me into the best occupational therapist I can be. The reason I think this is because I will have an abundance of information and history of the people I will be treating. Also, I can be a better advocate for the IDD community through my knowledge.