Thru the Looking Glass

Thru the Looking Glass

By Kathleen Pici, OTR/L, CAS

As a therapist, I feel like I fell thru the looking glass in March. I entered a whole new world in which some things seemed bigger, others smaller, and a variety of colors that I had not seen before. Nothing seemed to work the way I was used to, my learned skills for 18 years did not work the same in this world, and I had to interact with people in a way that was completely foreign to me. I was in the looking glass.

But was I..

As therapists we are trained to use ourselves. We are skilled to be able to adapt on the spot, to change our direction, and be able to join the world of those that we serve to best help them achieve their goals. Was this new place I was now in so different from what I had been doing for this many years OR did I just need to change my looking glass?

The therapists that I know and respect have all been in this place. And we have all had to put a different pair of lenses on due to the instant enactment of Teletherapy. And what those glasses have done is show us some clarity. Therapists have trained for this for their whole career...even before it started. As students we were tested and quizzed on making adaptations with little more than what was in our existing room. That is our new temporary world! Again, we have trained for this forever!

What has happened in this whole new world is the exploration of activities to do with kids that they can replicate in their homes, ways to engage parents like never before, and therapists being able to engage their skills to the highest and most coveted level (ps we all crave this daily and love when new challenges are presented although we may be scared at first!).  We now, more than ever, have been able to show parents and families just how meaningful what we do in their daily life is. We have been invited into homes via webcams and cell phones to provide our kiddos with that craved normalcy and we have DELIVERED!

So what happens when we step back thru the looking glass? When the world returns to "normal". We are now armed with a brighter picture, a bigger scope, and the confidence to know that we can overcome falling down the rabbit hole. We will view things differently and know that we ARE better therapists. We concurred the Jabberwocky, came out braver, and our kiddos came out stronger.

So, who wants to step thru the looking glass with me?