My story

Becoming an occupational therapist (OT) was the best kind of happy fluke, stemming from the thought of “I want to help people do everything, I don’t want to just talk to them (talk therapist) and I don’t just want to strengthen their bodies (physical therapist).” And thus, I found OT, a career where I can care for the whole person, their environment, and occupations (anything that occupies a persons’ time). 

My success in the field is a result of more than just wanting to help people do everything, it resonates from embodying the role. However, it was not always this way. Unresolved trauma, poor formation of independent living skills and a divorce later, I found myself as a single mother of two young boys in graduate school and then new to the workforce. I was living a life of survival. I was reactionary, resulting in stressed and anxious decision-making and surface-level organization. The effects of it permeated into all areas of my life: Self-cares, Home management, money management, diet and exercise, relationships, my work ethic and capacity… I could go on, but visualize clothes and toys in every corner of your living space and a lot of time spent trying to control your emotions. My wellness tanked. I gained weight and was told I had Thyroid dysfunction, endometriosis, and possible PMDD.

How did I break the cycle? Well, of course I had help and sought out help, but most importantly, I began taking my own advice and implementing sustainable, healthy, and realistic habits that became a lifestyle. A lifestyle of balance and one that has brought me meaning, happiness and purpose. It has also brought me HEALTH. I have reversed diagnoses and seen changes within my cognition, physicality, and medical and mental health that have made me more trusting of my body and spirit's capacity for self-healing. 

The confidence I feel in my roles as an entrepreneur, mother, partner and friend has not always been a part of my life and knowing what I was lacking in comparison to my life now has solidified my calling to instill and empower others.