-: Yeah, so, starting, I guess, in undergrad
doing some volunteer work, shadowing I think
is a big key to working your way into the profession,
figuring out what areas you like
if the profession is definitely for you,
completing the coursework required,
so your sciences, nutrition,
psychology all plays a role in occupational therapy.
And that's why I chose biobehavioral health
as my major because it really does integrate
a lot of different aspects of the profession.
So I think completing the coursework,
doing some shadowing, volunteer work,
and then after undergraduate you have to
obtain your masters degree, so completing,
we do field work, so there's level one
where you're doing more shadowing,
and then level two where you're actually
going into certain facilities and treating
as you're a therapist with a supervision.
So once you're done with all of that,
then I think you're ready to move on to the profession.
Probably psychology classes, because a lot of
the kids that we see, there's some kind of
behavioral things going on at home,
there's reasons that you can't really see on the surface
that are causing certain things
to be happening during the day.
So psychology, nutrition, I feel like I'm constantly
educating families on ways to improve
a child's diet to help them have more energy
and just be more healthy.
And then, like I said, wasn't a class,
but I did the HealthWorks program at Penn State,
and I did a lot of health promotion and educating students.
I feel like that just helped me be more comfortable
educating people and that carried over into my profession.
I think the most important thing
when you're thinking of becoming an occupational therapist
is that you really have the drive and passion
for helping other people because that's what you're doing
every day, so even when you have a difficult family
or a difficult patient, you remember why you're doing
this and it that really drives you forward.