For as long as we can remember, occupational therapy has lived in the shadow –
cast by a medical model that measures what can be fixed but misses what makes us whole.
In this shadow,
we’ve done quiet,
transformative work,
tending to the spaces
where life is lived,
not merely treated.
And while we havent always welcomed the shade we’ve dwelled in –
maybe,
the shadow was always meant to be part of our professions evolution.
A place of quiet preparation.
A refuge where we could root ourselves in empathy and empowerment.
A shelter where we’ve cultivated courage,
deepened our purpose
and grown in the shade of systems not yet ready to
see us.
Maybe the shadow was
never a withering.
Maybe,
it was a beginning.
And a place of becoming.
It’s in the quiet, that we’ve cultivated something rare and enduring –
a perspective that sees beyond diagnoses and deficits –
to the richness of meaningful occupation,
and the beauty of human potential.
And now,
the time has come to rise from this hidden place –
not to abandon the shadow but to carry what we’ve learned there
into the light.
The shadows have served their purpose,
but the light awaits.
Occupational Therapy Professionals –
it’s time to rise.
words by:
