Kaley Meister has been Joe’s occupational therapist since completing in-home therapy shortly after his stroke.  She’s made a huge positive impact on Joe’s recovery journey.  Now she and along with other guest health professionals will be sharing their knowledge with the JoeSoRocks community her in Kaley’s Korner.

Hi everyone! My name is Kaley Meister and I am an Occupational Therapist (OT). What is Occupational Therapy you ask? Am I a therapist who helps people get jobs that they really REALLY want? No…. not exactly.  Am I kind of like a Physical Therapist (PT)? No… but you’re getting closer.

Occupational Therapy (OT) is very collaborative when working with clients.  We look at the person as a whole and work on things that are meaningful to that person.  Occupational therapists are able to collaborate with our clients to provide strategies, alternatives and modifications to manage, NOT CURE, whatever disability, trauma or hardship someone is going through.  OT is all about meeting our clients where they are at functionally or developmentally in order to help make that person’s life totally awesome! What makes Occupational Therapy stand out from other therapies is that we dabble in a little bit of everything!  Every person has different interests, hobbies and occupations that are meaningful to them. Even we as OT’s have to sometimes learn these new skills in order to better help our clients relearn or perfect that skill. OT’s help people with difficulties that range from typing or handwriting skills, planning a dinner party, getting yourself dressed or other self-care needs, to sensory processing difficulties or coping/calming strategies.  We work with people of all ages from a variety of diagnoses including but not limited to Autism, Downs Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, post-stroke, post- hip/knee replacement, burn victims, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Tennis Elbow, PTSD, Sensory Processing Disorder and OMG the list goes on! Occupational Therapy is here to help ANYONE and EVERYONE realize their full potential!