Finding Independence in the Smallest Moments: Occupational Therapy’s Daily Work

The goals can sound modest. Buttoning a shirt, making a cup of coffee, moving safely through a kitchen. But for occupational therapists, those small tasks are the building blocks of independence.

“Everything you do in a day is your job,” says Kathy Neenan, a licensed occupational therapist at Wayne Memorial Hospital. It’s a line she finds herself repeating often—especially when patients hear the term “occupational therapy” and assume it has something to do with employment.

Instead, the work is much broader. Occupational therapy focuses on the fine motor tasks and routines that shape daily life—getting dressed, preparing meals, managing a household. For someone with low vision, that might mean learning new strategies to cook safely. For others, it could be conserving energy so they can get through the day without becoming exhausted and putting themselves at risk.

Established in 1980, April is National Occupational Therapy (OT) Month, dedicated to recognizing occupational therapy practitioners for their vital work in helping individuals regain independence and improve their quality of life. Occupational therapy, Neenan says, is about helping patients adapt—finding safer ways to move, to rest, and to complete the tasks they still need and want to do.

It’s also about reshaping expectations.

Many patients, she says, don’t immediately see how occupational therapy applies to them. Retirees may say they no longer have a job. Students may not realize that concentration and endurance are part of their “occupation.” Others may be adjusting to chronic conditions like multiple sclerosis or COPD, or managing anxiety and depression that make daily errands feel overwhelming.

Neenan says the moments when some patients are recovering from a stroke, a car accident, or a spinal cord injury and relearn the basics of daily life are impactful—using the bathroom independently, preparing a first meal, or carrying a cup of coffee from one surface to another without assistance.

“I love it when someone can be independent,” Neenan says. “I think that often people don’t realize what they’re made of and what their possibilities are.”

The aim is to help people stay where they’re most comfortable.

“If we can get them back to an independent level or a semi-independent level,” Neenan says, “that can keep them in their own home.”

Image: Photo: Kristen Ost, MSOTR/L, Kathleen Neenan, OT/L, Linda Moore, OTR/L, Alyssa Tyler, COTA/L, Jessica O’Neil, MSOTR/L, Jacqueline Gallik, MSOTR/L, Karen Stumpo, OTR/L. Not included in the photo is Mackenzie Steele, MSOTR/L. (Wayne Memorial Hospital)