{"id":7561,"date":"2021-07-30T10:40:42","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T14:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/?p=7561"},"modified":"2021-07-30T10:40:42","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T14:40:42","slug":"how-did-you-promote-ot-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/how-did-you-promote-ot-today\/","title":{"rendered":"How Did You Promote OT Today?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Ask-me-about-OT-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-7568\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Ask-me-about-OT-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Ask-me-about-OT-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Ask-me-about-OT-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Ask-me-about-OT-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Ask-me-about-OT-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Ask-me-about-OT.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>I found notes from a lecture I attended years ago that listed dozens of ways occupational therapists could promote and educate people about OT. While it saddened me a little that OTs continue to struggle with an identity crisis, I also believe occupational therapy is so valuable that it is worth the effort.<\/p>\n<p>So, what can you do today to promote and educate others about our profession?<\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type:none\">\n<li><strong>Online<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tRepost stories about occupational therapy.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tFollow your favorite OTs on social media.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tPost OT memes on your social media feeds.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tUse social media resources developed for OT Month (April) and World OT Day (October).<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tShare your own blog or online posts about OT.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tIf a story or post doesn\u2019t include OT, make a comment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type:none\">\n<li><strong>Professional Associations<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tJoin AOTA and get involved in their efforts to promote OT.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tAttend conferences and other events promoting OT.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tContribute to professional publications.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tSubmit proposals for poster sessions or workshops at state and national conferences.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type:none\">\n<li><strong>Volunteer in the community<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tSpeak at a senior center, business association or local service organization.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tParticipate in career day at a local school.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tHelp conduct home safety assessments.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tConduct assessments at a homeless shelter or domestic violence safe house.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tWork with kids at your local Boys and Girls Club.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tWork on IADLs at a group home for developmentally disabled.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type:none\">\n<li><strong>Increase the visibility of OT<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tMake sure your office or cubicle says Occupational Therapy.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tFrame and hang your diploma.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tWear an \u201cAsk me about OT\u201d button at work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type:none\">\n<li><strong>Build relationships with other healthcare professionals<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tWrite an article for your hospital or agency newsletter.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tIntroduce new OTs to everyone on staff.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tShare your knowledge and the unique skills you can offer as an OT at interdisciplinary team meetings.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tCoordinate an in-service training.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tParticipate on agency wide committees (UR, QA, safety, ethics). <\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tVolunteer for agency-sponsored community events.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tInitiate brainstorming sessions with other professionals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type:none\">\n<li><strong>Build relationships with the patient and families<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tPrepare and practice your explanation of OT and its unique benefits for patients. For inspiration, check out my blog &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/what-is-ot-in-60-seconds-or-less\/\">What is OT?  In 60 Seconds or Less!<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tAlways leave patients and caregivers easy-to-read, illustrated patient education handouts that reinforce your therapy session. Check out some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/samples\">free sample handouts<\/a> from the Occupational Therapy Toolkit.<\/li>\n<li>\u25cf\tInvite family members to participate in the treatment plan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This topic is on AOTA\u2019s radar this summer too with a free (for members) Knowledge Webinar which includes Branding OT particularly around innovative and non-traditional roles.  I hope this list inspires you to find a new way to promote the value and unique contribution of OT &#8211; it will be worth the effort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I found notes from a lecture I attended years ago that listed dozens of ways occupational therapists could promote and educate people about OT. While it saddened me a little that OTs continue to struggle with an identity crisis, I also believe occupational therapy is so valuable that it is&#8230;<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/how-did-you-promote-ot-today\/\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#DC0201\">Read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7568,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-i-love-ot"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Ask-me-about-OT.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7561"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7569,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7561\/revisions\/7569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}