Initial thoughts (one week into the program)

“So do you feel a little overwhelmed with all these women?”, I was asked after the first class into the Introductory week of the Master of Occupational Therapy program. Having made the transition into OT from Elementary teaching, I replied that I was used to it, yet the ratio imbalance she was referring to was hard to ignore. In a class of 40 students, I would be one of two men. As I often did when I was an elementary teacher, I’ve been reflecting on what it is that makes the OT profession particularly attractive to women or conversely unattractive to men. I’ve posed this question to OT’s over the last few months and generally no one really seems to know why. Some speculated that men prefer to be in managerial positions which can be more easily attained in other professions such as related to finance or business. Some proposed that the lay perception of Occupational Therapy (if a lay perception exists at all) is that the nature of the work is similar to nursing which has traditionally been a female dominated profession. Others thought it was a money issue (or lack of it). Whatever the reason, and I continue to speculate, I began to question whether male OT’s can have an important impact in providing services and treatment particularly in areas such as spinal cord injury in which clients tend to be over-represented by the young male demographic group.

The first week of the MOT has been a good balance of orientation details and introduction to course content. The inclusion of an ‘Introduction to Anatomy’ was a nice touch. It represented a caring outstretched hand to new students who had not studied Human Kinetics in the past. As noted by one of the teachers, there seems to have been a shift in trend towards students entering the program from psychology and social science backgrounds and this is certainly true of our ‘Class of 2009’.

Among the special items we have been given to place in our tool kits as we embark on this learning journey, has been a formula to answer the question, “So what exactly is an OT?” that predictably gets asked after the question “So what do you do for work?” As an aside, is it my imagination or does the word ‘So’ appear before any question that is asked more out of the need for conversation rather than genuine interest? Going back to the original question, it seems that the answer can change depending on who is asking, but the formula stays the same. The little gem given to us was: always base your answer in the context of that person’s experience. For example, if I was asked by an old school friend what an OT does, armed with this advice, I would reply, “well you know Frank…” (and those that did, knew Frank was quadriplegic), “…an OT would have worked with him after his accident to ensure he could participate in all his daily activities and pursue his interests in the best way possible". I have tried this formula a few times already and usually it elicits the switched on light-bulb response followed by the person giving me examples of what an OT does; therefore, ultimate proof that it works.

Returning to university again, and this time to study a discipline that seems like a perfect fit for me, has been extremely exciting; one instructor even commented that my mood had been ‘euphoric’ on the second day. I’m hoping that the large doses of interesting, yet intense anatomy classes will reduce the euphoria to realistic and possibly more sustainable levels. As I embark on this 24 month journey, I would like to share with you my experiences and reflections upon entering this wonderful profession and in my mission to become a fully-fledged Occupational Therapist.