Occupational Therapy Month Spotlight: Core of profession has remained the same over Sarah Willet’s career

In Sarah Willet’s 25-year career as an occupational therapist, she’s seen many changes, notably to the scope of practice and a growth in the patient population as the stigma related to mental health has subsided.

But to Willett the main tenet of the profession, which is focused on the person’s individual needs, has remained the same.

“The point of occupational therapy has always been function,” she explained. “So, you can restore a physical capacity in somebody, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve restored their occupational health, their functional health. And, so, I feel that the core of occupational therapy is steady, it’s steady as the tides.”

This is, in fact, what drew her to occupational therapy as a career.

She had always known that she wanted to work in some aspect of health care but wasn’t sure in what capacity until she learned about occupational therapy and its immediate impact on people’s lives.

‘I think a lot of people have an impulse in them to want to contribute to their community, this is just the way that I found that was a good match for me,” she said. “It just improves (people’s) quality of life so directly. It looks at the things that are most important to them and uses those as the targets for therapy. So, it’s not vague at all.”

In her role at the Cobequid Community Health Centre, Willett collaborates with the team, clients and their families, in developing and implementing plans of care based on her clients’ goals regardless of their perceived mental, physical, and functional challenges.

This can mean working with people in their homes or in the community and helping them reach their goals and improve their lives.

“That’s the biggest reward that anybody in health care would hope for. But, also, I’m part of a work family here and being able to work with people who have similar visions and work in similar ways and support each other is its own reward."

She has worked in mental health nearly her entire career and thinks this is where she can make the most positive impact on people’s lives.

“Mental health has always kind of been a really important area, I just feel it’s really good work, it’s important work,” she said.

“It impacts everybody. And even if the impact doesn’t get to the level of an illness, people experience very different levels of mental wellness and not feeling mentally healthy all through their lifetime. It’s a human experience, it happens to all of us.”