Michele Tilstra, Ph.D., OTD, OTR/L, leads UWS’ new two-year hybrid Doctor of Occupational Therapy program, blending clinical expertise with innovative teaching.
Michele Tilstra, Ph.D., OTD, OTR/L, program director of Occupational Therapy at University of Western States, has been a practicing occupational therapist for more than 30 years and is also an eight-year veteran of the higher education classroom. Dr. Tilstra blended her clinical and academic experience to create an innovative new two-year hybrid Doctor of Occupational Therapy program. We spoke with Dr. Tilstra to learn more about what this new Doctor of Occupational Therapy program offers students, graduates, and the communities they serve.
What is occupational therapy, and what do occupational therapists do?
Dr. Tilstra: The American Occupational Therapy Association’s definition is helpful: “Occupational therapy is a health care profession focused on helping clients maximize their independence and/or quality of life through participation in occupations that make their lives meaningful and purposeful.” All of the individual activities you do during the day are your occupations, including self-care, household tasks, health management, rest and sleep, education, work, leisure, and social participation. Occupational therapy practitioners collaborate with clients to develop goals and treatments focused on quality of life and based on individual preferences, values, and beliefs.
What makes the UWS Doctor of Occupational Therapy program unique?
Dr. Tilstra: A traditional program requires students to come to campus from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. It’s their full-time job. They’re expected to be fully engaged in the program. They can’t have other commitments during that time.
We’ve found that doesn’t work for a lot of students, especially now, when people are using remote access to work around their life, home, and work schedules. An important part of the program’s design was to make the courses accessible across time zones, which means using prerecorded lectures or content videos that students can access whenever and as often as they want.
Occupational therapy is a hands-on career, so you can’t have a program 100% online, but we looked at how we can efficiently use every minute that students are on campus to make sure they are doing something with their hands.
When they come to campus, they will come about six days every semester during their first year. We call those six days “intensives” on purpose: It’s intense, hands-on training. They’re working with each other and faculty practicing clinical skills, using assessments, and different modalities that we have tried to refine as much as possible.
Who is the ideal student for the UWS two-year hybrid Doctor of Occupational Therapy program?
Dr. Tilstra: We are looking for individuals who are compassionate, curious, and committed to helping others, regardless of academic background. We value the diverse experiences that applicants bring. Typical applicants include junior undergrad students interested in a holistic health care profession; occupational therapy assistants working in the field who want to advance their practice; working adults who have a bachelor’s degree in another field but are looking to change careers. I have worked with students who previously studied education, dance, fashion design, nursing, psychology, exercise physiology, and construction. They have gone on to thrive in the occupational therapy profession.
How does the UWS Doctor of Occupational Therapy program teach mental health and whole-person care?
Dr. Tilstra: A key pillar of occupational therapy is mental health. it’s a specialty area, but it’s also integrated into every interaction that we have. Students have to complete a mental health course related to evaluation and intervention in mental health practice. That’s taken during their first semester because we integrate it throughout all the other courses.
In my hand therapy practice, I may be the first person who’s asked my patient who had a traumatic hand injury, who got their hand caught in a machine at work, “How are you sleeping?” I’ll ask, “How’s your relationship with your spouse who isn’t used to you being home for six weeks? How’s your anxiety?”
I might be working on the physical part of trying to improve their motion and their strength and the scar tissue in their hand, but I’m also having this ongoing conversation to provide them with mental health support. We teach students how to do that. It’s an important part of occupational therapy practice, no matter what area of practice they choose.
What is fieldwork in the UWS Doctor of Occupational Therapy program, and how does the capstone prepare students?
Dr. Tilstra: Fieldwork is broken down into two sections. There’s level one fieldwork that is required and built into the coursework when students are on campus. They will complete their level one training during that time. Their level two fieldwork comes in semesters four and five. Those are full-time clinical experiences that can be done anywhere in the U.S., plus we have a few in the Virgin Islands and other areas.
Semester six is the capstone. We call it a “project and an experience” because the experience must be 14 weeks during which they’ll complete a project. It may be a research project, teaching a course, or running an innovative group treatment program. They get the opportunity to experience research and academic presentations. That’s important because it gets their names out in the OT community.
What are the most common work settings and career paths for occupational therapists?
Dr. Tilstra: One of the most common areas that students go to are in the school system. They’re doing pediatric occupational therapy, working on handwriting skills, the ability to sit still, emotion regulation, social skills, anger management, those types of things.
Some go to a skilled nursing facility with a geriatric population to work with someone who’s had a total hip surgery or a new onset of Parkinson’s but who wants to maximize their level of independence. Some graduates work in inpatient rehab that focuses on patients in the first 20 days after a stroke or a motor vehicle accident.
Other options are inpatient rehab for pediatrics, outpatient pediatric or hand therapy, neonatal intensive care, acute care hospitals, and behavioral health or mental health.
Why is demand for occupational therapists growing, and what population trends are driving it?
Dr. Tilstra: It’s our aging baby boomers. A large majority are going to need some kind of therapy services, and we don’t have enough occupational therapy practitioners to service all the people that need therapy. Most areas of the country are understaffed and desperate for occupational therapists. We’re seeing an upswing in demand, and I foresee that will continue, because there are just not enough OT practitioners graduating right now.