OT Student Project Aimed at Relapse Prevention

OT Student Project Aimed at Relapse Prevention

      Never under-estimate the creativity college students.  Recently, Katie Flanagan and Sarah Spears, Occupational Therapy students from Spalding University, and Chris Walsh, an Occupational Therapy Assistant student from Jefferson Community and Technical College, chose Wayside Christian Mission as the site for an extensive student service project.  After weeks of research, client interviews, and first-hand observation of the mission’s recovery program, the students completed a detailed manual covering a host of relevant topics ranging from stress management to recreation on a budget.  During interviews with men and women in Wayside Christian Mission’s Sober Living Program, several of the participants expressed a desire in learning healthy ways of relieving stress and tension.  In the past, these men and women turned to drugs and alcohol as a means of managing their problems.  By learning new coping techniques, those in the mission’s recovery program now have positive tools for dealing with life’s daily pressures—and this equates to fewer incidents of relapses.  During the course of their field education project, Katie, Sarah, and Chris made proper use of their time.  They remained on task, conducted themselves as professionals, and worked with a goal in mind.  It is hardly surprising that their field education supervisor awarded each student with a well-deserved A plus. Wayside Christian Mission is truly a learning laboratory that enjoys a working relationship with fourteen colleges, universities, and seminaries; truly, the mission’s resident clients are the real beneficiaries of this amazing creative talent.