What is Occupational Therapy?

Occupational therapy is a holistic approach to health that focuses on helping individuals achieve their goals and live their best lives. Whether you’re recovering from an injury, managing a chronic condition, or simply looking to improve your overall well-being, occupational therapy can help.

Occupational Therapists are educated to provide services relating to:

 

Your Occupational Therapist will help you to develop individualized strategies for:

  • Managing your symptoms
  • Managing the emotions intertwined with them
  • Navigating your relationship with your symptoms, your body, and with movement
  • Re-engaging in the life activities, roles, and relationships that are important to you.
 

Illness, disability, pain or significant life transitions can disrupt your ability to engage in the life roles, activities, and relationships that are important to you. Occupational Therapists are trained to merge your lived experience with the best available evidence in order to help you find creative ways to navigate these challenges, manage symptoms, optimize function, and find a life balance that works for you.

Who would benefit from an OT on their pelvic health care team?

If you are struggling with incontinence, urgency/frequency, pelvic organ prolapse, constipation, and/or pain that is disrupting your mental health and your capacity to live your life, Occupational Therapy would be a fantastic member of your team.

Occupational Therapy may be a fantastic addition to your treatment team if:

  • You are experiencing persistent pain, pelvic pain, pelvic organ prolapse, urinary urgency, frequency, leaking or other forms of pelvic floor dysfunction.
  • You are struggling with some of the common aches and pains of pregnancy or the postpartum period and looking for some movement coaching/adaptations to optimize your comfort and recovery during these transitions.
  • You are working with a Pelvic Health Therapist in your area but need help navigating the impact that this is having on your emotional wellness, relationships, and ability to engage in your day-to-day life and meaningful activities.
 

 

 

 

Care plans provided by OT are unique to you and your goals.

Individualized care plans may include nervous system regulation, somatic & sensory tools, Cognitive Behavioural Therapies, Pain Reprocessing Therapy, Graded Exposure, mindfulness techniques, and exploring day-to-day functioning, day-to-day demands, and life balance. Common modalities include:

  • Trauma-informed care
  • Pain Reprocessing Therapy
  • Exploring behavioural strategies, lifestyle factors and habits to support your health
  • Exploring your sensory processing preferences to support nervous system regulation
  • Rehabilitative exercises
  • Ergonomic assessment & functional movement
  • Activity pacing and graded exposure to triggering activities
  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Occupational Therapist

Lara Desrosiers
Occupational Therapist

Lara has worked as an Occupational Therapist in the mental health and addictions field since 2009. In 2016, Lara launched Pelvic Resilience, an Occupational Therapy practice dedicated to helping individuals struggling with pain, pelvic health challenges, and other distressing symptoms to get back to living a rich and meaningful life. As an Occupational Therapist, Lara firmly believes in offering approaches to pelvic health recovery that are creative, flexible, accessible and focused on restoring quality of life. As a skilled mental health clinician, Lara also offers psychotherapeutic strategies in the work that she does with her clients. Pain Reprocessing Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy are evidence-based approaches that guide individuals toward a more empowered and flexible recovery by offering new ways of managing symptoms and the emotions that are intertwined with them. In her spare time, you will find Lara hanging with family, reading a good book, crocheting something special, or playing Ultimate Frisbee!

Book Today with Lara!

Conditions Addressed by OT: