Insights from the Royal Adelaide Show

We believe that true growth happens when therapy steps out of the regular appointment environment and into the real world. Our recent visit to the Royal Adelaide Show with clients perfectly illustrates the power of community-based occupational therapy. Let's explore why these experiences are so valuable and how they align with our unique approach to therapy.

Our Approach: Safety, Connection, and Skill Building

At the core of our Adelaide occupational therapy practice isa simple yet powerful formula: establish safety + create connection =facilitate skill building. This approach recognises that meaningful progress occurs when clients feel secure and supported in their environment. By taking therapy into community settings, we create opportunities for clients to build skills in the real world contexts where they'll use them.

The Royal Adelaide Show: A Case Study in Community Visits

Our experienced occupational therapist, Shammah, recently accompanied clients to the Royal Adelaide Show, providing a perfect example of how community visits enhance therapy. Here's are a few of her key findings:

Functional Observation

The show's bustling environment allowed us to observe how clients navigate real-world scenarios, providing insights that can't be replicated in a clinical setting.

The show's vibrant atmosphere offered a chance to observe how clients cope in a community environment and process diverse sensory inputs. This informs our knowledge of the clients’ preferred sensory experiences, their window of tolerance, and how they regulate their experiences. It also provides us opportunities to teach clients transferability of skills learnt in regular therapy sessions into the real world setting.

Safe Community Access

Clients were able to access the community with a safe and familiar person, promoting an environment where they felt comfortable trying new activities and visiting new places.

Support in Unfamiliar Settings

Our therapist supported clients in an unfamiliar environment, facilitating interactions with new people and experiences.

Social Participation

Clients had opportunities to practice social skills with the security of having a safe, familiar person to fall back on if they needed help. By bringing them out into the real world, they get to have an opportunity to learn more about themselves as social beings and their strengths. In turn, us therapists also learn about who they are and how we can support them to become who they really are as individuals.

Scaffolding Support Recommendations

By observing clients in action, we could develop tailored recommendations for scaffolding support, such as creating a hierarchy of prompts to encourage self-regulation of emotions and executive functioning which can lead to independence. The community visit allowed us to make specific recommendations for support workers on maintaining client safety while promoting independence based on our functional observations

Beyond the Individual: Involving Support Networks

Our person first therapy approach extends beyond the client to include their support network. By involving family members, caregivers, and support workers in the therapy process, we ensure that the skills and strategies developed during sessions can be reinforced and practiced consistently. This collaborative approach promotes the sustainability of supports, especially crucial given the limited nature of therapy funding.

Capacity Building for Long-term Success

At Meaningful Activities, we focus on capacity building not just for our clients, but for their entire support network. This comprehensive approach ensures that the benefits of occupational therapy extend far beyond our sessions, creating lasting positive change in our clients' lives and improving their overall community engagement.

Conclusion: Bringing Therapy to Life

Community visits, like our trips to the Royal Adelaide Show ,are more than just fun outings – they're powerful therapeutic tools. By taking occupational therapy into real-world settings, we can provide effective, personalized support that truly enhances our clients' quality of life and community participation.

Interested in learning more about how our approach to occupational therapy in Adelaide can benefit you or your loved ones? Visit our website or contact us today to discover the Meaningful Activities difference. Let us help you unlock your potential through occupational therapy and community engagement strategies.