The OT Month Challenge: 30 Days of Reflection, Real Talk, and OT Fun!

Olivia Menser
Feb 1
12 min read

April is OT Month, and if you’re anything like me, you want to celebrate it in a way that feels meaningful, not performative or exhausting.

So instead of another “post every day or else” situation, I created something gentler and more human: The OT Month Challenge.

This challenge is designed to be:

Reflective, not overwhelming
Honest, not overly polished
Useful for real therapists doing real work

You can complete it quietly for yourself, share bits online, use it as journaling prompts, or spark conversations with coworkers. There’s no right way to do this!

How the OT Month Challenge Works

I created a 30-day prompt board; one prompt for each day of April. Each square invites you to pause and reflect on some part of your OT journey: the wins, the hard parts, the humor, the advocacy, and the growth that often goes unseen.

You can download the OT Month Challenge graphic by right-clicking the image above!

Why I Made This

OT Month can sometimes feel like:

Pressure to “educate everyone”
Highlight reels only
One more thing on an already full plate

I wanted this challenge to feel different.

This is about:

Naming the real impact of OT
Making invisible work visible
Creating space for connection, humor, and honesty
And reminding ourselves why this profession still matters!!

My OT Month Reflections

Below, I’ll be working through each of the prompts myself throughout the month. I’m sharing my reflections not because they’re perfect, but because they’re real.

If a prompt resonates with you, I’d love for you to reflect alongside me. You can comment on this post, share privately, or just sit with it.

🌟 The OT Month Challenge Prompts🌟

(You can complete these in any order and there’s no pressure to keep up!)

Your OT Origin Story

Like many young, aspiring young women, I went into college as a pre-med student with a dream of changing the world. I loved science and helping people (and I had a little bit of an ego), so I figured that was the best path forward. A year into my degree, I had a full-blown identity crisis. I spent the summer working at a summer camp for kids with disabilities, and I came to the realization that I would much rather walk with people on the path toward healing than diagnose and prescribe. At that point, I started exploring the therapy professions and landed on OT because it encompassed both the creative and scientific sides of my brain. I loved how many avenues there were for occupational therapists and the fact that it was such a holistic profession.

One Word to Describe OT

Life-giving.

A Small OT Win You’ll Never Forget

About six months into my first job as a school-based occupational therapist, I was feeling somewhat defeated and imposter syndrome was creeping in. It was the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and I felt like I wasn't making much progress with the students on my caseload due to the on-again, off-again nature of the school year. (Looking back, I am honestly so proud of all that I was able to accomplish that year in spite of all the odds, but it felt very bleak at the time!) One particularly difficult day, I was working with a student with cerebral palsy on being able to isolate his index finger to better access his communication device. I was at the end of my rope in terms of ideas when he caught sight of a container of bubbles I had used in another session and motioned for it. After a few rounds, I started using my index finger to pop the bubbles and modeled for him to join. The frustration he has been experiencing while working so hard earlier in the session melted away as a smile enveloped his entire face. After a few rounds, his isolation improved to the point he was able to coordinate his movements with control and confidence! I will never forget the magic that motivation added to that session!

The Moment You Knew OT Was Right for You

I'm not sure if I have a singular "Aha!" moment where I knew OT was the right career for me, but one that sticks out to me is way back when I was in college, shadowing different professions to see what might be the best fit. I had narrowed my options down to the therapy professions (primarily speech and OT), and after shadowing a few different pediatric OTs, I was struck by the level of creativity they brought into their sessions. It was like my two worlds (creativity and science) were colliding right before my eyes!

Your OT Superpower

One of my favorite things about OTs is that we are all so different and each have our own special skillset to bring to the table. I would consider my OT superpower to be creativity and idea-generation. When we took the Strengths Finder assessment in graduate school, I was the only student in my class to get Ideation, and I was a little self conscious until I realized how much OTs rely on creative problem solving in our day-to-day lives. Now, I fully embrace the never-ending stream of ideas that keep OT exciting and refreshing for me!

The Skill OTs Use the Most (That No One Talks About)

Therapeutic use of self has to be the OT skill that flies under the radar. I remember talking about it in graduate school and wondering when I would ever use it, but it has become such an intrinsic part of my practice that I don't even realize it's a skill anymore. Reading people and meeting them where they are with what they need is such a powerful and underrated tool! I find many sessions make or break on it.

Your Favorite Therapy Tool

It's so hard to pick just one! As someone who works with kids, I feel like my therapy bag is an evolving door most days in order to pique interest and motivation. That said, I am loving my craft keeper/photo storage bin at the moment. It allows me to organize my task cards while also making sure they are ready to grab and go when needed. I love that it's already prepped and ready, so I don't have to waste time deciding what to do.

The Goal You’re Most Proud of Writing

When I made the transition to school-based teletherapy, I was astonished how many goals I came across were simply irrelevant to the setting, so I spent a lot of time analyzing what my students actually needed to do in order to succeed as a student and built goals around that. One of my proudest moments was discontinuing a student's scissor skills goal (they never cut in the virtual school setting) and swapping it for a goal to be able to independently click and drag items on the screen. Everyone on the team was so excited to move in a more functional direction!

The Session That Didn’t Go as Planned (But Still Worked)

All of them? Just kidding, but really. I can't remember a time when a session went exactly as I had planned. I suppose part of this is just the reality of working with kids. One particular session, I pushed in to a self-contained classroom to work with a student on writing his name. This student had zero interest in writing and wanted to spend our session spelling gestault phrases with magnetic letters. Instead of getting frustrated or taking away his preferred activity, I took a deep breath and entered into play with him. He would spell a phrase and I would write it on the dry erase board in front of us. We repeated this a few times until I asked if he wanted to take turns. His face lit up and he eagerly took the marker from me! I spelled his name with the letters and he practiced writing it on the board (far surpassing his baseline for legibility!). The stars don't always align so that our sessions can be this productive, but I think this is a great example of adapting our expectations to meet our clients where they are instead of bulldozing through each session with our own plans.

The Strategy / Frame of Reference You Rely on Most

I am a KAWA Model girlie, through and through! While all of the frames of reference are embedded in my day-to-day practice, this is the one I always appeal to (and occasionally even use to "OT myself"). I love the idea that life is a river and that our environment is the shore. We are shaped by the circumstances we flow through. The course of our life is also inextricably tied to the difficulties we face in the form of rocks, boulders, and debris. As OTs, our purpose is to keep the river of life flowing by helping our clients navigate it.

The Area of OT You Wish More People Knew About

I recently transitioned into a new role as the client care coordinator for a nature-based OT practice. I have learned so much about what a powerful therapeutic tool nature can be and would love to see growth in this area of practice across the entire lifespan!

“Tell Me You’re an OT Without Telling Me”

This one is funny because I can think of so many different answers. I am constantly identifying other people's sensory quirks. Non-functional interventions make me cringe. I find myself mentally adapting the environments around me. I cry at absolutely every progress video I see.

The Most Creative Adaptation You’ve Ever Made

When I was in OT school, I had the privilege of presenting at an assistive technology conference with some peers, and we were able to adapt a game of "Guess Who?" so that it was completely accessible for non-speaking individuals.

The Part of OT That’s Hard to Measure or Quantify

I'm kind of a progress monitoring nerd, so I like to have data to back up the goals I write and statements I make. That being said, there are a few areas that are just difficult to measure and quantify. In the schools, I have found it difficult to measure/quantify motivation and participation. I'm a firm believer that these are two of the most important components of effective intervention (across the board, but definitely in the schools), and they are sometimes the most difficult to tangibly measure. I'm thankful for qualitative data and narrative notes so that I can document these crucial components of what we do!

An OT Confession or Hot Take

If it ain't functional, it's got to go! Seriously, though! I believe the whole reason that OT works is because it taps into the meaning and function of everyday life. Effective therapy answers the "so what?" before it moves on to the "now what?" Enough with the goals that target nothing.

A Session That Made You Laugh

One of my favorite things about working with kids is that they are so effortlessly funny. When I got engaged several years ago, my students had all kinds of questions about my fiancé and the wedding, so I decided to create an activity a few weeks before the wedding for them. There were several writing prompts on the worksheet which gave them a chance to share their best advice for us! One student encouraged us to "Never say bad words," and another told us to "count to ten, close our eyes, and take a deep breath" if we ever get in a fight. I kept all of their responses in my wedding scrapbook!

A Client Who Changed How You Practice

When I was completing my second Level II Fieldwork at an inpatient rehab facility, I was struggling to find motivation to get up and go to work everyday (aside from finishing my degree and graduating). I had no interest in this setting, and though it was great to add more tools to my OT tool belt, it just didn't inspire me in the way other settings did. One particularly difficult day, I was assigned to work with a very agitated patient with dementia who was recovering from a hip replacement. He had cussed out his nurse prior to working with me, and I was dreading my session with him. That day was rough, and I honestly left his room thinking I would be happy if I never saw him again. Over the course of the next few weeks, though, as we worked together (somewhat begrudgingly), and I started to see his humanity and we developed an oddly refreshing friendship. Anytime I am faced with a difficult client, I always think back to my time with him and show grace and empathy because life isn't easy and we're all just doing the best we can.

Your Biggest OT Learning Curve

Sensory processing and behavior have been two areas where I feel like I could take in all of the information in the world and still only be scratching the surface. Don't get me wrong, I love all things sensory, but this has definitely been an area where I've had to consistently learn and grow in order to evaluate and plan effective interventions.

How You Practice Occupational Balance

After a season of burnout, I have learned the hard way to practice what we preach. Being an OT is such a blessing, but the compassion fatigue (and the ten thousand other hats we wear) can definitely take it's toll. Outside of work, I enjoy traveling, baking, reading, and creative writing. I'm even toying with the idea of taking up needlepoint!

A Boundary That’s Made You a Better OT

Removing email and work-related communication from my phone. I don't have the will-power to leave notifications unread, so I took the bull by the horns and just silenced them altogether. Setting this clear boundary has helped me truly rest after work and on the weekends so that I can come back recharged and ready to go each morning.

The OT Resource You Recommend Most

Y'all, there is a plethora of excellent resources out there for OTs! I don't know how I could possibly pick one! For practitioners who are just getting started working with children, I would have to recommend my hub.noteworthyresources.com website which has 52 weeks of fully planned intervention themes! It's definitely been a passion project of mine, and I plan to continue building it until it becomes a one-stop shop for pediatric OTs!

The Impact You Hope to Have Long-Term

This is a bit up-in-the-air at the moment, but I am starting to see that my long-term impact might be a bit broader than I ever anticipated. When I first entered the field, I had a strong passion for occupational justice for children in low- and middle-income countries. That passion has not gone away, but now I see so much need for occupational justice in the United States, as well! I would like to see the field of OT become much more aligned with holistic wellness, wellbeing, and flourishing from a population standpoint. We have the power to advocate and mobilize on behalf of and alongside people with disabilities everywhere!

A Message to Your Past OT Self

Oh, the things I would tell my 24-year-old self after starting my first OT job! Namely, it's going to be okay. You don't have to know everything now (and, newsflash, you never will!). It's okay to admit you're still learning, and it's actually your job to be a life-long learner who stays on top of advancements in the field. I once knew a school-based OT who graduated in the 1970s who just didn't "do sensory;" don't be that guy!

One Thing You Would Change About OT

One of the primary ways I would change OT would be to remove some of its ableist roots and practices. This is a tough one because most of us don't even realize we hold these beliefs. Even the concept of independence can be ableist if it assumes that the peak of human capacity is to be able to everything without assistance. To move OT forward, we must actively examine and dismantle these roots. This means valuing interdependence over independence, honoring disabled identities rather than viewing them as problems to fix, and centering client-defined meaning instead of normative developmental or functional benchmarks. Removing ableism from OT isn’t about lowering expectations, it’s about expanding our understanding of what meaningful participation looks like across diverse bodies, minds, and contexts.

A Policy That Makes OT Harder Than It Needs to Be

This might not be a "policy," but I think our gradual transition from being mostly traditional W2 employees to 1099 contractors is hurting the profession as a whole. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that you can choose what model works best for you and your family, but the overabundance of 1099 work has made it difficult for many therapists to find jobs with good benefits like retirement and health insurance coverage. Contract work as the default has also opened the door for being paid only for "productive time," which exclude many of the crucial and overlooked indirect components of the work we do. As reimbursement rates have dropped, large companies monopolize the market, and more people enter the field, many contract positions no longer offer competitive rates. This is not a message for self-employed small business owners; I am strictly speaking about large companies that take advantage of contract workers in order to maximize their own profits.

The OT Stereotype That Impacts You Most

In the schools, this has to be the ever-looming "handwriting teacher." It's like a shadow that haunts me everywhere I go! Anytime I start with a new school, I spend intentional time describing my holistic purpose in order to dispel the myth that I am only there to fix handwriting.

The Work You Do Before a Session Starts

The actual session is always just the tip of the iceberg for me. Effective evaluation, assessment, collaboration, and intervention planning is crucial for success in OT! This is why I advocate heavily that OTs get paid for all indirect time.

The OT Phrase You Say on Autopilot

"It depends." When I was in OT school, I hated this little phrase, but now I have fully embraced it! So many factors of our work is subjective, but that's honestly what makes it magical!

The Most Random Item in Your OT Bag

I carried around an empty parmesan cheese container for a really long time because I was hoping to make it into a fine motor intervention and never did. Side note: I highly encourage using recycled materials for your sessions!

What You Wish OT Month Focused on More

Honest reflections about what the profession is like. The field is rapidly evolving (for both the better and worse), and it's important that we take time to share what's working and what isn't so that conversations can shape policy and improve this great field for all of us!