Teka Clark – OTD, MOT, OTR/L – OT Faculty Profiles, USAHS
Get to know Teka Clark, an occupational therapy faculty member at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (USAHS), as she shares her clinical background, teaching philosophy, and passion for preparing future occupational therapy practitioners. Drawing from her experience in skilled nursing and inpatient rehabilitation, Teka discusses working with older adults and individuals with a variety of conditions, including dementia, stroke, and orthopedic injuries. She also reflects on the importance of creativity, understanding different learning styles, and helping students connect classroom concepts with clinical practice.
The video explores Teka’s approach to occupational therapy education, including the value of hands-on learning, real-world clinical examples, and faculty experience across different areas of practice. She also shares her perspective on what it means to be a force for good, emphasizing authenticity, personal growth, and creating an environment where students feel comfortable learning, making mistakes, and developing into confident occupational therapy professionals.
Transcript
Teka Clark – OTD, MOT, OTR_L – OT Faculty Profiles, USAHS
[00:00:00] Teka Clark (OT Faculty): I have worked in skilled nursing setting with the older adult community, and I’ve also worked in the inpatient rehab setting. I’ve seen patients with all kinds of diagnoses from dementia to stroke to a wide variety of orthopedic conditions. [00:00:17] Witnessing that aha moment in my students when all the dots start to connect, and it’s in that moment that their passion for OT really starts to rise. [00:00:29] I mostly enjoy with learning different learning styles. So as an instructor, you know, it’s, it’s important to understand how your students learn and to tweak that to make sure that your delivery is effective, so understanding their different learning styles and tailoring my delivery so that they’re learning the best that they can. [00:00:48] I try to put an emphasis or a focus on being creative because as an OT, you have to be creative to come up with interventions. And so, the lab activities, while there are solid instructions, there’s room for that personal interpretation, and I think that space allows them to use their creativity, however that looks for them. [00:01:11] The University of St. Augustine offers a diverse faculty from all kinds of practice areas and expertise, and most of us, if not all of us, still practice and treat patients, and so we’re able to use real-life situations and real-life scenarios in the classroom, and the students really benefit from that. [00:01:33] Being a force for good starts with you first being your true, authentic, imperfect self. It is in that space that I feel you create a space for others to be imperfect and authentic. And, when they feel that comfortability with being imperfect and authentic, barriers are broken, goals are accomplished, and so that’s what it means, being a force for good means to me.
