OT Capstone Project — Alyssa G. — USAHS

OT Capstone Project – Alyssa G – USAHS

[00:00:00] Alyssa G. (OT Student): So they trained me like a little paramedic. So I learned that I’m a lot tougher than I thought I would be.

[00:00:08] I found the inspiration in my capstone through my dad. My dad has been a firefighter for 32 years, longer than I’ve been alive. So I, growing up with him, I noticed certain things about firefighters mental health-wise. I have other family members who are firefighters and friends whose loved ones are also firefighters. So one day we just got around to talking and I realized more needed to be done with their mental health. So I started looking at how OT can fill that need, ’cause there’s other mental health services that fill that gap, but what can OT do, what can I do to help them?

[00:00:38] So as an OTD student, I had two capstone advisors and a faculty mentor. The capstone advisors are there with you from the process from term three, when you start off with your inkling of an idea, and they help work it and refine it and hone it until it’s a strong enough topic and it’s fills the gap in the literature. They were great. They’ve, they still help me to this day with writing and editing, and if I have a problem or a question about something, they’re the first ones to sit down with me and research alongside me.

[00:01:07] I collected research on about 72% of a local fire department’s personnel, collecting data on what type of occupations were interrupted, routines and roles, how they were impacted by their work-related trauma and stress that they experience on the job. I also conducted the program. It is a 30-minute educational workshop just giving them functional coping mechanisms that are geared towards OTs specialties versus a psychologist.

[00:01:33] With this capstone project, I learned about myself that I’m tougher than I look or than I thought I would be. With that is just being able to break down the barriers of the firefighter mental health stigma, being able to have them open up to me and trust me. Also, I was working alongside them on calls on the rescue, and I was helping patients just with them.

[00:01:52] So being able to withstand some of the trauma that they’re experiencing and work with them to revive patients and save patients and all that, that type of toughness, I didn’t, I’ve never tested before.