Blissful Ordinariness

“Blissful ordinariness” includes things that are done by clients on a day to day basis during their daily routines and activities.  They may be the activities that we have to do every day and may not even think about until we cannot do them or struggle to do them.  We may not think that these activities are the most exciting activities but they are necessary and if we cannot do them our whole lives would be affected.  I think that many ADLs are most likely part of “blissful ordinariness” so if a client were to come in a not be able to partake in activities that fall under this it would be the occupational therapists job to get to know the client and their goals and come up with an intervention plan. 

This whole process of getting to know a client’s needs and coming up with a plan leads us to the therapeutic relationship and holistic nature of occupational therapy.  In order to learn about these necessary everyday activities that may be challenging for some we must learn about our clients.  We must create a relationship that has open but appropriate communication.  We must create a therapeutic relationship.  As we talked about in class, in order to have a therapeutic relationship we have to be empathetic and have a partnership and collaboration with our clients but that must remain professional.  The occupational therapists should work on his/her active listening skills in order to hear and fully understand his/her client’s needs.  Listening to the client is a part of the holistic nature of occupational therapy.  In order to get the full picture, the occupational therapist must build a relationship with the client and take all of the client factors into account.  When we are looking at the whole client and not just one task that a client may not be able to do, we are taking a holistic approach.

I enjoyed this passage by Cynthia Cooper, MFA. MA, OTR/L, CHT on “blissful ordinariness” because it made me think of the truly positive affect that we as future occupational therapy practitioners will have on people.  I have already started to look at things with a more holistic approach and not just what is the problem and how can I solve it now.  I have also started to try and use the active listening skills we talked about during class and practice them with my friends and family.  I know that the relationships with my family and friends will be different from my therapeutic relationship with my clients but I am discovering that I can use the skills I am learning to make my relationships stronger which I hope will make me a better practitioner in the future.