Diverse OT: Leadership and Advocacy for Minorities in Healthcare with Michelle DeJesus

Episode notes

Michelle and Sarah discuss: 

• When did she notice that there was an issue with diversity and representation within our profession?
• The 3 V’s: Voice, Visability, and Validation
• Diversity extends beyond than just a person’s race
• Diversity includes ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, etc.
• Diversity is not just about validating the practitioner, but it also has a huge impact on our clients
• Ability to establish an immediate connection if you and your client are from similar backgrounds
• Negative impact on healthcare experiences when there is a difference in culture
• The power of connecting to our clients of the same background
• Health disparities because of diversity
• Health literacy when working with people to make sure they understand what you are trying to explain to them
• Super Duper Handouts: https://www.superduperinc.com/Handouts/Handout.aspx
• COTAD- Coalition of Occupational Therapists Advocates for Diversity: https://www.cotad.org/
• Minority Mentorship Program: https://www.cotad.org/minority-mentorship
• COTAD Chapters: https://www.cotad.org/about-cotad-chapters
• COTAD Advocacy & Outreach: https://www.cotad.org/community-outreach
• She Can Be Both: https://www.instagram.com/shecanbeboth/
• Embracing the differences in ourselves
• Promoting OT to people outside of our profession and to other professionals that we work with
• Perfecting our OT elevator speech
• #YouSee campaign: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/yousee/
• #DiverseOT: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/diverseot/
• Her experience with racism as an OT practitioner
• How she feels diversity in the occupational therapy profession has changed since becoming a practitioner
• LGBTQIA+ resources: https://therainbowot.com/
• What she hopes to see in the future in terms of diversity and representation within OT and heathcare

Contact Michelle:

Instagram: instagram.com/michelled_ot

Website: michelledot.com