The Importance of OT for People Experiencing Homelessness

      I watched the Ted Talk "OT for People Who are Homeless" presented by Quinn Tyminski where she conveyed the importance of Occupational Therapy for people who live under these circumstances and what others can do to help. She began by comparing homelessness to a maze where being without a house makes up the walls and living without healthcare and/or professional assistance represents the difficulty of making it through to the other side. Occupational Therapists are very beneficial to people who experience homelessness because, despite the circumstances, they can educate them on how to use what tools they have to complete their occupations or maintain housing if/when they find one. Quinn and her team worked with a client, Mary, who was experiencing homelessness to communicate, eat, and sleep better with the resources she had. This helped her become more equipped to find a house and stay there because they helped her learn how to use a computer to pay her bills, make a schedule for cleaning her house, and store/dispose of her diabetes medication.

            In Quinn’s Ted Talk, she mentioned that the amount of Occupational Therapists working with people who are house-insecure is really low because the majority of funding goes to schools and hospitals and there is also a lack of awareness and advocacy for them. She asked that everyone in the room tell at least one other person about the benefits of occupational therapy for people who are homeless so we can get closer to the goal of having a world where these people have opportunities to be taught the skills necessary for keeping them healthy even while they live on the streets. Her lecture made me feel even more concerned about the well-being of people without houses even more than I was before, but also made me feel like I have more power than I thought I did to do something about it. I will spread the word to as many people as I can and continue to advocate for those who have this disadvantage.