Mission

Trinity Washington University’s Occupational Therapy Assistant Program strives to educate students to be competent, ethical, and committed occupational therapy practitioners who promote health and well-being of all people as they engage in everyday activities called occupations.  Through dynamic classroom, clinical and community experiences, OTA students graduate prepared to meet the ever-changing occupational needs of society and address social justice and occupational justice issues locally and globally.

Vision

Within Trinity’s founding traditions, we envision the occupational therapy assistant program as a center where the occupational therapy assistant and the occupational therapist can study the process of adaptation and its effect on occupational performance as it relates to the person’s search for meaning and fulfillment as occupational-beings.

Philosophy

Each and everyday we adapt and master our daily occupations to achieve competence in occupational functioning (Schultz 2009). However, when a person is faced with an occupational challenge because of impairment, disability or a stressfull event, the inate process of human adaptation may become impaired (Shultz, 1992). The faculty in Trinity’s OTA program believe engagement in occupations can influence health and well-being and therefore will use the Occupational Adaptation (OA) theoretical perspective to guide, educate & empower the OTA student. The occupational adaptation process requires understanding of the client as well as the environment to successfully engage in occupations. Through the occupational therapy practitioner’s unique perspective  the  client is provided with “tools” to adapt and skillfully perform self-care, home management, participate in the community, education, work and or leisure to prevent or minimize effects of injury, disease, disability or developmental challenges.