Entering into the OTM program at XXXX will allow me to bring a number of my academic and professional goals, indeed, my dreams, to fruition. To date, I have seen a distinct and growing need for qualified and quality researchers in a number of areas encompassed by OT.
Firstly, the importance of infant mental health cannot be underscored enough. While the reasons for good infant mental health are obvious, the emphasis upon and research into the benefits of specific therapies that support the ideals need to be maintained and propagated on a larger scale. I envision conducting research into educational, behavioral and sensory processing challenges in children who have suffered abuse, neglect and or trauma, adopted children, children in foster care and immigrant children. And no less importantly, I would like to investigate the causal relationships between the socio-cultural, biophysical and environmental influences on sensory processing, integration and development in children and adults.
My interest in and indeed a large part of my passion for my work in Pediatric Therapy has been fueled by personal experience. In my homeland of India, my own sweet, 7-year-old niece has been diagnosed with autism and ADHD. Her circumstances and those of my sister have inspired my interest in researching socio-cultural influence on maternal mental health in raising a child with a disability.
Having reached a point in my professional career where I feel I have exhausted every path of opportunity and challenge, XXXX’s OTM program will prove instrumental in developing my leadership skills, facilitating my bridging the gap between current evidence-based research, practicum and practice. All of this sounds so clinical compared with the realities I have seen and experienced such as strained familial relationships, particularly in joint families, a lack of adequate social and economic support to access services, maternal occupational deprivation and depression. These issues, while trans-systemic in origin, are well within the realms and reach of the OT to help alleviate, bringing positive, sustainable relief to those that need it most.
In the most practical sense, I would like to solidify my existing grasp of such concepts as policy planning, program development, outcome measures, global networking, healthcare service delivery as well as funding. Achieving all of these goals together will allow me to make the greatest contribution to society that I possibly can, maintaining high standards of practice, and contributing to the future of OT through lifelong learning as an active research and member of the global OT community.
I want to leave the world a little better for my having been here. This is why every day I try to affect as many lives as I can for the better through my profession, in the field that has ever brought me the greatest personal and professional satisfaction that I can imagine, OT.
Thank you for your time and consideration of my application.
