When Destiny Neal and Madison Simms tell people what they’re studying, they’re often met with the same question: What exactly is occupational therapy? Now over halfway through their first semester of study, their elevator pitch for the field is well-refined.
“It’s about helping others get back to the meaningful things in life that they love to do,” Simms explains. “If someone loves to garden, but they can’t do it anymore because of health reasons, we help them to be able to get back to it. It gives them a chance to feel like their full selves again. A lot of our patients are very discouraged, so we’re here to tell them that they can, and they will.”
Simms and Neal are members of Harris College’s inaugural class of Occupational Therapy Doctoral students.
Neal, who earned her bachelor’s in child development at TCU in 2022, was drawn to OT after seeing firsthand how it helps people. Her nephew experienced a spinal cord injury that affected the use of his hand.
“He went through OT and PT and all the things,” she said. “I saw how it transformed his life, and I said, ‘I want to do this for other kids.’”
Healing with Music
Simms, a lifelong dancer, was drawn to the creativity inherent in OT. She points to
the effectiveness of dance therapy for patients with Parkinson’s disease as her inspiration
for bringing it into other areas of OT.
“Music is very cognitive,” she said. “Cognitively whole for some people, and it can help connect them with things they used to do. I want to bring happiness and joy into something that I love, and be able to connect someone else with what they love, too.”
Also a musician, Neal cites her experience working in local schools with students with disabilities as the source of her interest in music therapy.
“Seeing how music was able to enhance their ability to communicate, use sign language and remember things really opened my eyes to how powerful music is, and I hope to integrate that into my practice.”
First in Class
Both Neal and Simms serve in leadership positions within the inaugural class of OTD
students – called the “HypnOTs” by program director Michael Justiss.
Neal is the president of the TCU chapter of the Coalition of Occupational Therapy Advocates for Diversity (COTAD), while Simms is the president of the Student Occupational Therapy Association. In these roles, they hope to create an environment within TCU and the Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences for students to explore occupational therapy as a profession and become mentors for both undergraduate and future doctoral students.
“I feel that with occupational therapy, you can go anywhere,” Simms said. “You can use occupational therapy in any way and at any age. It’s just exciting!”