The unique and comprehensive training in OT school provides a one-of-a-kind lens that Shannon calls “Seeing Like an OT”. This little-known field in health care is a rehabilitation profession focused on working with individuals, groups, and populations to promote health and well-being through meaningful engagement in daily occupations. 

Occupational Therapists have to learn every nerve and muscle in the body during grad school and how they work so that we can demonstrate proficiency in rehabilitation after strokes, traumatic brain injuries, burns, amputations, cancer, hip replacements, tendonitis, arthritis, and all sorts of other physical things that we need help with. We support children with developmental disabilities in schools, and through early intervention, so we are also trained in human development. We need to know all the milestones in childhood, how/why they can go wrong, and how to support them when they do.

This interdisciplinary field, founded by Dan Siegel and others, seeks to blend diverse fields of knowledge to understand the fundamental ways we work as humans. Ultimately, it is the science of how our mind, brain, and environment interact and influence one another from birth throughout life. While learning about IPNB, Shannon specifically focused on how IPNB can provide insights into the neurodivergent nervous system at work and why so many neurodivergent adults are experiencing clinical burnout, leading to job loss.