Mental Health as an occupational therapy student

Graduate school can be stressful, but when there is the additional worry of a global pandemic, it can become overwhelming. Here are five valuable ways to improve your mental health as an occupational therapy student. 

Evaluate Your Priorities

Trying to juggle school, exercise, spending time with family, and maintaining a social life can be difficult during graduate school. You might hear faculty repeatedly telling you to practice occupational balance and self-care, but that can be challenging when trying to complete multiple projects, study for exams, and maintain high grades. To prevent yourself from experiencing burnout, start by evaluating your priorities. First, write down a list of all your valued occupations. Once you have done this, reflect on each selection and think about the importance of the activity to you and your well-being. Next, rank your activities and think about managing your time. Consider what absolutely must be accomplished before moving on to non-necessities. By prioritizing your occupations, you will be able to identify what is truly needed in your life. As future occupational therapy practitioners, we will support clients as they analyze and prioritize their meaningful activities. Since we educate our clients about how to take care of themselves, it is essential that we do the same for ourselves. 

Take Breaks—More Than One!

To say that graduate school is incredibly stressful would be an understatement. It can make you feel like taking a break is not a viable option because the stress of assignments will continue to feel overwhelming while you’re supposed to be stepping away for a bit. This way of thinking is, shockingly, untrue. Cooking a meal for yourself, taking a bath, even shutting off your phone for an hour can all contribute to more positive well-being. You have to make time for the occupations that form your whole being—not just your identity as a student. 

Learn to Say No

No, you do not need to edit that paper a fifth time. No, you do not need a study session to run until midnight. And no, you do not need to spend your only day off working on assignments that are not due for another month. While there is an ever-present pressure to perform with academic superiority, you also need time to yourself. Researchers found that medical students, such as those working toward a degree in occupational therapy, required less academic-focused outlets and more time oriented toward creative outlets to prevent burnout (Pathipati & Cassel, 2018). You are allowed to decline an academic activity to allow for something more essential to your overall well-being. 

Reach Out to Your Professors

We all have at least one professor we want to emulate when we grow up. Find the one whose life accomplishments align with your dreams and speak to them as much as possible. Ask them what steps they took, their recommendations, and what their student experience was like. This type of mentor–mentee relationship will enable you to feel confident and understand the options that are available to you for career expansion and personal growth. In order to feel supported in your program, it’s critical to maintain open communication in this way. Remember, you are a human being, and your professors know this!

Be Gentle With Yourself

If no one has told you this yet, you are enough. You do not need to do anything to prove that you are worthy of being in your occupational therapy program. There may be times that you find yourself having feelings of self-doubt and personal incompetence. When those negative thoughts infiltrate your mind, try the following reframing strategy, which aims to help you become more accepting of yourself through positive self-talk. First, start by acknowledging the negative thought—you can do this in your head or write it down in a journal. Next, fact check yourself and ask if having that thought is helpful. Lastly, try to think about the underlying meaning of these thoughts and where they originated. By reframing how you talk to yourself, you are conditioning your brain to be more supportive. 

Graduate school can be stressful, but always remember this: you are enough. You deserve to be in your program, and you will move on to do great things as a practitioner one day. 

Reference
Pathipati, A. & Cassel, C. (2018). Addressing student burnout: What medical schools can learn from business schools. Academy of Medicine, 93, 1607–1609. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000002215

Marisol Mateo Busacay is a third-year doctoral occupational therapy student at Touro University Nevada. She will be graduating in June 2022. Marisol has extensive leadership experience serving in her program as the President of the Student Occupational Therapy Association and Co-Chair of the Coalition of Occupational Therapy Advocates for Diversity. Marisol has a passion for qualitative research, improving mental health support for occupational therapy students, and decreasing adverse childhood experiences. After graduation, Marisol plans to work in a pediatric setting within the Southern Nevada Community and apply to the Johns Hopkins Mental Health Occupational Therapy Fellowship. 

Mackenzie Rachel Kent was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. She received her bachelor's degree in Human Development and Family Studies with a Developmental Disabilities emphasis from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2019. Currently working on her Doctorate in Occupational Therapy from Touro University Nevada, Mackenzie hopes to work with foster care and mental health populations in the future. In her free time, Mackenzie loves reading, traveling, and hanging out with her dog, Buddy.

February 2022