OT-hero Kirsten: Life is so much more fun with a twist

Kirsten van der Auwera (39) recently started her own practice as a secondary activity next to her job in the residential care.
A courageous choice in this Corona period, but it was her dream.

She proves that she is not a typical rule-follower in various ways as well and she is only too happy to incorporate her passions in her job as an occupational therapist.

Introduce yourself briefly.

I am Kirsten Van der Auwera, 39 years old. Together with my husband and our 3 daughters we live in Hever, not far from Mechelen. Music, and singing in particular, is a passion that we share and I am thrilled that I can apply it to my job.

I graduated as an occupational therapist in 2002. I was working in different care institutions: residential care centers, geriatric ward in a hospital, memory clinic, gerontopsychiatry and psychiatric department for psychosis care.

In 2020 I decided to make my dream come true and started as an independent occupational therapist. With my knowledge and passion, I can apply my vision of occupational therapy in primary healthcare.

Why are you not a follower?

I do not always choose the easiest way and sometimes I dare to deviate from what others do. Both professionally and privately I am entrepreneurial by nature. I see and enjoy the little things and find it fantastic to notice that the children also pick up on this. Life is also so much more fun with a twist😊

Why did you recently choose to start a self-employed practice as a secondary occupation?

I have gained a lot of knowledge and experience in the meantime, but I don’t feel I can use this fully in my job as an occupational therapist in the residential care. I also want to continue to challenge myself professionally and keep abreast of the developments in our profession. There is a lot of movement within primary care and I want to contribute to this as an independent occupational therapist.

You also work in residential care. Those are tough times right now. How do you experience that as an occupational therapist?

Especially in the beginning of the corona crisis, I struggled tremendously with the imposed deprivation of liberty of our residents. I experienced the balance between what was working for the residential care and the individual needs of the residents as very difficult. Large-scale activities still cannot take place. Thanks to the concept of small-scale living, it is noticeable that both residents and staff are growing closer together. This often results in very nice things.

The corona crisis has forced everyone to look for a different interpretation of daily life. It is also a challenge at work to create bright spots every day and to discover small moments of happiness so that we can enjoy each other and life. That is not always easy but you get so much energy from it afterwards!

Is the occupational therapist too often used as an animator in residential care?

In the residential care where I worked, the actual implementation of occupational therapy often came down to animation. In Residential CareAmbroos, where I currently work, they do not like that term. The occupational therapists and the supervisors live and work, have the same job content, and are responsible for the meaningful daytime activities at the homes. As occupational therapists, we are finding out how we can be of added value, just as physiotherapy and speech therapy are also consulted in the event of a specific problem. There is room for change, we are going to explore that further and step by step hopefully make it happen.

Why did you choose the profession of Occupational Therapist?

From the beginning, I thought it would be a great challenge to work with a client to find and realize those things that are important in life for him/her.

Our daily activities define who we are and give meaning to our lives. Occupational therapy is one of the most beautiful professions in existence because it aims to help a client regain the ability to perform the very activities that are important to him/her.

What are the main difficulties in your job?

The challenge is and remains to explain what occupational therapy is and can mean. Even though we as occupational therapists know very well what we do, it is still a mouthful 😉 .

Your finest moment at work?

Two residents who completely took over a cooking activity and independently brought it to a successful conclusion, making me completely superfluous. I love to encourage people in the things they can still do themselves and to let them discover this for themselves. In this case, both ladies had found each other and it was a very nice get-together.

What makes you angry?

People who patronize and take activities off the hands of others. Affirm people in their worth and in who they are. Recognize the abilities and skills one has.

It is sometimes unfortunate to hear that other (para)medics in their training do not have enough insight into how we as different disciplines can be complementary (even those who recently graduated). It touched me when I went to introduce myself as an independent occupational therapist and I got the remark: “go and hear from the nursing home, you can probably do better there than in home care…”.

Do you have a message to share with other occupational therapists?

It’s nice to know that there are so many occupational therapists with the same or even more enthusiasm to further develop our beautiful profession and put it on the map. Let us continue to inspire and challenge each other.