Navigating Resets: Part 2 of Interview with Christy Witkowski, OTA Graduate
Left to right: Inaugural Team Solidago- Kim Frederickson, OTD Student, Christy Witkowski, OTA Graduate and former Solidago student, Kary Gillenwaters, OTR/L and founder of Solidago Ventures and Consulting, and Marcie Israelson, OTD student
**Trigger warning: This interview contains conversations about grief and loss.
A few notes on today’s post: You can find all the introduction and post interview notes within today’s audio— feel free to go straight to the Part 2 audio below if you’ve already heard part 1 of the interview.
(Audio 0.00 sec) Thank you for your patience in waiting for the second half of Christy’s interview to be released. You will begin to notice, Fridays are the day to hear more experiences of our fellow citizens, so if that is one of your favorite parts of the blog— Fridays will be your day.
We enjoyed hearing your feedback and response to the first part of the interview. You will notice the audio was unedited and will mostly be that way again this week. It was not our original plan to leave the interview in its unedited form but as we discussed what would benefit us most as listeners we determined that leaving the imperfections allow us to notice how things don’t have to be perfect to have conversations that are effective and also comforting and healing. Not only that, perhaps our willingness to pause— to discern what to say (or not say) next is one of the most essential parts of meaningful conversation.
(0: 58 sec)One mistake we opted to leave in during part 2 is where you will hear me, Kary, begin to ask Christy a question and then indicate I won’t ask that question. Since intentional pauses and cues were left in for ease of audio editing, you’ll hear that as well, but the main point I invite us to catch is that sometimes— we start speaking without really thinking through our intention of a question. When we do that— we can still pull that question back, pause and regroup. Sometimes that just means shifting the course of the conversation. Other times, that may mean we didn’t think something through before speaking, or perhaps the situation calls us to ask for a do over as soon as we hear words that don’t match our intentions. You’ll hear me do just that (although the way I acknowledge this is done with the intention of it being edited out, not as would be said in the flow of normal conversation).
Lastly, we want to thank the listeners who kindly offered gratitude for Christy’s sharing and also asked us to talk more about the occupational therapy view of the conversation. We think you have a great suggestion and look to do more of that in the weeks to come.
Per your suggestion, today we’ve added a little more context before and after part 2 of the interview, which is found in the audio link below. If you haven’t listened to part 1 yet, please check that out first at:
Part 1 of interview
https://solidagovc.com/blog/m84kuw9di7oni0424w5ocedudcrniw
(2:40) Subjects of today’s interview include:
Grief and loss
Parenting
Advocacy
Finding meaning through cancer
Redefining strength
The Path to occupational therapy (OT)
A word from Christy to others experiencing resets in life
Without further ado… here’s the rest of Christy’s story.
(3:06) Part 2 of interview
************ Transcript of the OT perspective of Christy’s story is found below****************
(17: 53) Trying on the occupational therapy perspective
A diagnosis or condition is just one small part of understanding what is influencing how you are doing the things you need and want to do. We’ll learn more in the months ahead about all the things occupational therapists consider when partnering with individuals, groups, and communities.
Understanding the roles someone plays, their habits, routines, values, and what motivates them helps occupational therapists partner with people whose day to day choices may change as a result of life altering circumstances like sports injuries, illnesses such as cancer, and life transitions.
You can hear patterns and values in Christy’s life of leadership, faith, family, and kindness guiding her choices throughout her life. Do you notice how the love of sports is woven into her past, present and future? She does so as an individual and as a family, and also as she hosts an annual fundraising golf tournament for colorectal cancer as a collective community activity which also honors Doug’s life.
What occupations do you notice Christy continues or begins as a way to cope with grief and loss? 1 positive thing each day and an email account to capture stories are two of those occupations.
Christy’s awareness of OT and love for it began when she noticed how beneficial it was in helping Doug find purpose and meaningful occupations from his cancer diagnosis to end of life. His work as a marketing manager/graphic designer for Harley Davidson was meaningful to him, providing him with purpose as he coped with cancer treatments. The occupational therapist listened to what mattered to him, and helped him adjust how he engaged in daily occupations so he could continue to participate in meaningful activities and roles.
As you may recall, this experience is what led Christy to become an OT herself. She graduated from her OTA program this month and we all eagerly look forward to her working in the profession.
(20:37) A few closing thoughts
As a result of these life experiences, Christy now advocates for people to trust themselves and for earlier colorectal cancer screenings. We hope this interview raises awareness of occupational therapy as a resource to assist individuals and families living with cancer, people coping with post-cancer changes in function, and those with loved ones in hospice.
If you or someone you love is figuring out how to live with cancer (at any stage) or navigating grief and loss that is affecting how you function in life-- you can ask your doctor for a referral to occupational therapy to help you with the things you with your daily occupations (anything you need and want to do).
If you have questions about what OTs can do to help, check out the resources below or feel free to ask questions in the comments section.
https://lifeafterdeathot.com/home
**Trigger warning- this interview contains stories of grief and loss as well as hope and gratitude.
