Occupational therapy is helping adults and teens find their inner balance 

Bouncy swings hang over a large green mat, and one wall is dotted with fluorescent climbing apparatus. A blue and orange tunnel rests against the opposite wall. It’s a typical occupational therapy room, also known as a sensory gym, with one major difference — the client. With the therapist, stands 27-year-old Shevy. With painstaking effort, she’s intently focused on keeping her balance while standing on an exercise ball.

Shevy is one of the adults and teens turning to OT to help them find inner balance. These adults are experiencing life–altering changes through their OT sessions. Their treatment is based upon the rapidly evolving understanding of the different components of the brain and how they impact a person’s ability to succeed at all stages of life.

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Imagine a mother who struggles to compute her reactions to touch, a highly sensitive sense. She doesn’t cope well when being touched and may therefore get angry when her kids do so. She probably struggles to overcome this reaction and gets upset with herself when she makes no progress.

Yet, she’s not really capable of changing her instinctive response simply by willpower. Her body is experiencing a fight/flight/freeze/appease (autonomic) reaction. Her brain has (incorrectly) interpreted this information as dangerous, and she’s reacting reflexively.

“Imagine the impact this has on her children and on her perception of herself as a mother when she can’t provide her children with the basic emotional need of being touched,” says Dinah Leiter, founder of the kid-focused multidisciplinary therapy practice, Kid Clan in New Jersey, as well as the Tops therapy practice for adults and teens. “Shame and anxiety are common in such a scenario. It’s imperative to understand the link between the body and its reactions to realize this isn’t simply about emotion.”

Dinah is passionate about the profound impact OT offers, not just for kids, but for teens and even adults. “First, you need to understand the complex functioning of the brain,” says Dinah. “The brain is made of different parts. They have different functions and impact our interactions and abilities differently. Adult OT works deep within the most automatic part of the brain — the brain stem.”