Innovator's Statement: Poker Palooza

The most meaningful thing that I learned from the Media Project was that you have more creative ability than you might believe. For me, being creative is something that I really struggle with. Now that I am an adult, my mother tells me about the lack of imagination that I had throughout my life. We recently had a conversation about how I have always enjoyed analytical, concrete answers, and it can sometimes be difficult for me to actually embrace the grey.

I feel like I actually have changed my way of thinking after this assignment because I am able to be confident in my abilities to create fun and crafty interventions. It is a sense of accomplishment to know that you are creating an intervention that incorporates someone's interests and best wishes, instead of just looking up some activity online that will bore a client at the first glance. In the classroom, you can hear "client-centered" over and over again, but I truly think this assignment just puts that phrase into perspective.

This assignment has been tedious for me, but I believe the outcome is something that can be carried with me in the future. Not only does it spur creativity, but it has also helped me to see the importance of being resourceful. It is very evident that as an occupational therapist, you will have to make do with what you have, and most interventions are what you put into them. I now understand that this is a very important quality to make use of, and sometimes it may take a lot of work and searching to make it suited to your client.