Don't Ignore the Signs. Mental Health is Just as Important.

             As I am sitting here amazzzzzed by all of the different emerging areas of practice one stuck out the most to me. Due to the mass amount of tragedies that have been going on in the world lately, it seems that mental health plays an important fact in most. The emerging area that I am most interested in is Mental Health. In the United States, one in every four adults have a diagnosable mental health problem in any given year. However, fewer than half get treatment for it. Mental health is often overlooked and taken lightly until something major occurs. It normally results in death of the person or others. I feel that this emerging area is important because a great number of people are suffering from mental health illness and the signs often go overlooked. Many people with mental health issues remain silent and the issues just builds up inside of them. This is mainly because practitioners do not know how to deal with mental health other than medicating, and individuals lack proper coping skills. As occupational therapy practitioners, it is our job to help ALL people to get back to doing activities that they enjoy including people who may be depressed, ect. We can provide interventions such as peer support groups or sensory approaches to these individuals.  I feel that this should be an emerging specialty area because training is definitely needed to learn how to deal with those clients and provide them with the best services.

          The emerging area of Mental Health relates to AOTA's Vision 2025 because the goal is to maximize health, well-being, and quality of life for all people. We can't just overlook a person because they have a mental illness and categorize them. As occupational therapy practitioners, it is our duty to serve our clients. By targeting this area, we will be one step closer in AOTA's Vision 2025.