I just submitted an open letter to the Washington Occupational Therapy Association (WOTA). I encourage everyone else to do the same for your state, province or region. Now is the time to write our senators and members of parliament! The suicide and substance abuse rates are skyrocketing. The world needs us now more than ever, but to do that we at least need parity with other mental health professionals. Join me in this fight. I started the Mental Health Occupational Therapy Association (MHOTA) so we can band together and advance our practice opportunities.
The Letter (feel free to cut, copy, paste and re-work the relevant parts of it to send to your own leaders, if it helps):
Greetings,
An invisible victim of the COVID pandemic is the mental health of our community, perpetuated by fear for personal and loved ones' health, occupational deprivation, and the horrors witnessed by hospital workers, nursing home caregivers and first responders. The national rates of suicide and substance abuse have skyrocketed, and these trends all place even more pressure on an already weak and anemic mental health care system in our state. Even before the pandemic it was a well-known fact that our mental health system was in crisis, with thousands of people underserved or without care at all.
Given these facts, it is all the more urgent that more mental health services providers become available. Washington's state laws are antiquated; they do not grant occupational therapists equal standing with nurses, doctors and social workers as QMHP's (qualified mental health professionals). Because of this, we are shut out of opportunities to fill the gaps in service with already-qualified providers. Historically, the roots our our hundred-year old profession are in mental health care. Further, mental health is a currently recognized practice area--yet the current laws prevent us from serving in positions that require QMHP status in Washington--effectively barring us serving people within our scope of practice.
Occupational therapists can provide a holistic perspective and emphasis on meaningful occupation that other professionals do not posses. We are desperately needed in mental health community practice settings, where we can help suffering people before they experience a crisis necessitating care in our overburdened and scant inpatient psychiatric emergency settings. Now is the time to press this issue with state leaders. The health of our entire community is in jeopardy. There is absolutely no reason why occupational therapists should not be practicing in every community mental health setting.
I would like to know what WOTA is doing to remedy this disparity and change the law to reflect the important contribution occupational therapists could make if they were given the opportunity to practice within their scope. Until we are considered QMHP's before the law, with the same practice privileges and respect afforded nurses, social workers, psychologists and others, our community will continue to suffer. This is not the answer to all of our community's problems, but qualified providers should at least be able to join the fight for health and wellness without additional legal roadblocks.
Thank you for your time.
Kindly,
Justin Teerlinck, MOTR/L