Logo 10 year anniversaryZachary Schafer, MS, OTR/L, Mountain Valley’s Milieu Clinician, shares with us how his unique lens as a Mental Health Occupational Therapist helps inform the therapeutic work of our residents.

Occupational Therapy actually had its origins in mental health. An Occupational Therapist focuses on what activities clients participate in every day, and then they support strategies that help their clients engage in healthy ways to occupy their time. Mental health difficulties definitely effect a person’s ability to function in daily life activities, Occupational Therapy can help with that.

At Mountain Valley, where we treat anxiety and OCD, Zack spends every day within the milieu, within the day-to-day living, of our residents. His goal is to support the skill development that leads to healthy activities of daily living (ADLs). He meets the residents where they are and helps them develop very pragmatic skills to support healthy ways to occupy their time