Project Overview
Occupational Neuroeducation (ONE) is a method of therapeutic intervention that promotes engagement in beneficial activities by providing accessible, evidence-based education on neuroscience topics related to participants’ symptoms and experiences as well as the benefits of specific coping behaviors when integrated into daily life. Designed for use in an adult psychosocial group context with a mental health practice setting, the ONE project consists of five slideshow presentations examining neuroscience principles and physiological processes related to positive behaviors being promoted within participants' OT plan of care:​
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Session 1: How The Brain Learns (Anything)
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Focus: neuronal pathway formation, building new habits
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Session 2: Moving Forward: how exercise improves mental health and how you can start (yes, you)
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Focus: neurotransmitters beneficial to mental health, types/frequency of exercise that increases neurotransmitter release
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Session 3: Processing Emotions: where emotions come from and how they happen
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Focus: structures of the limbic system, sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system responses, brain function changes during "fight or flight"
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Session 4: Memory and Mental Health
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Focus: memory storage by type, memory encoding, working memory, sensory processing and memory formation
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Session 5: This Is Your Brain On Stress
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Focus: stress response physiology (Hypothalamus Pituitary Adrenal Axis), cortisol and effects of prolonged exposure, behavioral effects of stress
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All presentations feature copyright-free images suited for free distribution.
Session details and free downloads of all materials in several formats are available in the corresponding sections of this website.
Project Background
In Fall 2022, during a Level 1 affiliation at Baystate Medical Center Adult Psychiatric Treatment Unit (APTU), discussion during a psychosocial group session prompted me to mention the concept of neuroplasticity. None of the participants were familiar with neuroplasticity, so I briefly explained that scientific research suggests humans’ lifelong capacity to change our brain’s structure and processes through our thoughts and actions. This information generated a great deal of interest among participants – several people expressed interest in learning how to find more information about neuroplasticity themselves. I was struck by this interest and excitement for learning about neuroscience among individuals in a large, urban medical center, many of whom with limited educational backgrounds.
When I was invited to return to Baystate APTU for a Level II clinical internship this past summer, I began to consider possible group activities, and I continued to think back to the neuroplasticity discussion. As a returning graduate student with a professional background in teaching, I remembered a presentation I’d seen years before at a music education conference about the neuroscience of learning a musical instrument from the perspective of neuronal pathway formation. I’d had success explaining the concepts to my young violin students, and it seemed like useful information for individuals in behavioral health treatment being encouraged to build positive habits and daily routines to support their mental health. With two whiteboards, the support of my wonderful Fieldwork Educator, Julia, and the jitters that come with trying something unorthodox, I set out to illustrate the neuroscientific processes involved in building new habits during a daily Coping Skills Group session. The overwhelmingly positive feedback and enthusiasm from session participants was a clear indicator to Julia and I that developing additional sessions tying neuroscience concepts to behaviors being promoted as OT program treatment goals could be a valuable topic for my final project.
WHO WE ARE
Author Background
Christa Hendricks, MM, MS, OTR/L, is a recent graduate of the MSOT program at Springfield College in Western Massachusetts. She is interested in pursuing inpatient mental health practice as an occupational therapy practitioner. Christa also holds a master's degree in violin performance and Suzuki pedagogy from The Hartt School, and has an extensive professional background as a Suzuki method violin teacher. She wishes to thank Dr. Amanda Rodriguez, Julia McWilliams, Grace Calcano, and the staff and patients at Baystate Medical Center APTU for the help and support in the development of Occupational Neuroeducation.