Optimize and Thrive: Holistic Wellness for OT/OTA Students

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2026

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Course Description

This course integrates ACOTE Standards B.2.9, A.3.4, and A.3.5 through a comprehensive wellness-centered approach that supports occupational therapy students’ personal well-being, professional development, and academic success. Using Swarbrick’s Eight Dimensions of Wellness framework—physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual, environmental, financial, and occupational wellness—students engage in structured self-assessment, reflective learning, faculty advisement, and experiential group-based activities designed to promote holistic professional formation.

The course emphasizes the development of individualized wellness and professional growth plans aligned with long-term career objectives, ethical occupational therapy practice, advocacy, and self-reflection. Students complete wellness self-assessments and individualized self-care planning activities that encourage goal development, resilience, stress management, work-life balance, and professional identity formation. Faculty-guided advising sessions utilize structured wellness and advisement tools to monitor student progress, fieldwork readiness, academic standing, and professional responsibilities while facilitating timely referrals to university support services and accommodations.

Experiential learning activities incorporate Cole’s Seven-Step Group Leadership Model to guide students in designing and implementing therapeutic wellness groups focused on the Eight Dimensions of Wellness. Students develop occupation-based interventions, facilitate peer engagement, apply clinical reasoning, and reflect on leadership and communication skills through structured group process experiences. Course content is further supported through institutional wellness resources, counseling services, academic support systems, and the Optimize and Thrive Manual, which provides evidence-based strategies related to self-care, stress management, study skills, and student success. Collectively, the course promotes student well-being, professional socialization, self-awareness, and lifelong wellness practices while ensuring compliance with ACOTE standards related to student support, advisement, and professional development.