Adult Occupational Therapy

Supporting confident, thriving lives by facilitating whole-body healing using the foundations of neurological development.

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Whole System Approach

Our health and ability to engage in daily activities depend on an interconnected "root system," much like how a plant's health and growth rely on its roots, stem, and leaves.

Each layer of our body systems builds upon the health and maturity of the preceding layers, though higher layers can also influence the lower ones.

Metabolic health, including the body’s capacity to access and process nutrients, determines whether our cells can foster positive changes or are preoccupied with filtering out toxins.

The vestibular and proprioceptive systems play a critical role in shaping our perception of body position, tissue length and tightness, and areas of stored tension. Similarly, our ability to breathe not only affects but also mirrors our body’s sense of safety, signaling whether we are in a state of freeze, flight, fight, or flow.

This state profoundly impacts how we perceive, filter, and interpret sensory input from our five senses, enabling us to process these signals in the proper sequence without becoming overwhelmed.

The accuracy and function of our sensory systems, in turn, lay the groundwork for our motor systems to coordinate movement, maintain healthy posture, and support overall physical organization.

These foundational layers collectively influence how we interact with the world, enabling us to connect with our environment, learn, build relationships, manage daily challenges, set goals, and ultimately thrive.

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Areas of Treatment Include:

Traumatic Brain Injury
Concussion
Headaches
Sensory Sensitivities (Visual, Tactile, Auditory)
Chronic Pain
- Back, Neck, Shoulder, Hip, etc.
Anxiety
Depression
Abnormal Fatigue
Limited Range of Motion
Dizziness
Poor Postural Stability
Fibromyalgia
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome

Keys To Unlock Recovery and Healing

Trauma Release:

Traumatic experiences affect more than just our cognitive and emotional brain centers—they can impact any part of the nervous system. This can lead to stress hormones being stored in the body and an increase in dysfunctional neural pathways.

As a result, the body may remain "stuck" in the trauma, even though the brain’s cortex recognizes that the danger has passed.

Traumas that can affect the nervous system include in-utero or birth complications, illnesses, exposure to toxins, surgeries, broken bones, and other survival-related experiences.

To help the body heal and recover, it’s essential to release the trauma and the stored stress hormones first.

Circulatory Systems:

Circulation is the body's way of detoxing toxins and distributing nutrients. Supportive systems for this process include the cardiovascular system, pulmonary, systemic, cranial sacral, lymphatic, endocrine and digestive system. Creating flow throughout these systems and eliminating blockages greatly impacts the developmental and recovery process.

Postural Integrity:

Posture significantly indicates and contributes to our nervous system's state of flow, fight, flight and freeze. Our body's ability to move through these states is imperative to promote healing and regulation.

The integrity of our postural and dynamic motor patterns is a KEY factor in our approach at Foundations because of how it influences and reveals the nervous system's internal state.

Some key factors we target in everyone's Adult Occupational Therapy Program for postural integrity include:

Breathing Quality and Capability. - Mobility of the diaphragm.
Neural Motor Output to key structural muscles including: Pecs, Psoas, Glutes.
- Quality of tension distributed when completing the 7 primal motor patterns.
- Muscle contraction modulation - imperative to internal regulation physically, mentally and emotionally.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What Do You Assess At Evaluation?

Our evaluation process incorporates assessments and a discovery interview to establish your history, current functional capabilities and your therapeutic goals.

We assess what factors in the base system layers (see Whole System Approach above) need support first.

Factors we assess to inform how the body is processing internally include:

Breathing quality
Muscle recruitment for static posture (laying, sitting and standing)
Muscle recruitment for primary movements
Ability to process internal signals

Often assessment of these simple factors will inform the first steps your system needs support in to address root cause issues which are impacting why you are coming to us including:

Chronic pain
Fatigue
Anxiety
Depression
Sensory Processing Issues

Why Are Developmental Reflexes Important?

At Foundations, we focus on developmental reflexes, which play a critical role during early stages of life. These reflexes assist in utero movements, guide a baby through the birthing process, and help the infant adapt to gravity and movement outside the womb.

As adults, they transition into our core survival mechanisms. These reflexes are housed in the brainstem and can be triggered to activate their survival functions during trauma or injury. However, after such events, they may fail to recognize that the danger has passed, remaining in "survival mode."

This creates a disconnect between the brain’s cognitive centers, which know the event is over, and the reflex system, which continues to respond as if the threat persists. Using specialized techniques, we support these reflexes in receiving the necessary signals to deactivate their survival response. This allows the reflexes to return to their intended role, fostering balance and healing within the system.

How Long Does It Take For Long Lasting Change?

Our approach focuses on helping the brain and body create new neural pathways. Building these pathways takes time, as the brain needs to first establish the connection and then strengthen it through myelination, a process that makes the pathways faster and more efficient. Simultaneously, old, less effective pathways are pruned.

On average, it takes about 8 months for these changes to fully establish in the brain. While you don’t need to attend therapy sessions for the entire 8 months, completing the recommended home exercises is essential to reinforce these new pathways and achieve lasting neurological change. At Foundations, our goal is to help you better understand your nervous system and equip you with tools and techniques to support lifelong health and wellness.

Do You Give Homework?

You will learn home exercises and techniques to practice between your in-office sessions. Consistently completing these exercises is essential to experiencing meaningful changes in your system. They are designed to help you actively engage with your body and learn to interpret its signals in new, healthier ways, promoting daily transformation in your body and life.

These exercises are not meant to be a task to simply check off your to-do list. Instead, they are tailored to help you feel and understand the changes happening within your body. Each week, your therapist will discuss how your body responded to the exercises and provide guidance to enhance your ability to connect with and benefit from them.

Be open and honest with your therapist about your experiences and ask questions to ensure your home program is as effective as possible. This collaboration will help you make the most of your journey toward lasting change.