vol x: occupational therapist ida

Women in Motion, Volume 10

In Conversation with Ida

Ida and I first met at a dinner organised by a friend of mine, who often brings women from different circles together around one table. It was a summer evening last year, and my first impression of Ida was how effortless she seemed. Her sense of style immediately stood out to me, but even more than that, she had a presence that made me curious about her. As we began talking, I discovered how many different interests and perspectives exist behind her and her work as an occupational therapist.

How did you first find your way into occupational therapy?

I enjoyed being around people and found it easy to connect with them, so it somehow always seemed natural that I would eventually work in a social field.

When I graduated during the pandemic, I suddenly had to decide what I wanted to do next. I came across occupational therapy for the first time. Before that day, I had never even heard of it.

The woman presenting the programme was incredibly enthusiastic about her work, especially within geriatrics. The way she spoke about it immediately drew me in. I had always loved spending time with my grandmother and her friends, and for a long time, I even imagined opening my own retirement home one day.

I often felt that residential care was discussed as though moving into a home meant losing your independence, personality and enjoyment of life. I wanted to imagine something different. That interest, combined with the enthusiasm of the woman I met that day, ultimately convinced me to study occupational therapy.

For someone unfamiliar with it, how would you explain occupational therapy?

Occupational therapy is about helping people become as independent as possible in their everyday lives. What that means can look completely different from one person to another.

Someone may need support returning to daily routines after an illness or injury, while another person may struggle with planning, concentration, motivation or completing tasks. The work can involve physical rehabilitation, mental health, neurology, paediatrics or geriatrics. Our focus is strongly connected to everyday life: What does this person need or want to be able to do, and how can we help make that possible again?

What was the beginning of your education like?

I began my studies during the pandemic, so almost everything initially took place online. Occupational therapy is such a practical and interpersonal profession, so learning about it entirely through a screen felt very disconnected.

Once the practical internships began, the subject became much more tangible. The programme introduced us to many different areas, including anatomy and physiology, paediatrics, neurology, orthopaedics, psychiatry and geriatrics.

What did those different internships teach you about the kind of therapist you wanted to become?

They showed me very clearly how strongly the environment and the people within it shape the work. A field can sound interesting in theory, but the atmosphere of a workplace, the way a team communicates and how patients are treated can completely change the experience.

Some internships were inspiring, while others showed me approaches I did not want to repeat.

At the same time, working in different settings taught me that there is no single type of occupational therapist. The profession can be shaped in many ways, and I began to understand that I did not have to fit into one particular image in order to belong within it.

Did you ever question whether occupational therapy was the right path for you?

Definitely. There were moments during my studies when I sat at the kitchen table with my parents and said that I could not continue because I was no longer sure whether the subject interested me enough.

I had always assumed that being a social person meant I needed to work in a social profession. At some point, I began questioning that.

I also struggled with the expectation that work should be a calling and that I should identify completely with my profession. I like being an occupational therapist and believe in the value of the work, but it is not the only thing that defines me. For me, it is also employment—a profession I chose and trained for, but not my entire identity.

In the end, I decided to complete the degree. Looking back, I am incredibly grateful that I did.

What happened after you completed your degree?

After graduating, I moved to Milan for three months to take an Italian course. I had studied Italian at school without ever really learning it, so I felt that I owed it to myself to try again. I cannot say that I became fluent during those three months, but I had a wonderful time.

When I returned, I had to decide whether I wanted to move to Berlin or Vienna. I had completed several internships in Berlin and already knew the city well, while my sister lived there. My brother lived in Vienna, and I had also spent a few months there when I was younger.

Eventually, I chose Vienna. It felt a little more manageable and closer to home while still giving me the experience of living somewhere new. I initially shared a room with my brother while looking for work, which was intense, but also surprisingly fun.

Which areas of occupational therapy did you encounter when you began working?

One of the settings I explored was a correctional facility. Occupational therapy there can involve helping people maintain or relearn everyday skills through activities such as cooking, creative work or practical group sessions. After spending a long time in prison, even ordinary routines can become unfamiliar.I found the field extremely interesting, but also emotionally intense.

I eventually began working at a rehabilitation centre in Vienna. I started with only a few days and gradually increased my hours.

What does your work at the rehabilitation centre look like today?

I work primarily within mental health, but I also support people living with Long Covid and ME/CFS. The needs can be very different, but the focus is always on how someone can navigate everyday life with the energy and abilities available to them.

Within mental health, occupational therapy may involve developing routines, creating structure or finding ways to begin tasks. With Long Covid or ME/CFS, the work is often about managing limited energy and avoiding doing too much at once. Many people are still left alone with these conditions because there is so little public understanding and no simple solution.

The work requires a great deal of flexibility. You cannot arrive with one fixed method and apply it to everyone. You have to understand where the person is at that moment, what matters to them and where you might be able to connect.

Why is it important to you not to define yourself entirely through your profession?

I have always been interested in many different things. Alongside my work, I completed a year-long photography course and also worked in social media for my brother. I often feel as though I need another project or some form of education happening at the same time.

For a while, that frustrated me because I thought I should have one clear passion and pursue it completely. I sometimes envied people who seemed to know exactly what their field was and could develop an incredible depth of knowledge within it.

Now I am beginning to see it differently. I am more like a collection of everything I have done and learned. This give me different ways of understanding people and the world around me.

What made you want to continue studying alongside your work?

When I am not learning something new, I quickly begin to feel restless. I had already considered doing a master’s degree the year before, but postponed it and continued looking at different universities and postgraduate programmes.

While working in healthcare, I became increasingly interested in the relationship between culture and medicine. I realised how rarely a person’s cultural and social context is properly considered within medical settings, even though it can influence how they communicate, understand illness, experience pain or approach treatment.

That eventually led me to a master’s programme called transcultural medicine and diversity care.. It allows me to continue working while studying, as the classes take place in intensive weekend blocks.

What does transcultural medicine mean to you?

For me, it means seeing every person within their individual cultural and social context rather than assuming that one approach will work for everyone.A person’s context is always individual and shaped by many different influences.

Healthcare professionals need to remain aware of this. If we only understand one way of communicating or responding to illness as normal, we will inevitably fail to reach many people. Transcultural medicine/diversity care is about becoming more reflective, recognising your own assumptions and creating care that is accessible to more than one kind of patient.

Have you experienced situations in which this awareness was missing?

Yes, especially during conversations within medical teams. I sometimes heard dismissive or stereotypical comments about patients with migration backgrounds, particularly when they expressed pain differently from what the staff expected.

Instead of asking why someone might communicate their pain in a certain way, their behaviour was sometimes treated as excessive or less credible. Those moments made me realise how quickly cultural differences can be turned into judgement.

Pain is always subjective, and people learn different ways of expressing and responding to it. The same applies to pregnancy, mental health, grief and many other experiences. Some people externalise what they feel, while others become very quiet. Neither response is automatically more legitimate than the other.

This is why it is so important to see people as individuals rather than relying on cultural stereotypes. Culture should be considered, but it should never become another label through which we make assumptions about someone.

What are you learning through the master’s programme?

The programme is extremely broad. Different organisations and specialists introduce us to topics across healthcare and the social sector, including women’s health, migration, homelessness, gender roles, violence and access to psychological support.

We learn from organisations that provide counselling or therapy in multiple languages, as well as services working specifically with women or men.

How would you like to use this knowledge in the future?

The purpose of the programme is not only to change how we work individually with patients. It is also about returning to our workplaces and creating greater awareness within our teams and institutions.

I would like to help make healthcare more reflective and accessible, particularly in relation to culture and gender. If we do not consider the realities of people with different backgrounds, we will continue designing systems that only work well for a limited group.

Do you ever recognise yourself in the strategies you teach?

All the time. Sometimes I am explaining a strategy during a workshop and suddenly realise that I should be using it in my own life.

It is funny to stand in front of a group and speak confidently about structuring everyday life, overcoming task paralysis or working with low motivation while knowing that I also postpone things. Having the knowledge does not mean that you always manage to apply it perfectly yourself.

That is also what makes the relationship between therapist and patient less one-sided than people might imagine. I learn something from almost every person I work with. A patient may describe a belief, habit or difficulty that makes me reflect on my own life for weeks afterwards. Therapy is not only one person giving something to another; something is always moving in both directions.

What interests you about meeting people within their own homes?

Home visits can reveal aspects of a person’s life that remain invisible within a practice or rehabilitation centre. In a clinical setting, it is easier to present a certain version of yourself or hide the things you struggle with.

Inviting someone into your home is much more vulnerable. You begin to understand how the person actually moves through their day, what their surroundings make easier or more difficult and where support could be most meaningful.

I find that closeness incredibly interesting. It allows occupational therapy to work directly with the reality of someone’s everyday life rather than only speaking about it in an abstract way.

How would you like to connect occupational therapy with your creative interests?

I am still discovering what that could look like, but I would love to combine photography with occupational therapy and use it to create more awareness around health.

At the moment, I work with many people living with Long Covid and ME/CFS. These conditions can profoundly change someone’s daily life, yet they are still poorly understood and often receive very little public attention. Many of the people affected spend much of their time at home and feel left alone with their experiences.

What does Women in Motion mean to you?

In occupational therapy, movement often means continuously adapting to the person in front of you. A therapy session rarely follows a perfectly straight line. You have to remain flexible and move with the process, almost like following a wave.

Sometimes you spend an entire session trying to find one small point of connection and leave feeling as though very little happened. The next time, the person may return and tell you that they tried something you discussed or experienced a moment of independence because of it.

For me, motion exists within those small changes. It is about meeting someone where they are, finding a place to connect and helping them experience self-efficacy in their own life. Even when progress is not immediately visible, something is often moving in the other person and in me as well.

Want to keep up with Ida? You can find links to her social media below.