OT Elevate is an AOTA Approved Provider of professional development. Course approval ID# 0000004450. This blended/hybrid course is offered at 1.2 CEUs Beginner Level, OT Service Delivery and Foundational Knowledge.
When OTs discover the world of pelvic health, many of them feel like they are finally at home in a subspeciality.
After all, pelvic health clients present so many opportunities for us as OTs to continually be challenged.
All the taboo topics we get to deal with (intimacy, urinary issues, bowel issues, etc.) themselves are best solved through a multifaceted, biopsychosocial approach which OTs absolutely rock at!
Many OTs start to immediately be comfortable discussing urinary issues or intimacy concerns after taking introductory pelvic health courses.
But…for some reason, many are uncomfortable with discussing bowel and colorectal conditions.
Many OTs feel unprepared for what to say, what to look for, and finally, what to do with clients who have bowel and colorectal conditions. They worry their client will be embarrassed. They worry their client will be uncomfortable.
Heck, in many cases the OT themselves may be embarrassed or uncomfortable.
But, it doesn’t have to be this way. Bowel and colorectal conditions are so closely associated with shame, guilt, hiding, and quietly suffering that as OTs we have an enormous role to play in assisting our clients to be the guide to their own body.
What if there was a way to:
* Feel 100% confident discussing common, and uncommon, colorectal conditions with your client
* Feel like an expert in motivational interviewing when it comes to asking specific questions related to colorectal conditions
* Know just what to do when your client presents specific colorectal conditions
* Have 100% confidence to create a “Choose Your Own Treatment Plan” with a plethora of bio, psycho, and social tools to pull from
* Know how to confidently assemble a team of practitioners for complex cases
If you had the kind of step-by-step guidance that would give you the ability to treat the other 50% of the pelvic floor…
Would you have the confidence to add bowel and colorectal treatments to serve your clients as full human beings and get them back to loving life again?
Your Instructor - Lindsey Vestal, OTR/L
I teach other OTs how to become rockstar pelvic health therapists.
I host the popular podcast "OTs in Pelvic Health" and go live each week in my Facebook Group "OTs for Pelvic Health" which has over 5,000 members.
I founded the first in-home Pelvic Floor Therapy practice in NYC ran by an OT and since 2018 I've taught more than 700 OTs how to specialize in Pelvic Health.
Before graduating from OT school I knew I wanted to specialize in pelvic health. My father had developed bladder cancer and suffered from incontinence. Here was a former Marine who raised 4 independent daughters and suddenly found himself unable to control the most basic of body functions.
For an immensely proud and independent person this took a huge mental toll. But the treatment he was receiving didn’t address him as a whole person and he was quietly suffering as a result.
I knew that Occupational Therapy could heal pelvic health dysfunction more completely than a purely physical approach.
As OTs we get the amazing opportunity to consider the entire person - we can bring into our treatment sessions our Biopsychosocial training.
For bowel and colorectal clients this is even more important. Our clients underreport their colorectal conditions to their providers in staggering numbers. This means that our ability to connect, to listen, to properly perform motivational interviewing, to have a deft hand in treatment, is all the more important for these clients to feel like they have a safe place.
After becoming a pelvic floor therapist I was on the hunt for my very first job. In a field dominated by PTs, it was tough as an OT to get hired. Hiring managers were on the look out solely for PTs (thank goodness that’s changed!).
But, I don’t get discouraged easily and I found the perfect job advertised. This would be the perfect fit and like all jobs at the time, it was advertised exclusively for PTs.
With grit and perseverance, I was able to get in front of the hiring manager. She was impressed with my enthusiasm and invited me back to shadow her in client sessions. We’d leave a session and I’d pepper her with questions and my thoughts. After about the 3rd session, she interrupted me and said “Wow - you really love this stuff don’t you? I’ve never had someone shadow me before who was so invested and present in the sessions.”
After that session, she offered me the job and I’ll never forget what she said to me:
“I’m giving you all my bowel clients because they can benefit SO MUCH from your mental health training”
From that day on, I saw bowel clients exclusively in the practice. While I had taken specialized bowel courses before, I found all of the continuing education really focused on the physical conditions and treatment.
Understanding the physical conditions and treatments are incredibly important but I felt like the most critical aspects of treating colorectal clients was missing.
The problem is that there hasn’t been a clear place to focus on the biopsychosocial aspect of treating colorectal conditions.
As an OT we would have to cobble together training from different sources.
We would have to experiment on our own to devise treatment plans that would address the entire person.
We would need to guess at how to best do motivational interviewing for clients who are silently suffering.
And we’d never fully become confident that what we were doing was the best we had to offer.
And it’s why I’ve gathered just about everything I’ve learned about treating colorectal conditions from a biopsychosocial perspective over the past decade and put it all in one place. So now Occupational Therapists who want to work with colorectal clients have the training I wish I had years ago.
Introducing...
OT Elevate
The Biopsychosocial Approach To Colorectal Conditions
Choose your plan now.
Either plan gives you forever access to OT Elevate.
Here’s just a little of what you’ll learn in OT Elevate…
When you enroll in OT Elevate, you’ll gain the confidence to work with colorectal clients from a Biophsycosocial perspective, learn valuable motivational interviewing techniques, understand common (and uncommon) conditions, and learn the latest about pain science and the role with our clients.
Check out the course curriculum below:
Welcome to OT Elevate
Lesson 1: Colorectal Anatomy Made Easy
Lesson 2: Physiology of the GI System
Lesson 3: Defecation + Continence: The Science of Flowin’ While You’re Goin’
Lesson 4: Deep Dive Into Colorectal Conditions
Lesson 5: The OT Way of Colorectal Therapy
Lesson 6: The Rectal Exam
Lesson 7: Your Toolbox: Never Run Out of Treatment Ideas
Lesson 8: Keys to Success- From Treatment Plan to Discharge
Plus you’ll get access to these exclusive bonuses…
* Access to my Private Facebook Group reserved just for OT Elevate students
Questions Your Fellow Practitioners Asked About OT Elevate Before Joining
Can OTs really work with colorectal clients?
Absolutely! In fact, OTs are uniquely qualified to work with colorectal clients. Many of our clients will be experiencing shame and social isolation due to their issues, not to mention their physical symptoms.
As OTs we are incredibly talented at combining all aspects of care into our sessions and nowhere is this needed more than with our colorectal clients.
Through deft motivational interviewing and creative treatment plans, we as OTs excel at getting our colorectal clients the results they want.
OT Elevate is going to give you the tools and confidence to work with your colorectal clients from a Biophyscosocial perspective.
I don’t want to do internal exams. Can I still help Colorectal clients?
I totally understand this question and it's probably the one I get asked about the most. Here’s the unvarnished truth: a rectal exam will give key information but it isn’t something you have to do to fully support your client.
In fact, there are many colorectal clients where I recommend NOT doing an internal exam.
Additionally, if you aren’t comfortable performing an internal exam (or if it's not allowed where you practice) then there are still TONs of alternative ways to support your colorectal client.
You’ll learn these alternatives and more in OT Elevate so you know what to do even if you don’t do internal work.
Do I have to be an OT to take OT Elevate?
Not at all! In fact, many professionals such as physical therapists, doulas, midwives, childbirth educators and more benefit from learning more about colorectal clients from a biopsychosocial perspective. As the childrens book says “Everyone Poops” and unfortunately, this often comes along with a host of issues that are too infrequently addressed by our client’s care providers.
I’m very busy with work. Will this take a lot of time?
Basically, as much time as you’re willing to put into it.
That’s the beauty of taking an online course. There is no travel required (and no hotel costs adding up!) so you can take the course at your own pace.
And bonus…
Unlike a live class, you don’t have to rush to take notes (I always miss something important at live seminars because I’m scribbling to keep up). Just back the video clip up and re-watch the modules as many times as you like!
I’m a new OT. Is it too early to take OT Elevate?
Absolutely not! OT Elevate isn’t an introductory class but neither is it only available to the most seasoned of practitioners.
In fact, as long as you’ve had introductory material (such as OT Pioneers) then you are ready to take OT Elevate, no matter how long you’ve been an OT.
I don’t currently work with pelvic health clients, would I actually benefit from taking a colorectal course?
Absolutely! Even if you don’t work with pelvic health clients, becoming more educated in this area is important to ensure your client is being taken care of at the highest level.
Your client sees you as an expert that will also have a broad understanding, can sleuth out issues not talked about and know when to refer out.
You are the leader of their treatment team!
So, even if you don’t treat the pelvic floor specifically, you’ll still benefit (as will your clients) from understanding colorectal conditions, how to bring up the topic, and how to build an amazing support team for your client.
Colorectal is 50% of the pelvic floor - I believe our clients benefit the most when we address ALL of their pelvic floor
We know that our clients benefit the most when we approach things from a biopsychosocial perspective.
And, we know that we should be treating the entire pelvic floor which means we need the confidence to work with colorectal conditions.
OT Elevate is the only course to give you the skills and confidence to work with colorectal clients from a Biopsychosocial perspective.
And, it will help you build treatment plans with ease.
OT Elevate is 100% online and self-paced. I’ve packed all my knowledge and heart into this course so that you can get a quick start in working with colorectal clients.
Each of our clients are different and unique. But that doesn’t mean you have to constantly reinvent the wheel when it comes to treatment.
In the course, I’m giving you over 3hrs of tools (across 30+ individual ones) for you to mix and match into a “Choose Your Own Treatment Plan”
Not only will you have the confidence to create your own treatment plans with ease, but you’ll be assured that you are mixing and matching from behavioral, manual and psychosocial to ensure you are treating the entire client.
OT Elevate is self-paced, but in just 6 weeks of leisurely study you could go from 0 to Rockstar with your colorectal clients
Learning the biopsychosocial approach to colorectal health doesn’t mean you have to spend 10s of hours a week studying in your already hectic and busy life.
I’ve kept the course succinct and grounded in the concrete things you need to know - there’s no fluff or filler - just highly actionable teachings from someone whose first job in pelvic health was treating bowel and colorectal clients.
In fact, the good news is that in just 6 short weeks you can complete the course at a leisurely pace of less than 2.5 hrs a week.
Want to go faster? Great, you can do it!
Want to go slower? Perfect, you choose the pace that works for you.
OT Elevate is 100% online, self-paced and you get lifetime access to the course as well as any updates.
Isn’t it time YOU became #1 at #2?
Frequently Asked Questions
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Does this Course Offer CEU's?
I am not an OT, can I still take this course?
