When Denica Yeo was completing her double major in human biology and psychology at the University of Toronto, she was torn about which direction to go.

“I really liked the idea of combining both of my passions in my majors,” recalled Yeo.

Volunteering at Holland Bloorview’s brain injury rehabilitation team (BIRT) outpatient Helping Hands program from 2021 to 2023 helped her make up her mind that occupational therapy was the perfect combination of both areas.

“I realized this is the area I’m interested in because it integrates human biology with a lot of the cognitive side. It’s very holistic.”

Now as a master’s student in the Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy program at the University of Toronto, Yeo has been working at Holland Bloorview as an occupational therapy extern since last year.

Yeo is one of eight occupational therapy (OT) externs that support all three inpatient units – BIRT, complex continuing care (CCC) and specialized orthopedic developmental rehabilitation (SODR). All together, there are 36 OT, physiotherapy, nursing and respiratory therapy externs supporting interdisciplinary inpatient and outpatient teams.

Launched in 2022 and funded by the Ministry of Health, the enhanced extern program at Holland Bloorview provides externs experiential learning experiences and mentorship to support their future careers in pediatric rehabilitation. When the program first launched, externs provided clinical support to mostly nursing staff during the evenings and weekends. They also supported  various seasonal outpatient programs such as The Independence Program, a residential immersive life skills program for youth with disabilities,  and the Daphne Cockwell Spiral Garden, an integrated outdoor art, garden and play program.

Since its launch, Holland Bloorview’s enhanced extern program has expanded to support other inpatient teams including occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech language pathologists.

“Denica and her OT extern colleagues have been a valuable resource for our OT staff,” says Heidi Schwellnus, a collaborative practice leader who supports the OT and PT externs with her colleague, Felicia Mojica-Lau, extern coordinator. “With the expansion of the OT enhanced extern role on various projects and programs, our staff can access the equipment and resources more readily and use them in the provision of care.”

Some of the tasks that Denica along with her OT externs have been working on is researching and creating itemized lists of toy equipment and resources so that clinical staff can access the items more easily for clients during their therapy sessions. She and the other OT externs also assisted clinical teams with group programming, supporting more one-on-one time for clients who would benefit from the program.

Denica also created a visual guide for OT teams to organize different activities for clients. She also created a fun scavenger hunt game for clients that involved them collecting puzzle pieces that each contained a clue to create a giant map. Another project involved reviewing different eye activities and categorizing them into different OT tasks such as visual acuity for the teams.

“The OT externs played a crucial role in our summer therapy camp by offering one-on-one support for our clients. They were incredibly supportive of our clients, motivating them and encouraging them to reach their occupational therapy goals,” says Victoria Paoli, an occupational therapist on the BIRT team. “The externs went above and beyond to identify the interests of the clients they were working with and to incorporate their interests into programming.”

Since Yeo began her externship last July, she has gained many skills and knowledge through her time at Holland Bloorview, especially when it comes to create problem solving and communication skills.

“I think pediatrics is a lot of therapy that is disguised as play. So if the goal is to encourage a child to use their affected hand, and a kid shares that they really like chess, then let’s try to figure out a way to integrate chess into that activity.”

When the extern wraps up her role at Holland Bloorview in August, she hopes to work in the pediatric or mental health fields as an occupational therapist.

As a future health-care provider, her wish is to create safe spaces for everyone. “My family has had prior history with the health-care system treating them poorly. I hope that I can become that safe space where people feel they can access health-care services with confidence and with ease.”