My Journey with Occupational Therapy!

My name is Smiso Mtolo ,I am an Occupational therapist student at the University of Kwazulu Natal Westville Campus. I was born years and years ago in a rural place called Ixopo in the Natal Midlands South Africa. I started developing an interest of working with people with disabilities more than 15 years ago when I was the primary caregiver and a friend with my uncle who was Physically disabled from birth. His left limb was shorter than the right hence he was using a homemade wooden walking stick to move from one point to the other. He later bought a horse which was used for long distances since our area is so remote in such a way that some places could not be reached by a car as there no roads. I enjoyed riding with him at the horseback and more especially when he travels to the Royal Chiefs Palace 13 km away from home where the monthly grants for pensioners are paid. when i was in Matric applied for Medicine having little Knowledge of what route in Health science should I take (Medicine and nurse are only the most understood professions in underdeveloped countries). Fortunately I was not accepted in the UKZN for Medicine and alternatively i chose to do a Science foundation program in the same institution based on the Pietermaritzburg campus. later in the year a group of OT lecturers and students came to our class to explain what Occupational therapy was all about and what it entails.....now that was the beginning of my aspirant career since i realized that in fact I should have taken that route a long time ago. Few months later i was accepted for the degree and started enjoying myself straight away. I have both good and bad experiences in the degree from the time I started it until this point.... please follow my next article as I take you through my journey in occupational therapy and my campus life.

My Occupational therapy experience 

 Occupational therapy is a client-centered health profession concerned with promoting health and well being through occupation. The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life. Occupational therapists achieve this outcome by working with people and communities to enhance their ability to engage in the occupations they want to, need to, or are expected to do, or by modifying the occupation or the environment to better support their occupational engagement. (WFOT 2012).



The above definition explain exactly the kind of profession that one have chosen and will stuck with for the rest of his life. Occupational therapy is a complicated yet an exciting career which needs special expertise and skills.

I have had both and hard times and good times in occupational therapy since i started my career and at some point in my life i wanted to quit the degree because i felt as if i was going nowhere. i remembered one wise words from my a friend of mine (my mother) who kept on telling me that the best competition i can have in life is myself. those words always kept me going until this very-day.  

Pyschosocial  theory and fieldwork module

I am one of the few students who are repeating the module because I did not do well in my theory and I regret nothing now because the past has gone and i need to focus on the future.

I have resolved in adopting the following approaches in improving my marks and also doing well :

1. Set up time with the ADO to work on time management which is something that I still fail to keep up with managing.

2. Doing daily summaries of the work that was done in class, hence making it easier to study for the exams.

3. Give myself enough time to sleep ,so that I always wake up fresh and sound for the next day's lectures and Clinicals.

4. Read articles to supplement my  knowledge of the stuff that is done in class.

5. Take all my assignments and assessments seriously and avoid doing my work the day before submission or on the day.

6. Consult my supervisor and my lecturer should if I encounter some problems during the duration of the module.


I am fully committed to my work not only in Psychosocial but through all the modules I have been registered for until the completion of my degree hopefully in 2014.