Alexa

Occupational Therapy at Fort Washington Men’s Shelter

Alexa Rae Armada is an Occupational Therapist at Project Renewal’s Fort Washington and Third Street Men’s Shelters. She is passionate about eradicating economic inequity and homelessness, and has pursued this interest through her academic and professional work. Alexa lights up when she talks about using creativity to help clients rebuild their lives, one meaningful activity at a time. 

We spoke with her about the importance of occupational therapy in shelter, both for building community among residents, and providing the support they need as they prepare to move out and live independently.

How would you describe occupational therapy (OT) for someone who may not have heard of it?

An occupation is any activity that’s valuable to you and takes up your time. When destabilizing events happen, such as injury, sickness, losing a job, or losing your home, they really disrupt your daily routines which form the basis for your life. So in OT, we help people re-engage in those everyday activities and create a life that’s meaningful to them.

Tell us about OT at Fort Washington. 

Our OT program at The Fort is designed to build the skills clients need in order to live independently. We focus on stress management, leisure activities, brain games, harm reduction, cooking, and work readiness skills. 

What is your favorite OT group to run and why?

A favorite of the guys here is sensory relaxation. They enjoy experiencing aromatherapy, listening to relaxing music, guided meditations, and visual imagery. Because they sleep in shared dorms, they don’t really get time to decompress and have their own alone time, so during these sessions we talk about relaxation techniques that they can use to ground themselves while still living in the shelter. I also love the cooking group, where we cook and eat together. Often I see clients eating by themselves, or sitting side by side in the cafeteria but not interacting, so having that first meal is the beginning of a lot of relationships.

Can you say more about the importance of building community in OT?

One of the hardest things about homelessness is the sense of isolation and the disruption of meaningful relationships. A lot of the guys have opened up to me about feeling like they’re alone, so I try my best to use OT to build that sense of support.

Do you have a favorite OT moment from your time at Project Renewal so far?

I would say my favorite activity is when we go on trips together. Some clients have joined that I haven’t seen in a long time or have never met before. Many of them were motivated to stay involved in OT groups afterwards.

We’ve gone to Yayoi Kusuma’s Infinity Room Exhibit, the Bronx Zoo, and the Highline. The clients really enjoy getting out of the shelter and exploring all these cool new places. It was great to see them having fun and just being able to relax and let their guard down.