Thirty future occupational therapy practitioners heard words of encouragement while being reminded of the ideals of the occupational therapy community during the traditional pinning ceremony last week. Faculty and staff pinned 30 students from the Entry-Level Doctor of Occupational Therapy program to welcome them to the community. 

That community includes those that have come before at the MGH Insititute. Sarah McKinnon, interim chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy opened the ceremony by welcoming the Class of 2027, noting that more than 250 MGH Institute alums have celebrated pinning ceremonies as they entered the field as well.

The pinning ceremony also connects the students to the wider occupational therapy community and gives the students the opportunity to understand what is important in the field. 

“It is the time when all OT practitioners welcome you to understand our ethos, or our values and beliefs as OTs that transcend across time and shifting paradigms,” Emily Eddy, the program director of the entry-level OTD program, told the students. 

The program aims to give the students not only the skills and knowledge they need to care for their patients, but also the ability to connect with them.   

“Your future patients and clients will rely on you for competence in delivering science-based interventions, while supporting them in returning to what is meaningful to them through the authentic and learned art of reaching out to them with comforting touch and heart-filled care,” explained Eddy, who then shared the words of Ora Ruggles, a pioneer in OT.   

“It is not enough to give a patient something to do with his hands. You must reach for the heart as well as the hands. It’s the heart that really does the healing.”