Crepeau's students look at occupational therapy from every angle. They talk about the topic from a theoretical perspective. They read about motivation, culture, socioeconomics, and occupation. Then you deal with the injury, disability, or illness and what the person makes of the experience. The material is very dynamic and with different students each year, I have to teach it in a different way.
Teaching is always about responding to the student, the person.
She's recently published a paper with a student in which they take a life history approach to examine the challenges faced by a man as he reveals his homosexuality. This fall, she hopes to begin a community-based study combining life history and social geography. But asking them helps therapists think in a different way. Crepeau's goal to refocus her students' thinking reaches beyond Durham. Of course, it has.