In the Young Professional Exchange Program, our group of 30 occupational therapy students went to Chiang Mai and Bangkok in Thailand for a week to learn about the practice of OT there. We visited the facilities in the Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences in CMU, the Industrial Rehabilitation Northern Centre, the Rajanagarindra Institute of Child Development, and the Christian Care Foundation for Children with Disabilities.
An overall observation is that Chiang Mai has larger physical space for practice, and thus allows a more immersive experience for rehab patients. For example, the Rajanagarindra Institute of Child Development is a large building shaped like a gigantic piano, in which children can receive therapy in well-decorated sensory integration and relaxation rooms, and start vocational training in the simulated settings. Furthermore, the cultural factor of rehabilitation methods is also prominent in their practice. The Industrial Rehabilitation Northern Centre includes the production of silkscreen painting, glass etching and Lanna art as part of vocational rehab. Lanna is a type of three-dimensional art only found in Northern Thailand, where one uses hammer and nails to sculpt an image that protrudes out of a silver or aluminum sheet. It makes us wonder what local art forms can be used therapeutically back home.
We also paid a visit to the Elephant Conservation Center located in Lampang to learn about Elephant-Assisted Therapy for children with Autism and Down Syndrome. All the fun aside, we also experienced the abstract feeling of human-animal bond that is used in animal-assisted therapy - the sense of calmness and wonder that is intrinsic in humans is a magical feeling. Knowing that enthusiastic practitioners are making the best of this natural marvel in OT practice, we leave Thailand a little more knowledgeable and a immensely more inspired.
