Advocacy in Pelvic Health

Earn 1 hour of continuing education by joining OT Potential after taking this course.

As the healthcare policy landscape grows increasingly complex, we as OT professionals need collective mobilization like never before.

But, it often feels like our advocacy systems are difficult to navigate — and our lobbying efforts are underfunded.

Against this backdrop, which can seem discouraging, I think it is critical to shine a light on what I consider one of the greatest OT triumphs of the past decade:

Our breakthrough into pelvic health.

This is a story of grassroots organization, individual thought leadership, Facebook groups, podcasts, phone calls, and coordinated collaboration at the individual, state, and national levels.

We are thrilled to have 3 leaders from this movement, Alyson Stover, Carlin Reaume and Lindsey Vestal. Each has played a unique role in this movement and are here to share what they’ve learned from the wins and fails along the way. Ultimately, we hope this story and conversation helps you reflect on your role in advocacy in this new era. 

Pelvic Health Advocacy Resources and Research

• OTAC Pelvic Health Position Statement
• OTAC Advocacy Center
• Find a Pelvic Floor OT Near Me
• Opportunities to advance postpartum pelvic floor care with a health equity-based Conceptual Framework.
• Pelvic floor dysfunction after childbirth: Occupational impact and awareness of available treatment.
• Scoping Review of Self-Advocacy Education Interventions to Improve Care.

Learning Objectives

• You will be able to identify simple steps you can take to advance advocacy for OT in pelvic health. 
• You will be able to recognize the importance of state and national level position statements around pelvic health. 

Agenda

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:04:13 Intro to Alyson Stover and Lindsey Vestal
• 00:07:45 Alyson’s vision for OT in Pelvic Health
• 00:15:21 Why this practice area has taken off
• 00:17:44 Lindsey reflections and advice on being a trailblazer
• 00:22:44 Carlin’s reflection and advice on state-level advocacy
• 00:26:21 Alyson’s reflection and advice on federal-level advocacy
• 00:32:52 How do grassroots movements get started?
• 00:36:35 How do state level position paper’s get off the ground
• 00:40:05 Pros and cons of state-level position papers
• 00:42:46 Current landscape of national movement around pelvic health
• 00:48:27 Why was OT was not included in H.R. 2480 Optimizing Postpartum Outcomes Act of 2023
• 00:51:47 Hopes for OT advocacy (pelvic health or broader) in the next 5 years
• 00:56:10 Simplest steps that someone could take TODAY, to become a better OT advocate

Target Audience/Educational Level

Our target audience is occupational therapy practitioners who are looking to learn about Advocacy in Pelvic Health.  The educational level is introductory.

Financial and Non-financial Disclosures

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

We here at OT Potential have no financial stake in this topic. Our guest, Lindsey Vestal, does have courses related to this topic, which she mentions in our discussion.

Speakers

Carlin Reaume OTD, OTR/L, DipACLM, PMH-C, PCES

Dr. Carlin Reaume is a pelvic floor therapist in Sacramento, California.

Carlin has more than 15 years of experience as a therapist and educator. Utilizing her clinical expertise in Lifestyle Redesign®, she has focused her career on expanding occupational therapy’s role in non-traditional and emerging practice areas including workplace wellness, college student health, and maternal health.

She holds specialty certifications in Perinatal Mental Health (PMH-C) through Postpartum Support International and Pregnancy & Postpartum Corrective Exercise (PCES) through Core Exercise Solutions. Dr. Reaume is also a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200), a certified postpartum doula through Cornerstone Birthwork Training, and a graduate of Loyola Marymount University’s Yoga Therapy RX Certificate Program.

Carlin launched Supported Mama: Pelvic Floor Therapy in 2020 as a way to provide holistic support for women on the journey before, during, and after pregnancy.

Dr. Reaume graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) with both her Master of Arts and Doctoral degrees in Occupational Therapy. She also completed her Master of Arts in Education from Pepperdine University. She has presented her work both nationally and internationally, as well as held leadership positions on the Board of Directors for the Occupational Therapy Association of California. Dr. Reaume currently serves as Assistant Clinical Professor for the Doctor of Occupational Therapy Program at the University of the Pacific in Sacramento, California.

Lindsey Vestal, OTR/L

Lindsey Vestal is the founder of The Functional Pelvis, the first in-home pelvic health practice in New York City run by an Occupational Therapist.

She has helped thousands of people overcome chronic pelvic health challenges like incontinence and pelvic pain. Her goal is to empower women and men to listen to the wisdom of their own bodies—without resorting to invasive surgeries or prescription drugs—so they can heal and get back to enjoying life again.

SHE TAKES A DIFFERENT APPROACH FROM OTHER PELVIC HEALTH EXPERTS.

In fact, she doesn’t really take an “expert” approach at all.

Instead, she relies on her clients to share their expertise about their own bodies.

That way she can offer the personalized support they need to regain control of their basic bodily functions.

She considers the whole person, not just outward physical symptoms.

She doesn’t believe kegels are a one-stop shop for every pelvic floor dysfunction.

She also teaches AOTA CEU approved OTs courses on how to specialize in pelvic health and how to start their own private pay business, whether or not you are an OT in pelvic health. She has a thriving FB group called “OTs for Pelvic Health” where she hosts free weekly lives chocked full with case studies, business topics and more.

Alyson Stover MOT, JD, OTR/L, BCP

A childhood family trauma introduced Alyson to the power of occupational therapy. A subsequent lifetime of study and practice convinced her that consumer advocacy was every bit as essential as her technical practice of occupational therapy.  Now, Alyson and her husband own a private outpatient pediatric practice in a rural county in Pennsylvania and co-founded a non-profit organization that uses occupation to address community, societal and population needs.  She currently serves as the Director of Clinical Services and continues to practice as an occupational therapist at Capable Kids and lead clinical consultant for Capable Families.

Alyson’s areas of expertise include pediatrics and holistic, occupation-centric approaches to substance misuse and trauma.  Additionally she consults in various capacities, including clinical as well as systems, bringing expert program development knowledge, change at the micro, meso, and macro levels, sustainability, and business resilience/staff wellness.

Alyson also is committed to promotion of occupational therapy through grassroots advocacy initiatives and development of community collaborations to support community wellness.  She has partnered with many organizations in her hometown to implement innovative, interdisciplinary programs through community grant funding and state funds.  She is AOTA Board Certified in Pediatrics.  Additionally, Alyson is an associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh where she also obtained her juris doctorate in law with a post-graduate certificate in health law.

Her interests include using occupational therapy as a powerful driving-force for larger health care change, advancing occupational therapy’s national and global relevance and occupational therapy’s role as a leader in policy development and implementation.  Alyson is humbled and honored to serve as the President of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), and is eager to hear the voices of all members of the occupational therapy community.

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L

Sarah’s passion is helping fellow OT practitioners translate evidence into daily practice. Sarah earned her BA in religion from St. Olaf College, then earned her master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University in 2011.

Since then, she’s worked in numerous facilities, including a critical access hospital, an acute trauma hospital, and a state inpatient psychiatric hospital. Sarah is the founder/owner of OT Potential. Read more about OT Potential here.

This course was designed to meet your continuing education requirements

We designed the courses in the Club to meet the requirements for “online” and “independent/self-study” courses. For more details read our blog post: Can I earn OT CEUS from a podcast? To verify the requirements from your specific state (within the US), check out our post, OT Continuing Education Explained. If you are outside of the United States and have questions, please contact us.

We are proud to be an AOTA Approved Provider and to meet the requirements for your NBCOT renewal.

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