CHD’s Institute for Dynamic Living offers a full range of occupational therapy services for children ages 4 and up, adolescents, adults, and seniors. The Institute for Dynamic Living provides services targeting mental health, cognitive, sensory processing and trauma-related issues, impacting the ability to functionally participate in meaningful life roles and activities. Therapeutic services are provided within our clinic, within the home and community, and to varied agencies. Services are covered by some health insurance plans, private payment or through direct consultation and contractual arrangements.

The Institute for Dynamic Living (IDL) encompasses a broad variety of services offered by leaders in the field of mental health occupational therapy, which includes: evaluation, treatment, consultation, training and research activities. Individual and group programs are available as well as regional, national and international workshops and consultation.

Our dynamic and holistic approach offers client-centered, individualized services to a wide-range of individuals. People with mental health, cognitive, sensory processing issues and motor delays often find that these issues can interfere with the ability to function and engage in meaningful roles and activities. The licensed occupational therapy staff at the IDL offers client-centered and trauma-informed services that foster increased functional performance and the recovery process.

The following are examples of some of the foundational neurological, physiological and psychosocial processes and skills that are required to safely and functionally engage in meaningful activities:

Cognitive Skills: thinking processes used to self-organize, pay attention, concentrate, create, plan, sequence, problem solve and manage behavior
Developmental Skills: motor strength and coordination, balance, sensory processing, attention, and self-awareness
Emotion Regulation Skills: stabilization of mood, impulse control, personal safety, frustration tolerance, flexibility, sensory-perception, awareness of self and others, stress and anxiety management
Self and Home Management Skills: ability to complete self and home care tasks
Play, Leisure, Social, Educational and Avocational Skills: physical capability, adaptability, impulse control, self-regulation, attention, flexibility, time management, and social boundaries

Occupational therapy services help to identify and target the specific goals of each client in relation to their unique values, needs, and goals. In addition to traditional occupational therapy interventions, staff have been certified or specifically trained in the following: Cognitive Evaluation & Rehabilitation; Functional Evaluations; Ayres Sensory Integration and Praxis Test (SIPT); Sensory Processing & Sensory Modulation Interventions; Sound Therapies; Neurofeedback/Biofeedback; Emotion Regulation; Weighted Modalities; Movement Therapies; Clinical Aromatherapy; Trauma Recovery; Relapse Prevention; Cognitive Behavior Therapy & Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

Signs that an individual might benefit from evaluation and treatment include some of the following:

Difficulty with mental health symptom stabilization
Safety concerns
Cognitive difficulties
Trauma symptoms
Functional difficulties
Motor coordination difficulties
Difficulty with stress or anxiety management
School, work or parenting problems
Engagement in self-injurious behaviors

Examples of clinical diagnoses of clients that may benefit from our services include:

PTSD & Developmental Trauma Disorder
Attachment Disorders
ADD/ADHD
Mood Disorders
Anxiety Disorders
Schizophrenia
Dementia
Substance Abuse
Personality Disorders
Autism
Developmental Motor Coordination Disorder
Learning Disabilities
Traumatic Brain Injury