About Me
My name is Annika Soderfelt, and I am so excited that you’ve found this website! I created this site as a part of my doctoral research while working to become an occupational therapist. My little brother, Aaron, is the reason I am who I am today as a person, a professional, and an advocate, but he is also the reason that I realized this project could be used to help others.
Like many sibs of those with Down syndrome, I grew up advocating for my brother in many aspects of his life. Consistently I found that, when I told people I had a brother with Down syndrome, I was met with pity or the ever dreaded phrase “oh, people with Down syndrome are always so happy”. I then got to inform them that my brother, whom my family lovingly refers to as “grump”, is anything but “always happy”, but I only had my personal stories to support that.
When it came time to decide on a doctoral project, I began to look more deeply into the idea of the mental health and wellness of individuals with Down syndrome, particularly teens and adults. To my surprise, I not only found that individuals with Down syndrome clinically struggle more with some aspects of mental health and wellness than the neurotypical population, but this population also has very few resources or research to address these concerns. There are hardworking researchers who are pushing to understand the realities of mental health and wellness in those with Down syndrome. And there are dedicated advocacy groups who are making strides towards positive environments for improving aspects of mental health and wellness. But resources are spread throughout physical and online locations and can be difficult for families with limited access.
I created this website to gather everything I found over a number of months all into one place so that you could more easily seek the help that most fits your need.
About OT
Occupational therapy, or OT, can fulfill many roles in a person’s life. The core of our role is ensuring that individuals have the ability to perform the daily activities, or occupations, that they need to do and that they want to do. This looks different for everyone because everyone has different occupations that are important to them and different needs to perform those occupations.
Many individuals with Down syndrome will work with OTs on different goals throughout their lives, so you may be familiar with our work, but there is an emerging type of occupational therapy that focuses on the mental health and wellness of a person.
OTs working in mental health and wellness address sensory and regulation needs, certain daily activities that may be difficult because of mental health and wellness symptoms, activities contributing to making symptoms worse, creating changes to the environment to make life more manageable, and much more.
Click here to see the services, assessments, interventions, and professional roles held by OTs addressing mental health and wellness as outlined by the American Occupational Therapy Association.