title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: With a young core of players led by Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis and Fredrik Modin, the Lightning were thought to be very close to respectability. However, they arrived somewhat earlier than expected in 2002–03. The young team was led by the goaltending of Nikolai Khabibulin and the scoring efforts of Lecavalier, St. Louis, Modin, Richards and Ruslan Fedotenko. Throughout the season, the Lightning battled the Washington Capitals for first place in the Southeast Division. They finished with a record of 36–25–16 for 93 points, breaking the 90-point barrier for the first time in team history. They won the division by just one point, giving them home-ice advantage in their first-round match-up with the Capitals. At season's end, coach Tortorella was recognized for his efforts by being named a finalist for the Jack Adams Award, losing out to Jacques Lemaire of the Minnesota Wild.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: In the first round of the playoffs, the Lightning quickly fell two games behind in the series but followed the two losses with four consecutive wins for their first playoff series win in franchise history. However, in the semifinals, they went down in five games to the New Jersey Devils, who went on to win the Stanley Cup.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning's dramatic improvement continued through the 2003–04 regular season, finishing with a record of 46–22–8–6 for 106 points, second-best in the NHL after the Western Conference's Detroit Red Wings—the first 100-point season in franchise history. The Lightning lost only 20 man-games to injury. In the first round of the playoffs, the Lightning ousted the New York Islanders in five games, with Khabibulin posting shutouts in games 1, 3, and 4.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: In the second round, the Lightning faced the Montreal Canadiens; Lecavalier, Richards, and Khabibulin led the team to a four-game sweep of Montreal. Next, they faced the Philadelphia Flyers in the Conference Finals. After a tightly fought seven-game series in which neither team was able to win consecutive games, Fredrik Modin notched the winning goal of the seventh and deciding game, earning the Eastern Conference championship for the Lightning and their first-ever berth in the Stanley Cup Finals.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Their opponent in the final round was the Calgary Flames. The final round also went the full seven games, with the deciding game played in the St. Pete Times Forum on June 7, 2004. This time, Ruslan Fedotenko was the Game 7 hero, scoring both Lightning goals in a 2–1 victory. Brad Richards, who had 26 points in the post-season, won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs; the Lightning had won all 31 contests in which he had scored a goal since the opening of the season. Tortorella won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's Coach of the Year. Only three years after their last of four consecutive seasons of 50 or more losses, and in only their 12th year of existence, the Lightning became the southernmost team ever to win the Stanley Cup. Martin St. Louis led the team and the NHL with 94 points (his 38 goals were fourth-most after the 41 of tied trio Jarome Iginla, Rick Nash and Ilya Kovalchuk), and won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player. St. Louis also won the Lester B. Pearson Award for the NHL's most outstanding player as voted by the NHL Players' Association, and tied the Vancouver Canucks' Marek Malik for the NHL Plus/Minus Award. A season of superlatives was capped with one final accolade, as "The Sporting News" named GM Jay Feaster as the league's executive of the year for 2003–04.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning had to wait a year to defend their title due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, but in 2005–06, they barely made the playoffs with a record of 43–33–6 for 93 points in a conference where six teams notched 100 or more points. They lost to the Ottawa Senators in five games in the first round of the 2006 playoffs.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: During the off-season, the Lightning traded Fredrik Modin and Fredrik Norrena to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for goaltender Marc Denis in an effort to replace the departing John Grahame, who had signed with the Carolina Hurricanes. However, free agent Johan Holmqvist would eventually receive the majority of playing time and most of the club's wins. The first half of 2006–07 was inconsistent for the Lightning, maintaining an 18–19–2 record throughout the first few months. January and February were far better months for the team, going 9–4–0 in January and 9–2–2 in February, driving them back into the playoff race. Fourteen games in March were split even, and on March 16, 2007, Vincent Lecavalier broke the franchise record for most points in a season, with 95 (finishing with 108). The record was previously held by Martin St. Louis, who had set the record in the 2003–04 Stanley Cup-winning year. Lecavalier also broke the franchise's goal-scoring record, finishing with a league-leading 52 goals.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning were busy during the final weeks before the NHL's trade deadline, acquiring wingers Kyle Wanvig, Stephen Baby and defenseman Shane O'Brien. Former first-round pick Nikita Alexeev was traded on deadline day to the Chicago Blackhawks. Other mid-season additions to the team included Filip Kuba, Luke Richardson and Doug Janik. Veteran Andre Roy, who had won the Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2004, was claimed off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Throughout March, the Lightning had been competing with the Atlanta Thrashers for first place in the Southeast Division. With a chance to overtake the Thrashers one final time and once again become division champions for the third time in team history, on April 6, 2007, in the final week of the regular season, the Lighting suffered a loss to the Florida Panthers, the night before the season finale in Atlanta. That same night, the Thrashers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes and subsequently clinched the division. For the Lightning, this meant having to settle for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference with a final record of 44–33–5 (93 points). However, the Lightning were eliminated from playoff competition on April 22 after a 3–2 home loss to the New Jersey Devils in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Following their playoff exit, on August 7, 2007, Absolute Hockey Enterprises, a group led by Doug MacLean, announced it had signed a purchase agreement for the team and the leasehold on the St. Pete Times Forum. MacLean is the former president and general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets and former head coach for both the Blue Jackets and the Florida Panthers. The group announced it planned to keep the team in Tampa, but the deal collapsed during the 2007–08 season.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning struggled to maintain success during the 2007–08 campaign. Although the "Big 3" of Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards, along with Vaclav Prospal, had performed up to expectations, they had little consistent play from supporting players.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: At the start of the All-Star Break on January 25, 2008, the Lightning had a 20–25–5 record, and with 45 points, were in last place in both the Southeast Division and the Eastern Conference. Only the Los Angeles Kings had a lower point total at this time of the season, with 40 points.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: On February 13, 2008, it was announced that Palace Sports & Entertainment had agreed to sell the Lightning to OK Hockey LLC, a group headed by Oren Koules, a producer of the "Saw" horror movies, and Len Barrie, a former NHL player and real estate developer.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning were active during the trade deadline, similar to the previous season. More notable trades included Vaclav Prospal's trade to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for prospect Alexandre Picard and a conditional draft pick. Additionally, former Conn Smythe Trophy winner Brad Richards and goaltender Johan Holmqvist were traded to the Dallas Stars in exchange for goaltender Mike Smith and forwards Jussi Jokinen and Jeff Halpern, as well as a fourth-round draft pick in 2009. Jan Hlavac, a regular contributor, was also traded, moving to the Nashville Predators in exchange for a seventh-round pick in 2008. Defenseman Dan Boyle was re-signed to a six-year contract extension reportedly worth $40 million.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: However, after the trade deadline, the Lightning fared no better than they had throughout the entire season. After the February 26 trade deadline, the Lightning won only five games. Finishing with a 31–42–9 record, with 71 points, they had the highest chance of winning the top overall pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft through the draft lottery, which they eventually won on April 7. They would use their first overall pick to select Steven Stamkos of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL)'s Sarnia Sting.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning were the worst team on the road in the NHL, winning only 11 games. Another showing of the team's poor play was the difference from the previous season's success in the overtime/shootout periods. In the 2006–07 season, the Lightning had one of the best extra period records, winning 15 games in either overtime or the shootout. However, in the 2007–08 season, they won only three games, losing nine.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Vincent Lecavalier suffered a dislocated shoulder as the result of an open-ice hit from Matt Cooke of the Washington Capitals in the game before the season finale in Atlanta. Lecavalier, who planned on having arthroscopic wrist surgery after the season's ending, would undergo surgery to repair his right shoulder as well. Cooke was fined $2,500 by the NHL for the hit, as Lecavalier did not have possession of the puck at the time. Perhaps the lone bright spot in the season was Lecavalier's winning both the King Clancy Memorial Trophy and the NHL Foundation Player Award for work through his foundation, including a $3 million pledge to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, for what would become the Vincent Lecavalier Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at All Children's Hospital.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Head coach John Tortorella was fired by the Lightning following their worst season since Tortorella was hired. At the time working as an NHL analyst for ESPN, Barry Melrose stated on June 4 during an episode of "Pardon the Interruption" that he missed coaching and would entertain any NHL coaching offers. He stated, "I miss not having a dog in the fight." On June 23, ESPN reported Melrose had been chosen to be the head coach of the Lightning, beginning in 2008–09. The next day, the Lightning officially introduced him as their new head coach.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: On July 4, 2008, Dan Boyle, despite coming off a recent contract extension, was traded (along with Brad Lukowich) to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Matt Carle, Ty Wishart, a first-round draft pick in 2009 and a fourth-round pick in 2010. Boyle was pressured to waive his no-trade clause by Tampa Bay's ownership, who said they would otherwise place him on waivers, where he would likely be claimed by the Atlanta Thrashers. In the fallout from the trade, Boyle would call Lightning ownership "liars" for misrepresenting the aforementioned events to the public, while former coach Tortorella later labeled them as "cowboys" and said he had zero respect for them. Frustrated at interference in the team's hockey operations by Barrie and Koules, seven days later, Jay Feaster resigned as general manager, despite having three years remaining on his contract.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning opened the 2008–09 season in the Czech Republic against the New York Rangers as a part of the NHL's regular-season "Premiere" that selects several teams to open the regular season in Europe.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Barry Melrose would record his first win as a head coach in over 13 years on October 21, 2008, with a 3–2 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers. However, the Lightning did not get off to a great start as hoped, and Melrose was eventually fired by the Lightning with a 5–7–4 record. Rick Tocchet, who had been hired as assistant coach during the previous off-season, was promoted to interim head coach.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: On March 4, veterans Mark Recchi and Olaf Kolzig were traded by the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, respectively. The Lightning acquired top round picks Matt Lashoff and Martins Karsums from the Bruins.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: After the firing of Melrose, the Lightning went 19–33–14 and would finish the season 24–40–18 with 66 points, their lowest point total since the 2000–01 season. With the second overall pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, the Lightning selected Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: In the 2009 off-season, the Lightning removed the interim status of Rick Tocchet, making him the full-time head coach and signing him to a multi-year contract. The Lightning had an up-and-down beginning to the 2009–10 campaign. Despite an overmatched roster on paper, and a team that struggled in the first two periods of many games, the Lightning remained competitive in the playoff race until March, when they went 5–10–1 for the month and fell eight points out of a playoff spot. Unable to make a final push for the playoffs, they were officially eliminated from contention within the first week of April. The Lightning finished the season 34–36–12 for 80 points, fourth in the Southeast Division and 12th in the Eastern Conference.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Steven Stamkos scored 51 goals in just his second NHL season, earning himself a share of the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy by finishing tied for the NHL lead in goals with Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: During the season, the team was sold to Bostonian investment banker Jeffrey Vinik. Following the late-season collapse, Vinik cleaned house, firing both head coach Rick Tocchet and GM Brian Lawton on April 12, 2010, one day after the season ended.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: In May 2010, Vinik hired Steve Yzerman away from the Detroit Red Wings front office to be the new GM on a five-year contract. Yzerman then hired Guy Boucher from the Montreal Canadiens organization to succeed Tocchet as the head coach two weeks later.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Yzerman's first off-season with Tampa Bay began with a splash. With the sixth pick of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, the Lightning selected forward Brett Connolly despite a history of injuries while playing for the Western Hockey League (WHL)'s Prince George Cougars. On July 1, 2010, veteran blueliner Andrej Meszaros was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for their second-round pick in 2011. Later that day, the Lightning signed star winger Martin St. Louis to a four-year, $22.5 million contract extension to come into effect on July 1, 2011. On July 19, in another move with the Flyers organization, the Lightning traded defenseman Matt Walker and Tampa Bay's fourth-round pick in 2011 for high-scoring winger Simon Gagne. Other off-season acquisitions included the signing of forwards Sean Bergenheim, Dominic Moore and Marc-Antoine Pouliot, along with defensemen Brett Clark, Randy Jones and Pavel Kubina and goaltender Dan Ellis, as well as the re-signing of restricted free agent forward Steve Downie to a two-year, $3.7 million deal.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: With starting goaltender Mike Smith injured, the Lightning called up Cedrick Desjardins, who played with a .950 save percentage and a 1.00 goals against average (GAA) in two games. The team then acquired veteran Dwayne Roloson from the New York Islanders for further coverage in net.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning compiled a 46–25–11 record with 103 points in the 2010–11 season, matching a franchise record for wins in a season. After holding the first place in the Southeast Division for several months, they fell to second after a poor performance in March. However, their record was solid enough for second in the Southeast Division and fifth in the Eastern Conference, and they returned to the playoffs for the first time since the 2006–07 season. Scoring 31 goals and assisting on 68, Martin St. Louis finished second in the NHL in points.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: In the playoffs, Tampa Bay played the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Conference Quarterfinals. After losing Game 4 at home in the second overtime period, they fell behind in the series one game to three. However, the Lightning went on to win the next three games, including a 1–0 Game 7 win on the road, taking their first playoff series since winning the Stanley Cup in 2004. In the Conference Semifinals, the Lightning swept the top-seeded Washington Capitals.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Tampa Bay played the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Finals. In Game 4 of the series, the Lightning trailed 3–0 at the end of the first period. When Dwayne Roloson was pulled for Mike Smith, the Bruins failed to score again, and the Lightning tied the game in the second period by scoring three goals in 3:58, going on to win the game 5–3 and tying the series at two games apiece. The series went the full seven games, though the Lightning were eliminated by a single goal, as the game was lost (0–1).


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning finished the 2011–12 season with a 38–36–8 record. With only 84 points, they fell short of reaching the playoffs, ending the season third in the Southeast Division and tenth in the Eastern Conference.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Individually, Steven Stamkos scored a franchise-record 60 goals. He won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy for the second time in his career. Stamkos was also second in the NHL in points with 97, and was a finalist for both the Hart Memorial Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Nearing the end of an 18–26–4 season for 40 points, in which the Lightning ended fourth in the Southeast and 14th in the East, GM Steve Yzerman looked to their highly-successful American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. On March 25, 2013, head coach Guy Boucher was dismissed for following a 7–16–1 record. The Lightning announced Jon Cooper would become the eighth head coach in franchise history.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Martin St. Louis won his second Art Ross Trophy with 60 points in the shortened season, as Stamkos finished runner-up 57.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: On June 27, 2013, the team announced that they would exercise one of their two "compliance buyouts" on captain Vincent Lecavalier, as permitted by the collective agreement. This move made Lecavalier an unrestricted free agent beginning July 5 of that year. The team stated the move was made not because of Lecavalier's play on the ice, but because of how his contract affected the team's salary cap, which would have been more than $7 million per year until its expiration after the 2019–20 season.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: After acquiring goaltender Ben Bishop from the Ottawa Senators in a trade the previous season, the Lightning started the 2013–14 season with an above-average performance. On November 11, 2013, going into the day tied for most goals during the regular season, Steven Stamkos suffered a broken right tibia after crashing into one of the goalposts during play against the Boston Bruins. He would miss 45 games and was not cleared to play again until March 5, 2014.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: In January, GM Steve Yzerman, who also served as the general manager for Canada's team at the 2014 Winter Olympics, elected not to name Lightning captain Martin St. Louis to Canada's roster, instead choosing the still-injured Stamkos. After Stamkos was not medically cleared to play in Sochi in early February, Yzerman ultimately named St. Louis to Team Canada as an injury replacement. In late February, it was reported St. Louis had requested a trade from Yzerman the month prior. St. Louis, who had a no-move clause in his contract with Tampa Bay, reportedly consented to only being traded to the New York Rangers. On March 5, 2014, St. Louis was sent to New York along with a conditional 2015 second-round pick in exchange for New York captain Ryan Callahan, a 2015 first-round draft pick, a conditional 2014 second-round pick and a 2015 conditional seventh-round pick. The deal came subsequently after Stamkos had been cleared to return to the Lightning's active roster. St. Louis cited his decision based on his family and thanked Lightning fans for their support during his tenure with the franchise, but would not specify any further about the reasons leading to his request.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: On March 6, 2014, Steven Stamkos was named Tampa Bay's 10th captain in his first game back after recovering from a tibia injury.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: On April 7, 2014, the team announced it had signed GM Steve Yzerman to a four-year contract extension.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Finishing the season with 101 points, the Lightning placed second in the Atlantic Division, qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2011. However, Tampa Bay was eliminated in the first round, losing to the Montreal Canadiens in a four-game sweep.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: On June 25, 2014, the Lightning agreed to terms with Ryan Callahan, signing him to a six-year, $34.8 million contract extension. The same day, the Lightning used its remaining compliance buyout on forward Ryan Malone after his on-ice performance had declined from injuries seasons prior in addition to his off-ice troubles that included a DUI arrest before the end of the season.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Finishing the 2014–15 season with 108 points, the Lightning placed second in the Atlantic Division and qualified for the playoffs for the second-straight season, scoring the most goals out of any team in the NHL. Tampa Bay eliminated the Detroit Red Wings in seven games in the first round of the playoffs before facing Montreal in the second round. The Lightning won the first three games of the series and had a chance to sweep the Canadiens; however, Montreal responded with wins in Games 4 and 5 to extend the series to a sixth game. Tampa Bay won the sixth game of the series to eliminate the Canadiens and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2011, facing the New York Rangers.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Lightning and the Rangers split the first two games of the series in New York, with the Lightning winning Game 2 of the series thanks to a Tyler Johnson hat-trick. The series then shifted to Tampa, where the Lightning had a come-from-behind overtime victory in Game 3 but lost Game 4 to even the series at two games apiece. During Game 5 in New York, goaltender Ben Bishop recorded his second shutout of the playoffs in a 2–0 victory, but the Rangers responded in Game 6 by scoring seven goals to tie the series at three games apiece. In Game 7, Bishop recorded his third shutout of the playoffs in another 2–0 victory against the Rangers to lead the Lightning to their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals since 2004. The Lightning not only became the first team to defeat the Rangers in a Game 7 at Madison Square Garden, but they also became the first team to successfully defeat three Original Six teams in the first three rounds of the playoffs. The Lightning would face the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals, making it the first time a finalist faced four Original Six teams in the playoffs since the four-round format was introduced in 1980. After losing Game 1 at home, the Lightning built a two games to one series lead, though the Blackhawks would win the following three games to win the Stanley Cup in six games at the United Center in Chicago. This made Tampa Bay the first team to beat three of the Original Six teams in the playoffs since the Pittsburgh Penguins completed the feat in 1992. However, they became the first team to lose the Stanley Cup Finals despite beating three Original Six teams.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning had a slow start to the 2015–16 season. The season was filled with controversy for the team, starting off with the contractual questions regarding captain Steven Stamkos and with the former third overall pick Jonathan Drouin publicly requesting a trade and being suspended from the organization. The Lightning picked up their play at the beginning of 2016 and set the franchise record to nine consecutive wins on March 5, 2016, when Alex Killorn scored with 42.5 seconds remaining in overtime to propel the Lightning to a 4–3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes at Amalie Arena. On March 26, 2016, the Lightning announced cornerstone defenseman Anton Stralman had suffered a fractured leg in their game against the New York Islanders at home. Stamkos was out of the lineup for the team's game on April 2 against the New Jersey Devils in Tampa; GM Steve Yzerman announced after the game that the captain would miss one-to-three months due to a blood clot in his arm. Due to unfortunate circumstances, the team had no other option but to bring Drouin back to the team. The Lightning ended up finishing second in the Atlantic Division and would once again face the third-seeded Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the playoffs.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning defeated the Red Wings in five games after winning 1–0 at Amalie Arena. Next up, the Islanders (who had recently defeated the Panthers to win their first playoff series since the 1992–93 season) would face the Lightning. In Game 1, the Islanders defeated the Bolts 5–3. The Lightning would eventually answer back by winning four consecutive games in the series to defeat the Isles in five games, in large part due to back-to-back road overtime victories with goals scored by Brian Boyle and Jason Garrison. The Lightning were set to play against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals. In Game 1 at Consol Energy Center, star goaltender Ben Bishop would be added to the list of devastating injuries for the team as he left on a stretcher and did not return for the remainder of the series. Stralman would eventually return in Game 2. A back-and-forth series would eventually lead to a Game 7 showdown in Pittsburgh. Lightning captain Steven Stamkos surprisingly took warmups and was in the Lightning lineup after a long absence from blood clot surgery. However, it was not enough, as the Lightning would fall 2–1 against the Penguins, who went on to defeat the San Jose Sharks and win the Stanley Cup.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: With the Lightning under the spotlight in the 2016 off-season, Drouin rescinded his trade request. Steve Yzerman would then announce on June 29 the team re-signed Stamkos to an eight-year, cap-friendly deal. He would then sign star defenseman Victor Hedman to an eight-year contract on July 1, along with a seven-year deal for Alex Killorn and a three-year deal for former first-round pick, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning narrowly missed the playoffs in the 2016–17 season. Finishing with 94 points, they were beaten to the second wildcard by the Toronto Maple Leafs, with 95 points. The 2016–17 season for the Lightning was a host of injuries, mainly their captain, Steven Stamkos. Stamkos went down in the 17th game, against the Detroit Red Wings. It was revealed he suffered from a torn left meniscus, which put him out for the rest of the season. During the season, they traded goaltender Ben Bishop to the Los Angeles Kings, center Brian Boyle to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and forward Valtteri Filppula to the Philadelphia Flyers. However, there were positive signs as winger Nikita Kucherov emerged with 40 goals and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stepped up after Bishop left. The Lightning also showcased their young talent with rookie Brayden Point and promising AHL call-ups Yanni Gourde and Jake Dotchin. The Lightning bounced back with this talent in the last third of the season, but it was not enough as they missed the playoffs by one point.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: In the off-season, the Lightning made a deal with the Montreal Canadiens to send Jonathan Drouin to their franchise in exchange for defensive prospect Mikhail Sergachev and a second-round pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. They also signed defenseman Dan Girardi for two years and winger Chris Kunitz to a one-year deal.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: In the 2017–18 season, Steven Stamkos returned from injury, scoring 20 points in the first 10 games and assisting on nine of Nikita Kucherov's 11. The Lightning finished the 2017–18 season with a record of 54–23–5, finishing with 113 points. The Lightning won their first Atlantic Division title and first division title since the 2003–04 season, as well as securing the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs. Andrei Vasilevskiy was nominated for the Vezina Trophy. Nikita Kucherov scored 100 points during the regular season, finishing third overall in the league. Steve Yzerman was once again nominated for the NHL General Manager of the Year Award. During the playoffs, the Lightning eliminated the New Jersey Devils in the first round and the Boston Bruins in the second round, both in five games. However, they were defeated in the Eastern Conference Finals by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Washington Capitals, in seven games.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: On September 11, 2018, it was announced that Steve Yzerman would be resigning from his position as general manager, and Julien BriseBois would be currently taking his place. During the 2018–19 season, the Lightning clinched their first Presidents' Trophy and second consecutive division title after a 4–1 win over the Arizona Coyotes. Winning their final regular season game against the Boston Bruins, the Lightning finished with 62 wins, tying the NHL record set by the 1995–96 Detroit Red Wings for most wins in a season. Nikita Kucherov became the second player in Lightning franchise history (after Martin St. Louis) to win the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's most valuable player and the Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading point scorer, setting a new franchise record of 128 points. Andrei Vasilevskiy became the first player in franchise history to win the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender. However, in the first round of the playoffs, they were swept in four games by the Columbus Blue Jackets, becoming the first Presidents' Trophy winner to be swept in the first round of the playoffs. The series is widely regarded as one of the biggest upsets in league history. Jeremy Roenick of NBC Sports described Tampa's elimination as "one of the biggest letdowns in history", while the "Tampa Bay Times" described it as "the disappointment that all others are measured against".


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Following their earlier than expected exit from the playoffs, several players left the Lightning. Left winger J. T. Miller was traded to the Vancouver Canucks. Backup goaltender Louis Domingue was dealt to the New Jersey Devils for a conditional seventh-round draft pick in 2021. Defenseman Anton Stralman signed a three-year contract with the Florida Panthers. Right winger Ryan Callahan's career was effectively ended when he was diagnosed with a degenerative back disease. The Lightning signed defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk to a one-year contract, after his contract with the New York Rangers was bought out. Left winger Patrick Maroon, who was coming off a Stanley Cup championship with the St. Louis Blues, was also signed to a one-year deal. The Lightning re-signed centers Cedric Paquette and Brayden Point to two and three-year contracts, respectively. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy's contract was extended by eight years.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning began the season with a 17–13–4 record after 34 games. After this point, they won 23 of their next 26 games, including two separate win streaks of at least ten games, the second of which eventually set a new franchise record of eleven consecutive wins. They lost captain Steven Stamkos to injury once again, as he underwent surgery to repair a core muscle in March. He was expected to miss 6–8 weeks as a result, which at the time was expected to keep him out for the remainder of the regular season and the start of the playoffs.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Tampa Bay had only played 70 games when the NHL suspended the season on March 12, 2020, due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. It was not until late May that the league decided to cancel the remainder of the regular season. At the time, the Lightning had a record of 43–21–6 and were second in their conference. To finish the season the league expanded the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs to include 24 teams. In July, it was announced that the playoffs would begin August 1, and would take place in the Canadian cities of Toronto as the Eastern Conference hub, and Edmonton for the Western Conference. By virtue of having one of the top four highest point percentages at the time the season was suspended, the Lightning not only qualified for the playoffs, but would first compete in a single round-robin opening round group with the Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, and Philadelphia Flyers to determine seeding. Winning two out of three games, the Lightning earned the second seed in the East.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Following the round-robin, the Lightning drew the Columbus Blue Jackets again in the first round. The first game of the series ultimately became the fourth-longest NHL game in history, as the game-winning goal was scored by Brayden Point at the 10:27 mark of the fifth overtime period. Point also scored in overtime for a second time in game five, eliminating Columbus. In the second round, the Lightning faced the Boston Bruins. After losing the first game of this series, the Lightning rallied to win the next four, with Victor Hedman's double-overtime goal in game 5 sealing the series victory for Tampa Bay. After advancing, the remainder of the Lightning's playoff run took place in Edmonton, which had been planned as the site of both of the Conference Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Lightning took on the New York Islanders. The Islanders extended the Lightning to six games, but Tampa Bay would once again prevail in overtime to win the series, with the game-winning goal this time being scored by Anthony Cirelli. The win earned the Lightning the Prince of Wales Trophy for the third time in their history, and their first trip to the Stanley Cup Finals since 2015.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: In the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals, the Lightning met the Dallas Stars. The teams split the first two games of the series. In game three, Steven Stamkos returned to the lineup, having missed the entire playoff run to that point after suffering an injury prior to the start of the playoffs, unrelated to an injury he sustained during the regular season. He scored a goal on what was his only shot on goal of the series, as he did not take to the ice again following the end of the first period. Tampa Bay did, however, win both game three and four to take a 3–1 series lead. Dallas stayed alive in the series by winning game five in double-overtime, but the Lightning closed them out with a 2–0 win in game six to win their second Stanley Cup championship, and first since 2004.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Victor Hedman was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the MVP of the playoffs, having recorded 22 points on 10 goals and 12 assists. Nikita Kucherov set a new franchise record for points in a single playoff season with 34, and also became the franchise leader for playoff goals, assists, and points. The team set a league record with over 221 minutes played in overtime periods alone. They also became the first team in league history to have three series-winning goals in overtime. Andrei Vasilevskiy surpassed both former Lightning goalies Ben Bishop and Nikolai Khabibulin to become the franchise leader in playoff games played and playoff games won.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The victory led to a new tradition for Tampa Bay sports teams: boat parades. The 2020 Lightning held a parade of boats on the Hillsborough River rather than a traditional victory parade through the streets of the city, mainly to comply with COVID-19 regulations, but subsequent championship teams in Tampa have held similar parades even with those restrictions lifted.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Due to COVID-19, the league moved the Lightning to the Central Division, where they would compete with the Blackhawks, Blue Jackets, Hurricanes, Panthers, Predators, Red Wings, and Stars for the 2020–21 season. The Lightning would only play against teams in the Central Division, with limited attendance to start the season. The team once again played in a shortened season, playing 56 games in total. Nikita Kucherov would miss the entire regular season with a hip surgery he had in December 2020. During the season, the Lightning acquired defenseman David Savard through a multi-team trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Detroit Red Wings. The Lightning would also acquire defenseman Fredrik Claesson in another trade with the San Jose Sharks. The Lightning finished the season with a 36–17–3 record, and would finish 3rd in the Central Division.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Entering the playoffs, the Lightning would face against the Florida Panthers in the first round, making this the first time the state rivals would meet each other in the playoffs. The Lightning would win the series 4–2, with the last game continuing a playoff series clinching shutout streak that had carried over from the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals against Dallas. In the second round, the Lightning would face the Carolina Hurricanes. In the third game of the series, Brayden Point would score the first goal in a playoff goal-scoring streak that would last for 9 games, coming in second to Reggie Leach with 10 games in a single playoff year. The Hurricanes would win game 3 in overtime, however the Lightning would win the next two games to win the series 4–1. For the second consecutive year, the Lightning would again face the New York Islanders before heading to the Stanley Cup Finals. Due to the lack of conferences for this season, this series would not be called the "2021 Eastern Conference Finals", but instead it would be known as the "2021 Stanley Cup Semifinals". The Islanders would once again take the Lightning to an extended series, having won game 6 in overtime to force the series to 7 games. However, the Lightning would clinch the series in game 7 with a single shorthanded goal scored by Yanni Gourde. The win would earn the Lightning their second consecutive Prince of Wales Trophy, and a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: In the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals, the Lightning went up against the Montreal Canadiens. In the first three games, the Lightning would prevail, a notable highlight being the diving goal Blake Coleman would score with 1.1 seconds left in the second period in the second game in the series. The Canadiens however would force a game 5 and prevent a sweep, winning game 4 in overtime. The Lightning however would win the Stanley Cup in game 5, with a single goal scored by Ross Colton in the second period. The game would also see the Lightning win in their own arena, the second time in team history, and the first time since the Chicago Blackhawks won the Cup in 2015. Andrei Vasilevskiy won the Conn Smythe Trophy with 5 shutouts during the playoffs, 4 of which were series-clinching shutouts. Patrick Maroon would win his third consecutive Stanley Cup, one with the St. Louis Blues and two with the Lightning. Maroon later slipped and dropped the Stanley Cup and severely dented the trophy's bowl during a celebration at Julian B. Lane Park following the team's victory parade on July 11. Maroon cited the strong thunderstorm during the outdoor celebration as the reason, and the Cup was quickly repaired with no further issues.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: On February 26, 2022, the Lightning played their first outdoor game in franchise history against the host Nashville Predators in the 2022 NHL Stadium Series at Nissan Stadium. The Lightning would win the game against the Predators with a score of 3–2, with Steven Stamkos receiving first star. On April 14, 2022, the Lightning clinched a playoff berth after a 4–3 overtime win against the Anaheim Ducks. On June 11, 2022, the Lightning clinched their third straight Stanley Cup Finals berth after a 2–1 win against the New York Rangers in game six of the Eastern Conference Finals. However, in the 2022 Finals, they came up short for a third consecutive Stanley Cup title, in game six against the Colorado Avalanche on June 26.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning's flagship radio outlet is WHPT, which replaced WFLA as of the 2022–23 NHL season. Dave Mishkin serves as play-by-play announcer, joined by Phil Esposito as color commentator for home games. Greg Lenelli is the pregame and intermission host. The Lightning television broadcasts can be seen on Bally Sports Sun. From 1995 to 2020, the television play-by-play announcer was Rick Peckham. He announced that he would be retiring following the 2019–20 season. His final game for the Lightning was game five of their First Round series during the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, in which the Lightning won in overtime to win the series. Dave Randorf was named as his replacement prior to the 2020–21 season. The color commentator is Brian Engblom. The studio host is Paul Kennedy. Caley Chelios, daughter of Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Chelios, is the in-arena host and Lightning reporter. Former Lightning player Dave Andreychuk and former color commentator Bobby "The Chief" Taylor assist with the television pregame and postgame broadcasts.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: On December 10, 2014, long-time color commentator Bobby "The Chief" Taylor announced he would be retiring from the broadcast booth at the end of the 2014–15 season. Taylor had served as the team's color commentator since the 1993–94 season, which was the team's second year of existence. Taylor cited that he desired to be home with his wife Jan more. Taylor said, "The road was starting to get a little stale," and "I've been traveling since I was 15, and that's a long time." However, Taylor announced that he was not completely stepping away from the team broadcasts. He has continued to serve as a studio analyst during the games on Fox Sports Sun for both home and away games.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: On August 11, 2015, Fox Sports Sun, the regional television home of the Lightning, announced Brian Engblom as Taylor's replacement on color commentary for the 2015–16 season. Prior to joining Sun Sports, Engblom served as the "inside the glass" analyst on both NBC and NBC Sports Network, as well as the network's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Engblom has served as an analyst on "NHL Live", and also served as color analyst for Winnipeg Jets games on TSN in Canada. Prior to being an announcer, Engblom played at the University of Wisconsin, and was Montreal's third pick, 22nd overall, in the 1975 NHL Amateur Draft. He won three Stanley Cups with the Canadiens from 1977 to 1979.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Since 2010, the Lightning colors have been blue, black and white. Their logo has been a stylized lightning bolt. This is the origin of one nickname for the team—the "Bolts."


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The original Lightning jerseys featured simple stripes on the sleeves and tail, and contrasting shoulders—black shoulders over a white jersey, and white shoulders over the black—with the alternate logo (a lightning bolt over the outline of the state of Florida). The underarm gussets included a feature referred to as "victory stripes"—a group of thin stripes, alternating in the team's colors (black-silver-blue on white, or white-blue-silver on black). For the 1996–97 season, the Lightning added a third jersey, primarily blue with a sublimated wave and rain design on the front and back, lightning bolts down the sleeves, a silver-gray shoulder yoke, and black gussets. The third jersey was retired after the 1998–99 season.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: In their first two seasons, the Lightning used a stylized block font for player names, with gaps in the upper loops of letters such as A, B, D, and R. The numbers were standard block numbers with drop shadows. The fonts were vertical in 1992–93, and italicized in 1993–94. The following season, the name font changed to a block font, vertically arched, while the number font changed to a painted style resembling the letters "Tampa Bay" in the logo. This style was also used on the blue alternate in 1998–99, replacing an "electrified" number font used from 1996 to 1998. In 2001–02, the old fonts were replaced with traditional block letters and numbers, which have been used ever since. They also darkened their shades of blue that season from a royal blue to a speed (Indy) blue.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: As with all NHL teams for the 2007–08 season, the Lightning debuted in new Reebok "Rbk Edge" jerseys. Also, like several other NHL teams, the Lightning updated their team logo.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning unveiled their new logo on August 25, 2007. The logo was similar to the inaugural one, but with a more modern look. The new logo also kept the same theme as the previous one, but with the words "Tampa Bay" across the top now appearing with tall capital initials, and the word "Lightning" no longer appearing on the bottom of the logo.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Edge jerseys use the same template adopted by the Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins. Unlike those teams, the Lightning's elbow panels remain the base color of the jersey, and an additional blue panel is added near the cuff of the sleeve. The Edge uniforms retain the underarm gusset "victory stripes" of their predecessors.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning then debuted a new "alternate" or "third" jersey in the 2008–09 season. The jersey features a dominant "electric blue" color, with black and silver accents at the end of the sleeves. The logo is removed, and in its place emblazoned across the front of the jersey descending to the lower left of the jersey is the word "BOLTS" (utilizing a layout similar to that of the Ottawa Senators' third jersey). The numbers are featured on the back and sleeves only, using white lettering.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: It was reported on January 23, 2011, that the Lightning had filed paperwork with the NHL to change their logo and colors, beginning with the 2011–12 season. The new logo, as well as the new home and away jerseys, were unveiled by the team at a press conference at the St. Pete Times Forum on January 31, 2011. The Lightning began to integrate the new logo onto center ice, and even distributed free T-shirts with the simplified logo on February 4, 2011, while still using the old Lightning logo and uniforms.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The current uniforms are made in a traditional hockey sweater design. Initially, the colors that were to be used were simply blue and white, but by popular demand, black was later added as a trim color on the numbers. The victory stripes were also eliminated. Despite the introduction of the new uniforms, the previous third jersey was retained, with the new simplified logo replacing the old logo in the shoulders prior to the 2012–13 season.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: For the 2014–15 season, the Lightning announced that a new black third sweater will replace the existing "BOLTS" sweaters. The new sweaters were unveiled on September 27, 2014. It retained the "BOLTS" wordmark, while adding white accents in a similar manner as the Los Angeles Kings' sweaters. The secondary roundel logo also replaced the primary logo on the sleeves, while the metro name was enscripted on the collar.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning made some minor tweaks to their current uniform set following the NHL's move to Adidas as its uniform provider in the 2017–18 season. The most notable change is the removal of the "TAMPA BAY" wordmark on the white away sweaters.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: A third sweater was not used during all of 2017–18 and much of the 2018–19 season. On February 7, 2019, the Lightning unveiled a new black uniform, lacking any blue and white elements and featuring sublimated black and grey patterns on the sleeves, socks and back numbers.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: For the 2020–21 season, the Lightning released a "Reverse Retro" uniform, using the design they wore from 2001 to 2007. Unlike the originals, blue served as the base color while black was relegated to trim color. Their 2022–23 "Reverse Retro" uniform used the design of the third jersey from 1996 to 1999, but with a white base.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: For the 2022 NHL Stadium Series, the Lightning unveiled a white uniform with a stylized blue stripe shaped like a thunderbolt at the bottom. An updated rendition of the "BOLTS" wordmark was stitched in front, and numbers featured pointed accents.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Retired United States Air Force Technical Sergeant Sonya Bryson-Kirksey sings the Canadian and American national anthems at most home games. She started singing the US national anthem for the team in 2013, and the Canadian in 2020. She is accompanied by organist Krystof Srebrakowski, and is announced by PA announcer Paul Porter.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: The Lightning mascot is a lightning bug named ThunderBug, who performs at games and makes appearances in the community.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: Until the 2019–20 season, an official dance team known as the Lightning Girls performed at all home games and community events. The Tampa Bay Lightning Girls were a group of dancers who performed in the stands.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: "This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Lightning. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Tampa Bay Lightning seasons"


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: "Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against"


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: These are the top-ten-point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: "Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game"


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: These are the top-ten playoff point-scorers in franchise playoff history. Figures are updated after each completed NHL season.


title: Tampa Bay Lightning

text: "Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; * = current Lightning player"


title: Colm Meaney

text: Colm J. Meaney (; ; born 30 May 1953) is an Irish actor known for playing Miles O'Brien in "" (1987–1994) and "" (1993–1999). He has guest-starred on many TV shows including "Law & Order" and "The Simpsons", and starred as Thomas Durant on "Hell on Wheels" (2011–2016).


title: Colm Meaney

text: He has also had a career in films, appearing in " Layer Cake", "The Damned United", all three film adaptations of Roddy Doyle's "The Barrytown Trilogy", and in "Get Him to the Greek". He was a principal character in the film "The Englishman who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain". In 2017, Meaney won the Best Actor IFTA for his portrayal of Irish politician Martin McGuinness in the film "The Journey". In 2020, he was listed at number 24 on "The Irish Times" list of Ireland's greatest film actors.


title: Colm Meaney

text: Meaney was born in Finglas, Dublin. He began studying acting at age 14, and he entered the Abbey Theatre School of Acting after secondary school. He became a member of the Irish National Theatre and worked for the next eight years in England, touring with several theatre companies, including the theatre group founded by John McGrath.


title: Colm Meaney

text: Meaney's first television appearance was in "Z-Cars" on BBC 1, in 1978. He guest-starred on shows such as "Remington Steele" and "Moonlighting" before embarking on a successful film career; he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for his role in "The Snapper".


title: Colm Meaney

text: Meaney first appeared on "" in its 1987 pilot episode, "Encounter at Farpoint", as an unnamed helm officer. His character became a frequently recurring one, and was given the name of Miles O'Brien as he became more prominent in the crew as Transporter Chief. In 1993, Meaney left "The Next Generation" for a main role in its spin-off "" and remained on that show until its final episode, in 1999. With 225 total appearances on "Star Trek", he has made more appearances on the franchise than any other actor except Michael Dorn.


title: Colm Meaney

text: Meaney played Colum O'Hara in the 1994 miniseries "Scarlett", the sequel to "Gone With the Wind". He has played a minor recurring role as Cowen, leader of the Genii on the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) series "Stargate Atlantis", guest-starred on "Law & Order", "" and appeared as Bob O'Donnell on the ABC show "Men in Trees". Meaney can also be seen in the film "Die Hard 2", playing the pilot for the plane Windsor 114 that was later crashed by Colonel Stuart.


title: Colm Meaney

text: He was the only actor to appear in all three film adaptations of Roddy Doyle's "The Barrytown Trilogy," wherein he played the father of the Rabbitte family. Due to rights issues, the family name was changed from film to film. His stage appearances include the Old Vic production of Eugene O'Neill's "A Moon for the Misbegotten". Meaney starred in British comedy film "Three and Out" released in the UK on 25 April 2008. In July of the same year An Post (the Irish Post Office) issued a postage stamp showing Meaney as Joe Mullen in the film "Kings".


title: Colm Meaney

text: In 2009, Meaney co-starred with Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx in "Law Abiding Citizen", playing Detective Dunnigan. In March 2009, Meaney voiced an Irish bartender on the St. Patrick's Day episode of "The Simpsons", "In the Name of the Grandfather". In the same month the film "The Damned United" was released, a mostly fictional retelling of the 44-day period in which Brian Clough was manager of Leeds United. Meaney played the former Leeds manager Don Revie. He also co-starred in "Soldiers of Fortune" with Christian Slater and Ving Rhames. In 2013, Meaney co-starred with Steve Coogan in "". In 2014, he appeared as The Horse in the BBC's three-part crime story, "The Driver". For five seasons he portrayed railroad magnate Thomas Durant on AMC's drama series "Hell on Wheels".


title: Colm Meaney

text: Meaney married Irish actress Bairbre Dowling in 1977. Their daughter Brenda was born in 1984. The couple divorced in 1994. He married French costume designer Ines Glorian in March 2007. Their daughter was born in 2005. They live in the Majorcan town of Sóller.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational therapy (OT) is a global healthcare profession. It involves the use of assessment and intervention to develop, recover, or maintain the meaningful activities, or "occupations", of individuals, groups, or communities. The field of OT consists of health care practitioners trained and educated to improve mental and physical performance. Occupational therapists specialize in teaching, educating, and supporting participation in any activity that occupies an individual's time. It is an independent health profession sometimes categorized as an allied health profession and consists of occupational therapists (OTs) and occupational therapy assistants (OTAs). While OTs and OTAs have different roles, they both work with people who want to improve their mental and or physical health, disabilities, injuries, or impairments.


title: Occupational therapy

text: The American Occupational Therapy Association defines an occupational therapist as someone who "helps people across their lifespan participate in the things they want and/or need to do through the therapeutic use of everyday activities (occupations)". Definitions by professional occupational therapy organizations outside North America are similar in content.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Typically, occupational therapists are university-educated professionals and must pass a licensing exam to practice. Currently, entry level occupational therapists must have a masters degree while certified occupational therapy assistants require a two year associates degree to practice in the United States. Individuals must pass a national board certification and apply for a state license in most states. Occupational therapists often work closely with professionals in physical therapy, speech–language pathology, audiology, nursing, nutrition, social work, psychology, medicine, and assistive technology.


title: Occupational therapy

text: The earliest evidence of using occupations as a method of therapy can be found in ancient times. In c. 100 BCE, Greek physician Asclepiades treated patients with a mental illness humanely using therapeutic baths, massage, exercise, and music. Later, the Roman Celsus prescribed music, travel, conversation and exercise to his patients. However, by medieval times the use of these interventions with people with mental illness was rare, if not nonexistent.


title: Occupational therapy

text: In 18th-century Europe, revolutionaries such as Philippe Pinel and Johann Christian Reil reformed the hospital system. Instead of the use of metal chains and restraints, their institutions used rigorous work and leisure activities in the late 18th century. This was the Moral Treatment era, developed in Europe during the Age of Enlightenment, where the roots of occupational therapy lie. Although it was thriving in Europe, interest in the reform movement fluctuated in the United States throughout the 19th century. It re-emerged in the early decades of the 20th century as Occupational Therapy.


title: Occupational therapy

text: The Arts and Crafts movement that took place between 1860 and 1910 also impacted occupational therapy. In the US, a recently industrialized country, the arts and crafts societies emerged against the monotony and lost autonomy of factory work. Arts and crafts were used as a way of promoting learning through doing, provided a creative outlet, and served as a way to avoid boredom during long hospital stays.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Eleanor Clarke Slagle (1870-1942) is considered to be the "mother" of occupational therapy. Slagle, who was one of the founding members of the National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy (NSPOT), proposed habit training as a primary occupational therapy model of treatment. Based on the philosophy that engagement in meaningful routines shape a person's wellbeing, habit training focused on creating structure and balance between work, rest and leisure. Although habit training was initially developed to treat individuals with mental health conditions, its basic tenets are apparent in modern treatment models that are utilized across a wide scope of client populations.


title: Occupational therapy

text: In 1915 Slagle opened the first occupational therapy training program, the Henry B. Favill School of Occupations, at Hull House in Chicago. Slagle went on to serve as both AOTA president and secretary. In 1954, AOTA created the Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award in her honor. Each year, this award recognizes a member of AOTA "who has creatively contributed to the development of the body of knowledge of the profession through research, education, or clinical practice."


title: Occupational therapy

text: The health profession of occupational therapy was conceived in the early 1910s as a reflection of the Progressive Era. Early professionals merged highly valued ideals, such as having a strong work ethic and the importance of crafting with one's own hands with scientific and medical principles. The National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy (NSPOT), now called the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), was founded in 1917 and the profession of Occupational Therapy was officially named in 1921. William Rush Dunton, one of the founders of NSPOT and visionary figure in the first decades of the profession struggled with "the cumbersomeness of the term occupational therapy", as it lacked the "exactness of meaning which is possessed by scientific terms". Other titles such as "work-cure", "ergo therapy" (ergo being the Greek root for "work"), and "creative occupations" were discussed as substitutes, but ultimately, none possessed the broad meaning that the practice of occupational therapy demanded in order to capture the many forms of treatment that existed from the beginning.


title: Occupational therapy

text: The emergence of occupational therapy challenged the views of mainstream scientific medicine. Instead of focusing purely on the medical model, occupational therapists argued that a complex combination of social, economic, and biological reasons cause dysfunction. Principles and techniques were borrowed from many disciplines—including but not limited to physical therapy, nursing, psychiatry, rehabilitation, self-help, orthopedics, and social work—to enrich the profession's scope. Between 1900 and 1930, the founders defined the realm of practice and developed supporting theories. By the early 1930s, AOTA had established educational guidelines and accreditation procedures.


title: Occupational therapy

text: The early twentieth century was a time in which the rising incidence of disability related to industrial accidents, tuberculosis, World War I, and mental illness brought about an increasing social awareness of the issues involved. The entry of the United States into World War I was also a crucial event in the history of the profession. Up until this time, occupational therapy had been concerned primarily with the treatment of people with mental illness. However, U.S. involvement in the Great War and the escalating numbers of injured and disabled soldiers presented a daunting challenge to those in command. The military enlisted the assistance of NSPOT to recruit and train over 1,200 "reconstruction aides" to help with the rehabilitation of those wounded in the war. With entry into World War II and the ensuing skyrocketing demand for occupational therapists to treat those injured in the war, the field of occupational therapy underwent dramatic growth and change. Occupational therapists needed to be skilled not only in the use of constructive activities such as crafts, but also increasingly in the use of activities of daily living.


title: Occupational therapy

text: There was a struggle to keep people in the profession during the post-war years. Emphasis shifted from the altruistic war-time mentality to the financial, professional, and personal satisfaction that comes with being a therapist. To make the profession more appealing, practice was standardized, as was the curriculum. Entry and exit criteria were established, and the American Occupational Therapy Association advocated for steady employment, decent wages, and fair working conditions. Via these methods, occupational therapy sought and obtained medical legitimacy in the 1920s. The 1920s and 1930s were a time of establishing standards of education and laying the foundation of the profession and its organization. Eleanor Clarke Slagle proposed a 12-month course of training in 1922, and these standards were adopted in 1923. Educational standards were expanded to a total training time of 18-months in 1930 to place the requirements for professional entry on par with those of other professions. The first textbook was published in the United States for occupational therapy in 1947, edited by Helen S. Willard and Clare S. Spackman. The profession continued to grow and redefine itself in the 1950s. The profession also began to assess the potential for the use of trained assistants in the attempt to address the ongoing shortage of qualified therapists, and educational standards for occupational therapy assistants were implemented in 1960. The 1960s and 1970s were a time of ongoing change and growth for the profession as it struggled to incorporate new knowledge and cope with the recent and rapid growth of the profession in the previous decades. New developments in the areas of neurobehavioral research led to new conceptualizations and new treatment approaches, possibly the most groundbreaking being the sensory integrative approach developed by A. Jean Ayres.


title: Occupational therapy

text: The profession has continued to grow and expand its scope and settings of practice. Occupational science, the study of occupation, was founded in 1989 as an academic discipline to provide foundational research on occupation to support and advance the practice of occupation-based occupational therapy, as well as offer a basic science to study topics surrounding "occupation".


title: Occupational therapy

text: In addition, occupational therapy practitioner's roles have expanded to include political advocacy (from a grassroots base to higher legislation); for example, in 2010 PL 111-148 titled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act had a habilitation clause that was passed in large part due to AOTA's political efforts as noted in AOTA's Centennial website (AOTA, 2017). Furthermore, occupational therapy practitioners have been striving personally and professionally toward concepts of occupational justice and other human rights issues that have both local and global impacts. The World Federation of Occupational Therapist's Resource Centre has many position statements on occupational therapy's roles regarding their participation in human rights issues.


title: Occupational therapy

text: As of 2021, "U.S. News & World Report" ranked occupational therapy as #19 of their list of '100 Best Jobs'.


title: Occupational therapy

text: The philosophy of occupational therapy has evolved over the history of the profession. The philosophy articulated by the founders owed much to the ideals of romanticism, pragmatism and humanism, which are collectively considered the fundamental ideologies of the past century.


title: Occupational therapy

text: One of the most widely cited early papers about the philosophy of occupational therapy was presented by Adolf Meyer, a psychiatrist who had emigrated to the United States from Switzerland in the late 19th century and who was invited to present his views to a gathering of the new Occupational Therapy Society in 1922. At the time, Dr. Meyer was one of the leading psychiatrists in the United States and head of the new psychiatry department and Phipps Clinic at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.


title: Occupational therapy

text: William Rush Dunton, a supporter of the National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy, now the American Occupational Therapy Association, sought to promote the ideas that occupation is a basic human need, and that occupation is therapeutic. From his statements came some of the basic assumptions of occupational therapy, which include:


title: Occupational therapy

text: These assumptions have been developed over time and are the basis of the values that underpin the Codes of Ethics issued by the national associations. The relevance of occupation to health and well-being remains the central theme.


title: Occupational therapy

text: In the 1950s, criticism from medicine and the multitude of disabled World War II veterans resulted in the emergence of a more reductionistic philosophy. While this approach led to developments in technical knowledge about occupational performance, clinicians became increasingly disillusioned and re-considered these beliefs. As a result, client centeredness and occupation have re-emerged as dominant themes in the profession. Over the past century, the underlying philosophy of occupational therapy has evolved from being a diversion from illness, to treatment, to enablement through meaningful occupation.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Three commonly mentioned philosophical precepts of occupational therapy are that occupation is necessary for health, that its theories are based on holism and that its central components are people, their occupations (activities), and the environments in which those activities take place. However, there have been some dissenting voices. Mocellin, in particular, advocated abandoning the notion of health through occupation as he proclaimed it obsolete in the modern world. As well, he questioned the appropriateness of advocating holism when practice rarely supports it. Some values formulated by the American Occupational Therapy Association have been critiqued as being therapist-centric and do not reflect the modern reality of multicultural practice.<ref name="Hocking/Whiteford">Hocking, C and Whiteford, G (1995). Multiculturalism in occupational therapy: A time for reflection on core values. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 42(4), 172–175.</ref>


title: Occupational therapy

text: In recent times occupational therapy practitioners have challenged themselves to think more broadly about the potential scope of the profession, and expanded it to include working with groups experiencing occupational injustice stemming from sources other than disability. Examples of new and emerging practice areas would include therapists working with refugees, children experiencing obesity, and people experiencing homelessness.


title: Occupational therapy

text: An occupational therapist works systematically with a client through a sequence of actions called the occupational therapy process. There are several versions of this process as described by numerous scholars. All practice frameworks include the components of evaluation (or assessment), intervention, and outcomes. This process provides a framework through which occupational therapists assist and contribute to promoting health and ensures structure and consistency among therapists.


title: Occupational therapy

text: The Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (OTPF) is the core competency of occupational therapy in the United States. The OTPF is divided into two sections: domain and process. The domain includes environment, client factors, such as the individual's motivation, health status, and status of performing occupational tasks. The domain looks at the contextual picture to help the occupational therapist understand how to diagnose and treat the patient. The process is the actions taken by the therapist to implement a plan and strategy to treat the patient.


title: Occupational therapy

text: The Canadian Model of Client Centered Enablement (CMCE) embraces occupational enablement as the core competency of occupational therapy and the Canadian Practice Process Framework (CPPF) as the core process of occupational enablement in Canada. The Canadian Practice Process Framework (CPPF) has eight action points and three contextual element which are: set the stage, evaluate, agree on objective plan, implement plan, monitor/modify, and evaluate outcome. A central element of this process model is the focus on identifying both client and therapists strengths and resources prior to developing the outcomes and action plan.


title: Occupational therapy

text: According to the American Occupational Therapy Association's (AOTA) Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process, 4th Edition (OTPF-3), an occupation is defined as any type of meaningful activity in which one engages in order to “occupy” one's time. These occupations can be goal-directed, task-oriented, purposeful, culturally relevant, role specific, individually tailored, or community-oriented, depending on one's values, beliefs, context, and environment.


title: Occupational therapy

text: According to the 2015 Salary and Workforce Survey by the American Occupational Therapy Association, occupational therapists work in a wide-variety of practice settings including: hospitals (26.6%), schools (19.9%), long-term care facilities/skilled nursing facilities (19.2%), free-standing outpatient (10.7%), home health (6.8%), academia (6.1%), early intervention (4.6%), mental health (2.4%), community (2%), and other (15%). Recently, there is a trend of OTs moving towards working in the hospital setting and in the long-term care facilities/skilled nursing facilities setting, comprising 46% of the OT workforce.


title: Occupational therapy

text: The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) found that between 2006 and 2010 nearly half (45.6%) of occupational therapists worked in hospitals, 31.8% worked in the community, and 11.4% worked in a professional practice.


title: Occupational therapy

text: The broad spectrum of OT practice makes it difficult to categorize the areas of practice, especially considering the differing health care systems globally. In this section, the categorization from the American Occupational Therapy Association is used.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational therapists work with infants, toddlers, children, youth, and their families in a variety of settings, including schools, clinics, homes, hospitals, and the community. Assessment of a person's ability to engage in daily, meaningful occupations is the initial step of occupational therapy (OT) intervention and involves evaluating a young person's occupational performance in areas of feeding, playing, socializing, daily living skills, or attending school. Occupational therapists take into consideration the strengths and weaknesses of a child's underlying skills which may be physical, cognitive, or emotional in nature, as well as the context and environmental demands at play. In planning treatment, occupational therapists work in collaboration with parents, caregivers, teachers, or the children and teens themselves in order to develop functional goals within a variety of occupations meaningful to the young client. Early intervention is an extremely important aspect of the daily functioning of a child between the ages of birth-3 years old. This area of practice sets the tone or standard for therapy in the school setting. OT's who practice in early intervention develop a family's ability to care for their child with special needs and promote his or her function and participation in the most natural environment as possible. Each child is required to have an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) that focuses on the family's goals for the child. It's possible for an OT to serve as the family's service coordinator and facilitate the team process for creating an IFSP for each eligible child.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Objectives that an occupational therapist addresses with children and youth may take a variety of forms. For example:


title: Occupational therapy

text: In the United States, pediatric occupational therapists work in the school setting as a "related service" for children with an Individual Education Plan (IEP). Every student who receives special education and related services in the public school system is required by law to have an IEP, which is a very individualized plan designed for each specific student (U.S. Department of Education, 2007). Related services are “developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as are required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education,” and include a variety of professions such as speech–language pathology and audiology services, interpreting services, psychological services, and physical and occupational therapy.


title: Occupational therapy

text: As a related service, occupational therapists work with children with varying disabilities to address those skills needed to access the special education program and support academic achievement and social participation throughout the school day (AOTA, n.d.-b). In doing so, occupational therapists help children fulfill their role as students and prepare them to transition to post-secondary education, career and community integration (AOTA, n.d.-b).


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational therapists have specific knowledge to increase participation in school routines throughout the day, including:


title: Occupational therapy

text: Other settings, such as homes, hospitals, and the community are important environments where occupational therapists work with children and teens to promote their independence in meaningful, daily activities. Outpatient clinics offer a growing OT intervention referred to as “Sensory Integration Treatment”. This therapy, provided by experienced and knowledgeable pediatric occupational therapists, was originally developed by A. Jean Ayres, an occupational therapist. Sensory integration therapy is an evidence-based practice which enables children to better process and integrate sensory input from the child's body and from the environment, thus improving his or her emotional regulation, ability to learn, behavior, and functional participation in meaningful daily activities.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Recognition of occupational therapy programs and services for children and youth is increasing worldwide. Occupational therapy for both children and adults is now recognized by the United Nations as a human right which is linked to the social determinants of health. , there are over 500,000 occupational therapists working worldwide (many of whom work with children) and 778 academic institutions providing occupational therapy instruction.


title: Occupational therapy

text: According to the American Occupational Therapy Association's (AOTA) "Occupational Therapy Practice Framework", 3rd Edition, the domain of occupational therapy is described as "Achieving health, well-being, and participation in life through engagement in occupation". Occupational therapy practitioners have a distinct value in their ability to utilize daily occupations to achieve optimal health and well-being. By examining an individual's roles, routines, environment, and occupations, occupational therapists can identify the barriers in achieving overall health, well-being and participation.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational therapy practitioners can intervene at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of intervention to promote health and wellness. It can be addressed in all practice settings to prevent disease and injuries, and adapt healthy lifestyle practices for those with chronic diseases. Two of the occupational therapy programs that have emerged targeting health and wellness are the Lifestyle Redesign Program and the REAL Diabetes Program.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational therapy practitioners target school-wide advocacy for health and wellness including: bullying prevention, backpack awareness, recess promotion, school lunches, and PE inclusion. They also heavily work with students with learning disabilities such as those on the autism spectrum.


title: Occupational therapy

text: A study conducted in Switzerland showed that a large majority of occupational therapists collaborate with schools, half of them providing direct services within mainstream school settings. The results also show that services were mainly provided to children with medical diagnoses, focusing on the school environment rather than the child's disability.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational therapy practitioners conduct 1:1 treatment sessions and group interventions to address: leisure, health literacy and education, modified physical activity, stress/anger management, healthy meal preparation, and medication management.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational therapy practitioners conduct 1:1 treatment sessions, group interventions and promote hospital-wide programs targeting: self-care activities, neurocognitive assessment and intervention, pain management techniques, physical activity and mobility, leisure, social engagement, stress management, diet and lifestyle recommendations, and medication management.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational therapy practitioners develop and implement community wide programs to assist in prevention of diseases and encourage healthy lifestyles by: conducting education classes for prevention, facilitating gardening, offering ergonomic assessments, and offering pleasurable leisure and physical activity programs.


title: Occupational therapy

text: The occupational therapy profession believes that the health of an individual is fostered through active engagement in one's occupations (AOTA, 2014). When a person is experiencing any mental health need, his or her ability to actively participate in occupations may be hindered. For example, if a person has depression or anxiety, he or she may experience interruptions in sleep, difficulty completing self-care tasks, decreased motivation to participate in leisure activities, decreased concentration for school or job related work, and avoidance of social interactions. Occupational therapy practitioners possess the educational knowledge base in mental health and can contribute to the efforts in mental health promotion, prevention, and intervention. Occupational therapy practitioners can provide services that focus on social emotional well-being, prevention of negative behaviors, early detection through screenings, and intensive intervention (Bazyk & Downing, 2017). Occupational therapy practitioners can work directly with clients, provide professional development for staff, and work in collaboration with other team members and families. For instance, occupational therapists are specifically skilled at understanding the relationship between the demands of a task and the person's abilities. With this knowledge, practitioners are able to devise an intervention plan to facilitate successful participation in meaningful occupations. Occupational therapy services can focus on engagement in occupation to support participation in areas related to school, education, work, play, leisure, ADLs, and instrumental ADLs (Bazyk & Downing, 2017).


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational therapy utilizes the public health approach to mental health (WHO, 2001) which emphasizes the promotion of mental health as well as the prevention of, and intervention for, mental illness. This model highlights the distinct value of occupational therapists in mental health promotion, prevention, and intensive interventions across the lifespan (Miles et al., 2010). Below are the three major levels of service:


title: Occupational therapy

text: Intensive interventions are provided for individuals with identified mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders that limit daily functioning, interpersonal relationships, feelings of emotional well-being, and the ability to cope with challenges in daily life. Occupational therapy practitioners are committed to the recovery model which focuses on enabling persons with mental health challenges through a client-centered process to live a meaningful life in the community and reach their potential (Champagne & Gray, 2011).


title: Occupational therapy

text: The focus of intensive interventions (direct–individual or group, consultation) is engagement in occupation to foster recovery or “reclaiming mental health” resulting in optimal levels of community participation, daily functioning, and quality of life; functional assessment and intervention (skills training, accommodations, compensatory strategies) (Brown, 2012); identification and implementation of healthy habits, rituals, and routines to support wellness.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Targeted services are designed to prevent mental health problems in persons who are at risk of developing mental health challenges, such as those who have emotional experiences (e.g., trauma, abuse), situational stressors (e.g., physical disability, bullying, social isolation, obesity) or genetic factors (e.g., family history of mental illness). Occupational therapy practitioners are committed to early identification of and intervention for mental health challenges in all settings.


title: Occupational therapy

text: The focus of targeted services (small groups, consultation, accommodations, education) is engagement in occupations to promote mental health and diminish early symptoms; small, therapeutic groups (Olson, 2011); environmental modifications to enhance participation (e.g., create Sensory friendly classrooms, home, or work environments)


title: Occupational therapy

text: Universal services are provided to all individuals with or without mental health or behavioral problems, including those with disabilities and illnesses (Barry & Jenkins, 2007). Occupational therapy services focus on mental health promotion and prevention for all: encouraging participation in health-promoting occupations (e.g., enjoyable activities, healthy eating, exercise, adequate sleep); fostering self-regulation and coping strategies (e.g., mindfulness, yoga); promoting mental health literacy (e.g., knowing how to take care of one's mental health and what to do when experiencing symptoms associated with ill mental health). Occupational therapy practitioners develop universal programs and embed strategies to promote mental health and well-being in a variety of settings, from schools to the workplace.


title: Occupational therapy

text: The focus of universal services (individual, group, school-wide, employee/organizational level) is universal programs to help all individuals successfully participate in occupations that promote positive mental health (Bazyk, 2011); educational and coaching strategies with a wide range of relevant stakeholders focusing on mental health promotion and prevention; the development of coping strategies and resilience; environmental modifications and supports to foster participation in health-promoting occupations.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational therapists work with older adults to maintain independence, participate in meaningful activities, and live fulfilling lives. Some examples of areas that occupational therapists address with older adults are driving, aging in place, low vision, and dementia or Alzheimer's disease (AD). When addressing driving, driver evaluations are administered to determine if drivers are safe behind the wheel. To enable independence of older adults at home, occupational therapists perform falls risk assessments, assess clients functioning in their homes, and recommend specific home modifications. When addressing low vision, occupational therapists modify tasks and the environment. While working with individuals with AD, occupational therapists focus on maintaining quality of life, ensuring safety, and promoting independence.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational therapists address all aspects of aging from health promotion to treatment of various disease processes. The goal of occupational therapy for older adults is to ensure that older adults can maintain independence and reduce health care costs associated with hospitalization and institutionalization. In the community, occupational therapists can assess an older adults ability to drive and if they are safe to do so. If it is found that an individual is not safe to drive the occupational therapist can assist with finding alternate transit options. Occupational therapists also work with older adults in their home as part of home care. In the home, an occupational therapist can work on such things as fall prevention, maximizing independence with activities of daily living, ensuring safety and being able to stay in the home for as long as the person wants. An occupational therapist can also recommend home modifications to ensure safety in the home. Many older adults have chronic conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, and cardiopulmonary conditions. Occupational therapists can help manage these conditions by offering education on energy conservation strategies or coping strategies. Not only do occupational therapists work with older adults in their homes, they also work with older adults in hospitals, nursing homes and post-acute rehabilitation. In nursing homes, the role of the occupational therapist is to work with clients and caregivers on education for safe care, modifying the environment, positioning needs and enhancing IADL skills to name a few. In post-acute rehabilitation, occupational therapists work with clients to get them back home and to their prior level of function after a hospitalization for an illness or accident. Occupational therapists also play a unique role for those with dementia. The therapist may assist with modifying the environment to ensure safety as the disease progresses along with caregiver education to prevent burnout. Occupational therapists also play a role in palliative and hospice care. The goal at this stage of life is to ensure that the roles and occupations that the individual finds meaningful continue to be meaningful. If the person is no longer able to perform these activities, the occupational therapist can offer new ways to complete these tasks while taking into consideration the environment along with psychosocial and physical needs. Not only do occupational therapists work with older adults in traditional settings, they also work in senior centre's and ALFs.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Visual impairment is one of the top 10 disabilities among American adults. Occupational therapists work with other professions, such as optometrists, ophthalmologists, and certified low vision therapists, to maximize the independence of persons with a visual impairment by using their remaining vision as efficiently as possible. AOTA's promotional goal of “Living Life to Its Fullest” speaks to who people are and learning about what they want to do, particularly when promoting the participation in meaningful activities, regardless of a visual impairment. Populations that may benefit from occupational therapy includes older adults, persons with traumatic brain injury, adults with potential to return to driving, and children with visual impairments.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Visual impairments addressed by occupational therapists may be characterized into 2 types including low vision or a neurological visual impairment. An example of a neurological impairment is a cortical visual impairment (CVI) which is defined as “...abnormal or inefficient vision resulting from a problem or disorder affecting the parts of brain that provide sight”. The following section will discuss the role of occupational therapy when working with the visually impaired.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational therapy for older adults with low vision includes task analysis, environmental evaluation, and modification of tasks or the environment as needed. Many occupational therapy practitioners work closely with optometrists and ophthalmologists to address visual deficits in acuity, visual field, and eye movement in people with traumatic brain injury, including providing education on compensatory strategies to complete daily tasks safely and efficiently. Adults with a stable visual impairment may benefit from occupational therapy for the provision of a driving assessment and an evaluation of the potential to return to driving. Lastly, occupational therapy practitioners enable children with visual impairments to complete self care tasks and participate in classroom activities using compensatory strategies.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational therapists address the need for rehabilitation following an injury or impairment. When planning treatment, occupational therapists address the physical, cognitive, psychosocial, and environmental needs involved in adult populations across a variety of settings.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational therapy practitioners, or occupational therapists (OTs), are uniquely poised to educate, recommend, and promote the use of assistive technology to improve the quality of life for their clients. OTs are able to understand the unique needs of the individual in regards to occupational performance and have a strong background in activity analysis to focus on helping clients achieve goals. Thus, the use of varied and diverse assistive technology is strongly supported within occupational therapy practice models.


title: Occupational therapy

text: Because of the rising need for occupational therapy practitioners in the U.S., many facilities are opting for travel occupational therapy practitioners—who are willing to travel, often out of state, to work temporarily in a facility. Assignments can range from 8 weeks to 9 months, but typically last 13–26 weeks in length. Travel therapists work in many different settings, but the highest need for therapists are in home health and skilled nursing facility settings. There are no further educational requirements needed to be a travel occupational therapy practitioner; however, there may be different state licensure guidelines and practice acts that must be followed. According to Zip Recruiter, , the national average salary for a full-time travel therapist is $86,475 with a range between $62,500 to $100,000 across the United States. Most commonly (43%), travel occupational therapists enter the industry between the ages of 21–30.


title: Occupational therapy

text: The practice area of occupational justice relates to the “benefits, privileges and harms associated with participation in occupations” and the effects related to access or denial of opportunities to participate in occupations. This theory brings attention to the relationship between occupations, health, well-being, and quality of life. Occupational justice can be approached individually and collectively. The individual path includes disease, disability, and functional restrictions. The collective way consists of public health, gender and sexual identity, social inclusion, migration, and environment. The skills of occupational therapy practitioners enable them to serve as advocates for systemic change, impacting institutions, policy, individuals, communities, and entire populations. Examples of populations that experience occupational injustice include refugees, prisoners, homeless persons, survivors of natural disasters, individuals at the end of their life, people with disabilities, elderly living in residential homes, individuals experiencing poverty, children, immigrants, and LGBTQI+ individuals.


title: Occupational therapy

text: For example, the role of an occupational therapist working to promote occupational justice may include:


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational therapy practitioners’ role in occupational justice is not only to align with perceptions of procedural and social justice but to advocate for the inherent need of meaningful occupation and how it promotes a just society, well-being, and quality of life among people relevant to their context. It is recommended to the clinicians to consider occupational justice in their everyday practice to promote the intention of helping people participate in tasks that they want and need to do.


title: Occupational therapy

text: In contrast, occupational injustice relates to conditions wherein people are deprived, excluded or denied of opportunities that are meaningful to them. Types of occupational injustices and examples within the OT practice include:


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational deprivation: The exclusion from meaningful occupations due to external factors that are beyond the person's control. For example, a person with difficulties with functional mobility may find it challenging to reintegrate into the community due to transportation barriers.


title: Occupational therapy

text: • OTs can help in raising awareness and bringing communities together to reduce occupational deprivation


title: Occupational therapy

text: • OTs can recommend the removal of environmental barriers to facilitate occupation, whilst designing programs that enable engagement.


title: Occupational therapy

text: • Advocacy by providing information to policy to prevent possible unintended occupational deprivation and increase social cohesion and inclusion


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational apartheid: The exclusion of a person in chosen occupations due to personal characteristics such as age, gender, race, nationality, or socioeconomic status. An example can be seen in children with developmental disabilities from low socioeconomic backgrounds whose families would opt out of therapy due to financial constraints.


title: Occupational therapy

text: • OTs providing interventions within a segregated population must focus on increasing occupational engagement through large-scale environmental modification and occupational exploration.


title: Occupational therapy

text: • OTs can address occupational engagement through group and individual skill-building opportunities, as well as community-based experiences that explore free and local resources


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational marginalization: Relates to how implicit norms of behavior or societal expectations prevent a person from engaging in a chosen occupation. As an example, a child with physical impairments may only be offered table-top leisure activities instead of sports as an extracurricular activity due to the functional limitations caused by his physical impairments.


title: Occupational therapy

text: • OTs can design, develop, and/or provide programs that mitigate the negative impacts of occupational marginalization and enhance optimal levels of performance and wellbeing that enable participation


title: Occupational therapy

text: Occupational imbalance: The limited participation in a meaningful occupation brought about by another role in a different occupation. This can be seen in the situation of a caregiver of a person with a disability who also has to fulfill other roles such as being a parent to other children, a student, or a worker.


title: Occupational therapy

text: • OTs can advocate fostering for supportive environments for participation in occupations that promote individuals’ well-being and in advocating for building healthy public policy