Janice Hinds’ leadership experience is relevant to both of the workshops she has been selected to (co)present at this year’s OTAC Conference.  

She is an active volunteer leader in the state and national associations, including being a past president of OTAC and a long-term member of the Legislative Committee which involved collaborating with various entities such as DORA, on regulatory matters (e.g., registration and licensure!).  Janice is the Agenda Committee Chairperson for the AOTA Representative Assembly, and chairs the newly-developed orientation program and committee for Year One RA Reps.  She has formally, and informally, mentored new practitioners through AOTA’s ELDP.  She earned her AOTA Board Certification in Mental Health and reviews applications for the BASC.  Janice and colleagues collaborated long-distance on the creation of a leadership workshop they presented at the AOTA Conference in SLC, and at several state conferences, using their experiences and growing trajectories to inspire others.  

Almost seven years ago, she found an opportunity to use her passion for mental health practice and desire for clinical supervision with seasoned peers by creating a mental health study group.  This group continues to find imaginative and resourceful avenues to learn, challenge and support one another, and have fun.  Janice has taken advantages of opportunities to share successes with leadership at NBCOT, OTA Program Directors, and with state associations’ leaders and members, including OTAC’s developing SISs.  She is currently figuring out how to turn this venture into a research project!

Janice is the sole occupational therapy practitioner at CO Mental Health Institute at Fort Logan, which is a state government-run hospital in Denver that serves an adult population of people with severe, persistent, complex mental illnesses with an overall goal of assisting them to return to living in the community.  She supervises fieldwork students, and is an adjunct lab faculty with the Creighton-Regis OTD program.

Janice earned an associate degree in occupational therapy assisting and worked as a COTA for 10+ years before earning a BS in OT and later an advanced master’s degree, both from CO State University.  Her past employment experiences include traveling therapist, Career Services advisor and instructor with a business and technology university, and founding director of an OTA program.
OT-nesses that resonate with Janice:  clinical reasoning, therapeutic use of self, humanistic and person-environment-occupation theories, OT/OTA matters, authentic OT, it's-all-about-the-client, cognitive disabilities model, OTIPM, and "doing."  Having fun, holding hope, all things purple, canning jams, red wine, friends and family adventures, and creating homemade Christmas ornaments are a few of the important occupations that give her life meaning!