STU Alumna Opens Paediatric Occupational Therapy Clinic

STU alumna Hannah Gray (BA’16) has been in business for only two months and already the paediatric occupational therapist is booked solid with a growing wait list. 

 

Gray opened InfinOT Occupational Therapy on Darling’s Island near Saint John in late September. She provides occupational therapy care to children and youth who face challenges related to emotional regulation and social skills; attention, focusing, and memory; sensory processing; and functional skills like toileting or dressing. She also supports parents in providing care to their children. 

 

It’s a role Gray is passionate about. 

 

“A lot of people are putting their faith in me, trusting me with their child, which is just incredible,” she says. 

 

Originally considering a career as a social worker, Gray graduated from St. Thomas in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology before seeking a master’s degree in occupational therapy from Queen’s University in Ontario. Gray says learning about anatomy, physiology, and health theory at Queen’s was challenging but does not compare to the challenges of learning how to develop the critical thinking necessary to support patients through their challenges.  

 

“I think people who graduate with a liberal arts degree assume that health care would be too challenging for them,” she says. “I assumed that too. But that’s not the hard part. The hard part is making the decisions that affect people’s hearts and their families. Choosing wheelchairs or measuring products for ergonomics is not that challenging. But when you can walk into a paediatric palliative care room or interact with child protection services on a daily basis, you have to understand what your thought process is and you have to be critical about it. STU taught me how to do that.”

 

Gray worked as an occupational therapist in the Saint John area before ultimately deciding she wanted more control over how she practises, leading her to opening InfinOT. 

 

High demand for paediatric occupational therapy services and word of mouth have led to her practice filling up quickly, something Gray is grateful for. 

 

“People really care about what I’m doing, and what I am doing really matters to my community,” she says. “I knew I cared about it and that it was important to me. But I’ve learned that people respect the approach I have. And I think that approach comes from having a liberal arts background.”

 

For more information on Hannah Gray and InfinOT Occupational Therapy, please visit https://infinot.ca