Hey, I’m KB

I’m an Occupational Therapist and Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist.

I am here to collaborate with you to create safe, functional, and aesthetically pleasing home environments to support your wellbeing and personal functional goals.

I love a challenge.

What is Occupational Therapy?

Great Question!

Occupational therapy (OT) is the therapeutic use of everyday life occupations with persons, groups, or populations (clients) to support occupational performance and participation. - American Occupational Therapy Association

Wow, that was a mouthful. To put it plainly, OTs focus on the things you want and need to do in your day-to-day life. OT intervention uses everyday life activities (occupations) to promote health, well-being, and your ability to participate in what is important to you. The approach can be restorative, adaptive, or compensatory, and OT’s are often challenged with finding unique solutions to complex problems (human beings are complicated!). OTs work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, rehab centers, schools, and in the home.

At home, the focus is on ensuring that you remain as safe, functional, and independent as possible in your environment. Depending on your circumstances, and if you’ve had a recent change in functioning (like a stroke, breaking a hip, or another medical event), this may include learning new approaches to every day tasks, teaching loved ones and caregivers how to best provide support, making sure you have all the equipment you need, and providing recommendations on how to modify your home or living space to help you meet your goals.

Occupational Therapy and Home Modification

Why Should I work with an OT?

OTs have extensive knowledge of the human body, health conditions, progression and prognosis of illness, and the medical care needed to properly care for you and your loved ones now and as time goes on. OTs are trained problem solvers, with a deep understanding of how to adapt activities or environments to keep you functional and safe. OTs know a lot about adaptive and durable medical equipment and can make appropriate recommendations.

The largest difference between a contractor and an OT performing a home modification evaluation is the medical and disease knowledge OTs have that contractors do not. Home modifications are costly and time consuming. Bringing an OT onto your home modification team will protect your investment by ensuring that the changes you make to your home will continue to serve you for as long as possible and reducing the likelihood of needing to turn your home into a construction zone for a second time.

  • Person-Centered

  • Community Oriented

Phone call

Let’s chat to see that your needs and my services align, at no cost to you. I’d love to hear your ideas, goals, the challenges that present. We will decide together if a comprehensive OT home assessment is right for you at this time.

Contact me

My Process

In Home Evaluation

I will meet you at your home. I will gather information about your personal and medical history, the challenges you may be facing in interfacing with your home, your hopes and dreams. I might use formal assessment tools, depending on what the situation calls for. I will then complete a comprehensive inventory of your home. Following this visit I will provide you with a detailed report of my findings and recommendations.

Follow Up

I will be available to you by phone for any questions or concerns that may arise while working with contractors. Once projects are complete, I will return to your home for some good old fashioned 1:1 occupational therapy. This is to make sure you are satisfied and comfortable with the changes that have been made, to train you and/or caregivers on how to use any new equipment, and make any small adjustments that maybe helpful.

What Clients are Saying

"Recently I secured a Massachusetts Home Modification Loan to have an accessible bathroom built in my home. As good as my contractor was, I knew I wanted an occupational therapist to figure out how to fine tune the space to meet my needs. On the recommendation of a former OT and PT I hired KB Bender. In just a few short hours they were able to assess the situation and come up with a plan that took advantage of my strengths. Most importantly, they listened to me and the final successful plan reflected the attention they paid to what they heard. A thousand thanks, KB, for all your help."

- P.B., Northampton, MA