From Therapist to Teacher: Development of Professional Identity and the Issue of Mediation

Abstract

The opening of a new educational program in the Occupational Therapy Department of Tel Aviv University required retraining cognitive therapists to become faculty members in their field of specialty. This training was conducted with application of the dynamic cognitive approach; therapists working within that context are described. A group of therapists participated in a workshop aimed at developing their teaching and mediating skills. The authors evaluated attitudes held by the participants toward teaching roles before and after the workshop. On the basis of both qualitative and quantitative analyses, it appears that the workshop facilitated changes in participants’ attitudes toward teaching, on emotional, cognitive, and practical levels.