July 22, 2021

Anne Johnson, Occupational Therapist

Central, Life@Work, Work Life

There were two inspirations that led me to pursue a career in occupational therapy. One was having the chance to shadow an occupational therapist who worked with pediatrics in the Twin Cities. I just I loved it. I especially enjoyed working with autistic children. When I joined CentraCare – Long Prairie in 2014, we had two kids that were coming in for occupational therapy services. Then more kids kept showing up and you kind of start to realize that there are a lot of families out there that need services. And how do you say no to that? Now, I have a caseload of 53 kids.

But before that, my childhood best friend’s mom inspired me. She ran an in-home daycare and was amazing with kids. She never lost her temper and taught kids how to work on hard things so they could learn and grow. She helped them try new things and manage challenges without pushing too hard. And that’s kind of the core of pediatric occupational therapy. It’s meeting them where they’re at and helping push them a little further – helping them learn to problem solve so that they can do things on their own. She was an incredible model for that. I spent so much time at her house that it probably helped prepare me a little better for what I do today. In fact I saw her recently and told her that she’s part of the reason I ended up as an occupational therapist working with kids!