LEND Care Team

Psychologists play a pivotal role in meeting the mental health needs of people with disabilities. Psychologists may work in a 1:1 therapeutic manner with a client and/or their family or lead groups. Psychologists can provide therapy, assessments, advocacy, and consultation. It is also common for Psychologists to provide consultation to the system around a client (e.g., teachers, allied health professionals, careers, support workers). In this context, the contributions of psychologist are best given within a multi-disciplinary group. Psychologists integrate clinical care with research to improve the mental health and quality of life of children, adolescents, and adults with disabilities. 

Occupational therapy helps people participate in meaningful, everyday activities ("occupations") that they want to and need to do. Occupational therapists work with individuals from birth to old age with a range of injuries, illnesses, and disabilities. Occupational therapists use a client-centered approach to understand the person, their abilities, strengths, challenges, and the factors that influence their participation in occupations. Occupational therapists are trained to break down activities and improve a person's ability to perform the activity and achieve their goals.

Speech-language Pathologists aim to prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in both children and adults, Speech therapy aims to improve person's functional communication skills in order for the person to better understand and interact with their peers and the world around them. Speech-language Pathologists are trained to capitalize on each person's strengths and provide evidence-based treatment to assist individual's in overcoming communication challenges.

RNs work in many capacities and settings and work with patients of all ages, An RN can have multiple responsibilities, including wound care, medication administration and education, head-to-toe assessments, and patient specific feedback to multidisciplinary teams. Some RNs are specialized and others see a variety of patients. Most RNS play the role of a clinical judge — deciding what medical orders to question and what new treatment-altering information to communicate to the provider. A core part of an RNs role is to be a non-biased advocate for their patient's unique and often complex wishes and needs.