Abstract:

Introduction:
The Occupational Therapy (OT) department, in collaboration with the Social Involvement Unit, initiated a unique course in 2003, named “Circles”. At the time, this pioneer course was the first to bring together academic learning in the classroom with practical social involvement in the community. Occupational therapy, as a holistic profession, emphasizes the environment as a main factor in the life of a person. An optimum contribution to the wellbeing of a person must take into consideration his or her environment. The “Circles” model provides the student with the opportunity to be in contact with a person in his or her natural environment, to get acquainted with it and to possibly, influence it. This way, the student can develop as a therapist and a conscious human being. Usually, OT students meet persons with disabilities only in the end of the second year of their studies. “Circles” enables them to meet and engage in a deep and meaningful relationship at the very beginning of the first year, in an early stage of their professional training. In this stage, the main goal of the interaction is a meeting between two human beings, without a background of a therapeutic setting. Moreover, from a social standpoint, the students can enhance their social understanding and moral compass.

Methodology:
This is a 1-year elective course for OT first year students, given by two lecturers from both departments involved, and is limited for 16 participants. The course has 3 dimensions involving interactions between the students and the client, the course lecturers, and the case manager. The students can choose the population they prefer to be engaged with during the course. The population varies from persons with: Cerebral Palsy, Autism Spectrum disorder, selective mutism, poor socio-economic background, and other conditions. The students meet their client for 2 hours on a weekly basis, either at their home, at the university, or at the community center. The purpose of the meetings is to spend time together and create a meaningful relationship with as many means as possible. Every second week, the students meet for group supervision by the two lecturers. They also receive emotional and professional support from the case manager, either on a personal or group basis.

Results:
Since 2003, approximately 320 students have participated in the course and 320 clients gained one year guidance from an OT student. Throughout the years, there have been approximately 15 institutions involved in the course. The course met its goals: meaningful interactions for all who were involved, a high satisfactory rate among all the participants, and a sense of empowerment. The students involved in the "Circles" course reported easy adaption to clinical setting in their first fieldwork experience, compared with their peers.

Conclusions:
The collaboration between the OT department and the Social Involvement Unit at Tel-Aviv University has led to a long-lasting successful course. It became to be a practical framework and was lately integrated in all the OT programs in Israel, in some of them even as a mandatory course.

Keywords:

Occupational Therapy, social involvement, community, disability, students.