Planning Grant Collective 2025: Coaching in Occupational Therapy

Oct. 20-21, 2025

The 2025 AOTF Planning Grant Collective, “Coaching in Occupational Therapy,” brought together over 25 experts to engage in an insightful discussion on how coaching can be incorporated into occupational therapy practice.  

The Collective was attended by leaders from diverse interdisciplinary backgrounds – including coaching, community mental health, speech-language pathology, nutrition science, pediatric intervention, early childhood education, adult rehabilitation, and occupational therapy. They came together using their unique expertise to define and discuss the role coaching plays in occupational therapy through the lenses of core components, curriculum, and research priorities.  

All three groups emphasized the importance of establishing a common language to talk about coaching, the need to define the role coaching plays in occupational therapy, and the framework for incorporating this technique into practice.  

This meeting marks a first step in developing collaborative teams that will continue to meet to create further action steps and projects, white papers, and pilot programs to enable occupational change through a client-centered and coaching-infused approach. We believe this interdisciplinary approach to establishing definition, education, and priorities for coaching-integrated practice will lead to further alignment and advancement.  

Planning Grant Committee 

Dorothy Kessler, PhD,  MSc, OT Reg., Queens University 
Lauren Little, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, Rush University Medical Center 
MJ Mulcahey, PhD, OTR/L, CPPC, CLCP, FASIA, Thomas Jefferson University 
Patricia Davies, Professor, PhD, OTR, FAOTA, Colorado State University 
Scott Tomchek, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, Louisville University  
Winifred Wiese Dunn, PhD, OTR, FAOTA, University of Missouri  
Scott Campbell, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, American Occupational Therapy Foundation 

Participants 
Alexandra O. Carlsson, MSc, Queens University 
Anna Boone, PhD, OTR/L, MSOT, University of Missouri 
Anne Hoffmann, PhD, CCC-SLP, Rush University 
Cathy Piersol, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, FNAP, Thomas Jefferson University 
Chrystine Mitchell, DHSc, OTR/L, Thomas Jefferson University 
Cori Schmitz, MSc, OT Reg., CPCC, University of Alberta 
Courtney Williams, Founder and CEO, TORSH INC. 
Gord Unsworth, MSc, OT (Reg.), Providence Care, Regional Director, Community Specialty Adult Mental Health 
Julia Beach, PhD, MSOT, Providence Care, Community Specialty Adult Mental Health 
Kevin Cloninger, PhD, MBC, HWC, University of Missouri
Leigh Wagner, PhD, RDN, Integrative Dietitian, Dr. Leigh Wagner, LLC 
Marie Christine Potvin, PhD, OTR/L, Thomas Jefferson University 
Mary Beth Kadlec, ScD, OTR, MGH Institute of Health Professions 
Melanie Tkach, PhD, MSOT, OTR/L, University of Missouri 
Myriam Chrétien-Vincent, PhD, OT Reg., University of Quebec Trois Rivieres 
Nicole Gerhardt, OTD, OTR/L, CBIS, CPPC, Thomas Jefferson University 
Sabrina Salvant, EdD, MSOT, MPH, Vice President, Education and Professional Development, AOTA 
Sarah Smith, DSc, OTR/L, University of New Hampshire 
Serena Wheeler, PhD, IECE, Louisville University 
Steven Taylor, PhD, OTD, OTR/L, Rush University 
Timothy Dionne, PhD, MSOT, OTR/L, University of New Mexico