President

Name: Linda Crawford, OTR/L, CDWF

Years with OTAC and on the board:

Prior to becoming president I served on the Membership and Conference Committees and have been a regular presenter at OTAC conferences since 2014.

Why did you join OTAC and the board?

I love our profession of occupational therapy and I look forward to working together to support OTs, OTAs and OT students in our state to become courageous leaders and practitioners by working to further develop an association that is responsive and supportive to your needs. We need the innovation, exploration, research, and inspired advocacy of the occupational therapy practitioners and students who will improve the lives and environments of the people we serve and shape the future of our profession.

Brief work history and current work setting:

I am a graduate of Colorado State University and have been an occupational therapist for over 30 years. I currently own a clinic-less community based private practice, Brave Therapy, specializing in working with people with complex pain conditions. I spent the first 10 years of my career specializing in brain injury and stroke rehabilitation and I have also been a complex seating and positioning specialist. I have worked in acute hospital, burn unit, acute and sub-acute rehabilitation, outpatient, and home health settings.

I am honored to be one of a handful of OTs certified as a facilitator of Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly™ and Rising Strong™ resilience curricula and I teach locally, nationally, and internationally on person-centered pain care and becoming brave leaders in our profession. I administrate the PainOT Facebook study group and am an active advocate for the occupational therapy profession!

A couple fun facts:

I have been married to the "first gentleman"  Scott, for 34 years, and we have a married adult daughter (waiting for grandkids!). I love to wear red shoes and in my younger years I was a 3 time national Pro Rally Co-driving Champion! These days I enjoy "slower" activities like running, hiking, puzzling, baking, writing, and learning to dance.