Second year Occupational Therapy Doctoral (OTD) students in Belmont’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences recently completed ergonomic assessments at the Thistle Farms manufacturing facility and offices under the supervision of Drs. Missy Bryan, Teresa Plummer, and Sandy Stevens, professors in Belmont University’s Occupational Therapy program. Thistle Farms is a non-profit social enterprise that helps women heal from prostitution, trafficking, and addiction through safe housing, employment, and social support. The enterprise provides housing and clinical services at no cost to the women and without federal aid.
Becca Stevens opened the first sanctuary home in 1997 for five women survivors. Now, up to thirty-six women are housed in an environment that offers transformation through housing, healthcare, counseling, employment, and community building. Following a two-year residential program, they become candidates for spring graduation. After their graduation, the women can transition to full-time employment with a Thistle Farms social enterprise, which began in 2001, or seek employment elsewhere.
Belmont OTD students observed office workers and provided education on adjusting their workstations to decrease the risk of repetitive motion injury. When reflecting on the observations, Dr. Bryan noted, “It was wonderful to see our OT students engaging their hearts, minds, and bodies in service to such a wonderful organization. The Thistle Farms employees were interested to learn more about how to keep their bodies free from injury while doing their meaningful work, and our students were able to put into practice content they had learned earlier that day.”
Students also observed all the workstations in the manufacturing site and are compiling a list of suggestions to reduce the risk of injury to workers. “I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at the manufacturing warehouse for Thistle Farms. It was exciting to work alongside the employees at the warehouse and use an OT lens to assess how we can improve their work environment, OTD student Sarah Grace Waddell, OTD said. “I also love the mission behind Thistle Farms and found it interesting to discover more about the behind the scenes of the organization.”
Following the assessments, Dr. Stevens stated, “Working with Thistle Farms provided our students with an incredible opportunity to see love as a force to change the world. The organization’s slogan, ‘Love Heals’ is put into action and demonstrated through the people and programs we observed. Belmont’s focus on whole-person formation will continue to be implemented through our partnership with this program.”