founders

1) Benjamin Rush.

He was a Quaker, and the First physician to implement moral treatment practices in the United Sates.

(2) Philippe Pinel

Physician in France that developed "work treatment for the insane." He used music, exercise, work, literature, and farming as a means of diversion to decrease emotional disturbances and increase skills.

(3)Eleanor Clarke Slagle

She initiated her career in social work. Later, she directed the OT department Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic of John Hopkins Hospital and developed "habit training." She is known as the mother of occupational therapy.

4) Susan Cox Johnson

She believed occupation was morally uplifting and could improve mental and physical state of patients and inmates. She taught OT at Columbia University and advocated for higher education standards to increase competency in practitioners.

5)Adolf Meyer

A Swiss physician and professor of psychiatry at John Hopkins University. He developed the philosophical base of the profession and was committed to a holistic perspective.

6)Dr. William Rush Dunton jr

He is known as the father of occupational therapy and served as treasurer and president of NSPOT. He published Occupational Therapy: A Manual for Nurses.

7) William Tuke

An English Quaker who established the York Retreat and believed that moral treatment was more effective than restraints and drugs.

(8) Herbert Hall

A physician who designed "work cure" as an alternative to "rest cure" while working with patients suffering from neurasthenia. He used arts and crafts to improve patients health and financial independence

9) Susan Tracy

A nursing instructor who believed nurseswere the only ones qualified to practice occupations. She was involved in the arts and crafts movement and wrote Studies in Invalid Occupations, the first-known book about ОТ.

(10)Thomas Kinder

An architect and teacher who helped develop a system for vocational rehabilitation for disabled Canadian Veterans after WWI. He also designed hospitals in Canada and the United States for the treatment of tuberculosis patients.

(11) George Edward Barton

An architect who incorporated the Boston Society of Arts and Craft. He opened the Consolation House in Clifton Springs where occupations/ arts and crafts were used as methods of treatment.

(12) Dr. Gary Kielhofner

He worked under Dr. Mary Reilly's supervision and developed Model of Human Occupation (MOHO), the most evidence-based model in OT practice.