By Dave DeFusco
At the 2025 AOTA Annual Conference in April, Amanda Brenner, a graduate of the Katz School鈥檚 Occupational Therapy Doctorate, presented an innovative educational training course that prepares occupational therapy fieldwork students to work effectively with incarcerated individuals returning to society.
Under the mentorship of Dr. Alexandra Laghezza, a former clinical assistant professor of occupational therapy at the Katz School and now special assistant professor at Hofstra University, and in partnership with Grace Denfeld of the Afya Foundation, Brenner developed a project that embodied what the Katz School calls scholarship of service鈥攁 commitment to academic excellence through real-world impact.
鈥淎manda鈥檚 work is a powerful example of how clinical training, community partnership and academic research can come together to enact change,鈥 said Dr. Laghezza. 鈥淪he created something scalable, something that could and should be adopted across OT programs nationwide.鈥
The American criminal justice system, said Brenner, often perpetuates occupational injustices鈥攕tructural barriers that prevent individuals from engaging in meaningful, productive activities. These injustices contribute to alarmingly high recidivism rates: 83% of returning citizens are re-arrested within nine years of release.
Drawing from her prior fieldwork and expanding on Afya鈥檚 existing programming at the Westchester Department of Corrections, Brenner framed this crisis through an occupational therapy lens.
鈥淥ccupational justice,鈥 she said, 鈥渋s the belief that everyone has the right to participate in meaningful occupations, whether it鈥檚 work, education or caregiving. Yet for people who are incarcerated, those rights are often denied.鈥
The Afya Foundation鈥檚 long-running program at the Westchester Department of Corrections offers a unique response. There, inmates sort and package surplus medical supplies for shipment to countries in need. The work is meaningful, skill-based and rooted in service. It鈥檚 also an ideal setting for occupational therapy intervention. To prepare future occupational therapists for this emerging field, Brenner and her team designed a course structured in three interlocking phases:
Phase 1: Direct Engagement with Inmates: Fieldwork students observed and assisted two populations at the Westchester Department of Corrections: a young male offenders鈥 unit, where the focus was on life skills and functional tasks, and a women鈥檚 substance abuse unit, where sessions focused on social interaction and coping strategies. Students participated in Afya鈥檚 signature supply-sorting program while working alongside inmates in these populations, gaining critical insight into the environmental and emotional dynamics of incarceration.
Phase 2: Creation of Learning Modules: With this field experience in mind, Brenner developed a series of educational modules grounded in occupational therapy theory and justice system practices. The course emphasized self-awareness, empathy and evidence-based practice鈥攕kills essential for working with justice-involved populations. These included:
- PowerPoint-based lectures introducing occupational therapy鈥檚 role in the justice system
- Google Form quizzes to reinforce learning
- Interactive activities to uncover and address students鈥 implicit biases
- Case scenarios on recidivism reduction strategies
Phase 3: Module Implementation and Assessment: To measure the efficacy of the program, Brenner administered the course to 13 former Afya fieldwork students. The results were illuminating:
- Seven out of 14 students reported feeling unprepared to work with incarcerated individuals prior to the training.
- Twelve out of 14 believed it was 鈥渆xtremely鈥 or 鈥渧ery鈥 important to receive such training beforehand.
- Following the course, 12 out of 14 students rated their preparedness as 鈥済ood鈥 or 鈥渧ery good.鈥
- There was a 34% increase in students鈥 self-reported preparedness after completing the modules.
鈥淭he implications are wide-reaching,鈥 said Dr. Laghezza. 鈥淎manda鈥檚 findings suggest that occupational therapy education must evolve to meet the demands of a shifting social landscape, where systemic inequities and mass incarceration require not just awareness, but action.鈥
