Integrative OT

About

The Integrative OT program model provides nature-based services for children in the Birmingham, Alabama area. Our occupational therapy services are aimed at facilitating holistic health and wellness through nature-based interventions. Integrative OT is also certified to provide lymphedema, functional nutrition, and trauma-related services and co-hosts Heeling Cancer hikes for adults undergoing cancer treatment or who are cancer survivors of any kind.

Categories Program Adults Children & Youth Community & Advocacy Therapeutic

Program Details

Integrative OT provides occupational therapy services aimed at facilitating holistic health and wellness through nature-based interventions. Integrative OT is also certified to provide lymphedema, functional nutrition, and trauma-related services.

Nature-based therapy for children is provided in both individual and group sessions. Private practice, nature-based OT encompasses outdoor play aimed at the individual's goals. Integrative OT's nature-based camps provide group therapy aimed at social skills, fine motor skills, feeding, and executive functioning.

As part of its larger commitment to people and planetary health, Integrative OT recently advocated for the installation of a paved walking path from a nearby neighborhood to an elementary school in Chelsea, AL, a suburb of Birmingham. The walking path was collaboratively approved by city and county officials. This path now enables children to safely walk to school, which is beneficial for their health and reduces the carbon footprint of many cars driving to school for drop off and pick up. With this successful outcome, Integrative OT plans to continue to help "green up" local communities.

Integrative OT also co-hosts Heeling Cancer hikes with a local massage therapist. This no-cost community-based service is for adults currently undergoing cancer treatment or who are cancer survivors of any kind. The program was created by Integrative OT and Mending Tree Massage in the hopes of connecting cancer survivors with the healing benefits of community, encouraging outside activity, and building a bridge between provider and participant. We begin each of our walking sessions with an embodiment practice, reconnecting ourselves with our innately beautiful, strong bodies. We provide hikes for all abilities and levels of physical activity. In the middle of our sessions, we provide a forest bathing meditation where we tap into the multi-sensory physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental benefits of being in nature. Participants from each hike provide encouraging feedback that the reconnection to self, community, and nature has increased feelings of interconnectedness, peace, and happiness while decreasing feelings of isolation, loneliness, and fatigue. Heeling Cancer is relatively new, and we hope to see more participants and collaborate with other health providers in the future.

Contact Magan Higgins Gramling integrativeot2@gmail.com (205) 552-9867 Integrative OT

Populations Served
Integrative OT provides care for people of all ages and diagnoses.

Services Offered

Individual, nature-based occupational therapy services
Individual, somatic-based trauma therapy
Group-based, nature camps for children

Cost to Participate
$100 per hour for individual sessions; the cost for nature-based group camps are determined based on the number of participants

Staff Composition
Magan Higgins Gramling, OTD, OTR/L, CTP, CFNIP, CLT, CMF

A child in a blue shirt and a child in a red shirt are playing the game Twister outdoors, on a surface of dried grass and leaves.

A group of children and one adult are smiling and dancing outdoors.

A young child, surrounded by dry leaves, is holding a lizard-like object, while another child holds a list of various outdoor objects.

Participating in a nature-based OT group is fun for all.

A child is sitting by a dog wearing a blue bandana. The child is reading a book to the dog as it lays near them.

Two people are seated with their backs to the camera on a low stone wall with a pond and water feature spraying water behind them. Another person is seated cross-legged on the ground in front of them in a clearing surrounded by trees.

In a tree and fern-lined area, three women are seated on rocks that surround a small pond with a water feature spraying water.

Two people are hiking in the woods along a wide trail covered in light brown leaves. The person on the left is using hiking poles. The trees have foliage of various shades of green, yellow, orange, and red.

Four people, one holding a small baby, are smiling at the camera while in a wooded area with dappled sunlight shining through the trees.

Recent Case Studies

People walk along a gravel path with benches and a waterway in the background.

Place

Muscota Marsh

The restoration of Muscota Marsh in New York City created public waterfront access through land owned by Columbia University while restoring habitat, increasing biodiversity, and improving stormwater management.

People walking and riding bicycles on a path with tall grass on either side of the path and mountains in the background.

Place

Story Mill Community Park

Encompassing 60 acres, Story Mill includes 40 acres of nature preserve with restored wetlands, aspen groves, open meadows, and the East Gallatin River, and 20 acres offering educational and recreational opportunities to engage community members and accommodate gatherings.

Nighttime aerial view shows the illuminated park with a crowd of people sitting on the lawn and the city skyline in the background.

Place

SoundScape Park

The space was transformed from a parking lot into a multi-use park that hosts a busy schedule of social events, including world-class audio-visual experiences, concerts, and film screenings.