title: Engagement, Exploration, Empowerment.
abstract: Engagement, exploration, and empowerment are significant practice strategies used by occupational therapy practitioners as a means of getting to know what matters to clients and how to facilitate their participation in everyday life. Applied to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) as an organization, professional engagement, exploration of new service contexts, and empowerment of members to take an active role in shaping the profession's future are examined. This address, given at the 2015 AOTA Annual Convention & Expo, looks to the future in terms of engaging greater numbers of members; participating in Vision 2025, a strategic planning initiative that will be unveiled at the 2016 AOTA Annual Conference & Expo; and empowering members to achieve excellence in occupational therapy.
authors.affiliation: Virginia (Ginny) Stoffel, PhD, OT, BCMH, FAOTA, is Associate Professor, Department of Occupational Science and Technology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; stoffelv@uwm.edu.
authors.forename: Virginia Ginny
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Stoffel
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009788:Occupational Therapy; D010358:Patient Participation; D011209:Power, Psychological; D012958:Societies, Scientific