My name is Emily Silva and I am graduating from the Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) Program at Virginia Commonwealth University in May of 2022. I have just completed my doctoral capstone project with BIAV to support and enhance its longest-running program, Camp Bruce McCoy. However, my time with BIAV extends far beyond the past 14 weeks of my capstone project.
I was fortunate enough to become involved with BIAV in 2017 after getting connected with Dana Larson, an OT who has been volunteering his time to camp for 10+ years now. 2017 marked the first of my three years as a counselor for Camp Bruce McCoy – I was only 20 years old, and I felt absolutely terrified to approach a new experience in an unfamiliar environment with a population I had limited experience with. Ultimately, forcing myself out of my comfort zone turned out to be the best decision I could have made.
Looking back almost five years later, I consider my first year at Camp Bruce McCoy to be the starting point of my OT journey: I saw the therapeutic value of “doing”- actively engaging in fun, challenging, and fulfilling activities that are adapted to meet any and all individual needs.
I was amazed by the undying resilience and tenacity of survivors of brain injury. They shared their stories with me – the injury, the “before” vs. the “after”, the stigma, the isolation, the loss, the grief. At that point, I recognized how vital it is to be a member of a community with others that share your lived experience.
After each of my three years as a Camp Bruce McCoy counselor, I walked away knowing I gained so much in return from the incredible individuals who attend our camp. These moments of gratitude have fueled my efforts over the last five years to get where I am now – finishing undergrad, applying and earning acceptance to VCU’s OT program, pushing through three years of grad school (during a global pandemic), and coming full circle to finish my doctoral capstone with the very organization that helped jumpstart my career. I am so proud to be a part of the BIAV and Camp Bruce McCoy family, and I cannot wait to return to camp for the first time since 2019 this May. By then, I’ll officially be an occupational therapist – a dream that would have never come to fruition without BIAV and Camp Bruce McCoy.
If you would like to support BIAV or Camp Bruce McCoy, please consider purchasing something off our Camp Registry or donating to BIAV.