Occupational therapist spotlight
Professional and personal passions align for Children’s occupational therapist
To say that Marget Wincent loves her job may just be the understatement of the year. She’s an occupational therapist (OT) in the Day Feeding program at Children’s Health℠ Our Children’s House Dallas, and one of the things she enjoys most is identifying a patient’s strengths and finding new solutions to help the child reach his/her goals.
“It’s a beautiful profession that I recommend to anyone I meet,” she says. “Occupational therapists help people gain independence so they can get back to doing everything that is meaningful to them in their daily lives - school, activities, hobbies and more.”
For Marget, her professional journey started in California in 1979. Since then, she has traveled the U.S. and the world - including Spain and China - taking her skills and expertise to help patients meet challenges head-on and break through barriers.
In 1988, however, her career took a more personal turn when her son Zach was born with Down syndrome. She says her experiences as an OT helped her navigate her new role as a mother of a child with unique needs.
“We often had to develop programs where there were none,” she says. “Throughout Zach’s life we used special education resources available, but have also pushed for more inclusive environments and kept moving forward.”
It was her family’s continuous push toward inclusivity that led her to her most recent role: children’s book author. She thought about all the children she had come in contact in her life, both at home and at work, she realized there weren’t many books that openly showed children with different abilities alongside one another. So, she decided to write one herself titled, “What are your Superpowers?”
“Being an occupational therapist and a mother to a child with unique needs has been such a blessing in my life, and now it’s my turn to share what I’ve learned with others,” she says. “My family personally experienced the beauty of inclusion, and I wanted to equip other families and teachers with an engaging story so children can learn about our differences at an early age and understand that’s what can make them special.”
Marget is quick to point out how grateful she is that her professional and family life fit so perfectly together, recognizing that while her expertise as an OT may have equipped her to find the very best care for her son, her experience as a mother has provided a greater awareness and empathy towards the challenges that many of her patients and their families face daily.
Her professional life and personal life will merge once more this summer as her youngest daughter, Zoe, completes her degree as an OT assistant, and this mom couldn’t be prouder!