Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Brooks OTR/L, BCPR, CHT.
Hi Ashley, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve been an Occupational Therapist (OT) for about thirteen years now. I started my career in California, where I had moved not long after receiving my OT degree from the University of Florida, and started working in the field of hand therapy from almost the very beginning. That’s fairly unusual for a new grad – hand therapy is considered a specialty field for OTs, requiring extra training, mentorship, and certifications. Even though the name only says hand we have to be prepared to treat the entire upper extremity from fingertip to shoulder. I love anatomy and I’m a pretty curious person when it comes to continuous learning, both of which lent themselves well to the complex field I’d entered. Plus I had some really great mentors that accelerated my early career growth.
That insatiable need to continue gaining knowledge in my specialty later led me to undertake an orthopedic fellowship with OrthoCarolina in Charlotte, NC, which at the time was one of only a handful of hand therapy fellowships in the country. At the fellowship I conducted a research study that I recently presented as a poster at an international hand therapy conference in Washington DC. While in Charlotte I also worked as faculty for academic programs and co-authored a book chapter.
My fellowship in Charlotte brought me back to the Southeast and then in 2020 I moved to Atlanta, where I continued to practice. In one of my proudest professional achievements I was awarded the 2023 Emerging Hand Therapist Award from the national hand therapy organization the American Society of Hand Therapists (ASHT).
Across all three states, I spent most of my career working in outpatient clinics with large teams of dedicated therapists and physicians. These clinics do great work, but they are fast paced and typically require therapists to see multiple clients at a time. That’s a reality we learn to live with as therapists, but it’s nonetheless a source of frustration for both the client and the therapist. I found myself trying to do more for my clients with less and less time.
After having my second child, I had the opportunity to take some time and begin to consider other practice models that would better fit the kind of customized care that I knew I wanted to provide for my clients and allow me more personal flexibility to be present for my family. This led me to the in-home concierge model, which I believe allows me to provide a more thorough, customized, and empathetic level of care, and that’s how Hand in Hand Concierge Occupational Therapy came to be!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There’s been a lot of ups and downs! I’d like to think I’ve got the therapist side of things covered pretty well, but I’m still very much learning how to be a business woman. There are so many aspects to launching and running a small business, and I’ve had to wear a lot of different hats and take on a lot of challenges – which are often quite different from what I expected when I first envisioned what my business would look like. One of the biggest challenges I have is educating people on what an OT does (e.g., versus, say, a physical therapist) and on what an OT specializing in hand therapy does. Most people aren’t too familiar with either my profession or specialization, but once I explain I find most people have had some kind of arm or hand pain at some point and are able to pretty quickly and intuitively come to understand the value hand therapy provides.
As you know, we’re big fans of Hand in Hand Concierge Occupational Therapy. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I’m an OT, but I’m also a Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) and Board Certified in Physical Rehabilitation (BCPR). The implication of all those letters postfixed after my name is that I’m really specialized in treating injuries for the whole upper extremity. Any kind of injury that can happen from fingertip to shoulder falls within my scope of practice and expertise (think tennis elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, shoulder impingement, wrist fracture, etc). Part of my job is utilizing manual therapies and modalities to help with the physical healing, but there’s also a huge emotional component as well! We as humans are so vulnerable when we lose function in our hands, it’s such a critical part of our day to day function. As an OT, I help people recover but more importantly I help them engage in the everyday activities that bring them purpose and joy, which is the real goal of what I do. I identify movements, activities, or environmental factors that are problematic and modify them in order to prevent future injuries, such as wrist positions while holding a baby or analyzing a desk set up in a home office. Education is also a huge part of what I do: I think when people understand the why of what we do in therapy then it’s so much easier to follow through with exercises and actually get better. It’s not enough to just rehabilitate an injury, I help people feel empowered and more in control of their body in order to do the things that are important to them.
At Hand in Hand Concierge OT, I provide this type of personalized, outpatient-quality hand therapy wherever it’s most convenient for my clients—in their homes, offices, or virtually. As the only Occupational Therapist and Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) offering this kind of mobile and concierge care in the Atlanta area (as far as I know!), it’s been really rewarding to carve out that niche and be able to offer something a little different to the community.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
I’ve always been a creative person! I think it’s one of the reasons I was drawn to OT in the first place. When I was a child, I had a dollhouse that my brother and I would play with for hours. I would build these tiny pieces of furniture and accessories out of whatever I could find around the house – paper clips, buttons, paper towel tubes. My brother would bring his dinosaurs to “visit” the dollhouse and I would craft these intricate tiny detailed vignettes for them. It was unconventional but we were rarely bored!
Back when I worked in the clinic, my coworkers would call me “Macgyver” because I would craft unique splints and tools out of whatever was around, so it’s safe to say those dollhouse skills have come in handy!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://handinhandconciergeot.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/handinhandconciergeot/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563852256025
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-brooks-hand-in-handot
