Inspired by a child and driven by creativity – Meet OT Emily Keay

Emily Keay didn’t expect career advice from a nine-year-old, but a chance conversation at a summer camp set her on a path she hadn’t even considered.

Keay was volunteering at Brigadoon Village in the Annapolis Valley, after she moved from Toronto to attend Dalhousie University, when one of the young campers asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up.

“It was funny, coming from a nine-year-old,” Keay laughs. “I think I told her I was planning to go into medicine and become a doctor. She looked at me and said, ‘I think you should be an OT instead.’ I was 19 or 20 at the time, and I said, ‘I don’t actually think I know what that is.’”

The camper, who had been born blind, was very familiar with the role and value of an occupational therapist, having had the benefit of working with an OT for her entire life. She told Keay she loved how the OT was always figuring out fun and creative ways to achieve her goals.

“After hearing that from her, I realized ‘you know, you’re right, I think I do want to be an OT,” Keay says.

Graduating in 2024 with a master's in occupational therapy, Keay joined the Mental Health and Addictions Program team at Nova Scotia Health.

She works in an outpatient setting in Bridgewater, spending much of her time doing community visits, mostly in the home, working with neurodivergent children.  

“I really enjoy that I get to go to their homes, meet their people, see their routines in real life, figure out what’s working for families and what’s not. It’s important to me to learn what’s important to them, to really be able to design treatment specific to that child,” she says.

Finding solutions for children using a collaborative approach with a healthy dose of creativity is what appeals to Keays most about her job.  

“Kids are like sponges, they pick skills up so quickly if you can make the learning fun and engaging enough,” she says. “And I love how you can really see your progress in real time with kiddos, even just between sessions. It’s so impressive how fast their little brains work.

Keays’ role is to help children learn strategies and techniques to overcome everyday challenges and achieve their goals. But she says they have taught her so much as well, particularly when it comes to resilience.  

“These young people can be up against a lot.  I get to see them find the fun in their day and grow to understand that just because something is hard for them right now doesn’t mean it’s always going to be. I get to teach them to be so proud of themselves for everything that they learn, and every time they achieve that next step it really feels like such a good win for everybody.”

That love of finding creative solutions to challenging goals is likely what the young Brigadoon camper witnessed first-hand when she suggested Keays would be so well suited as an occupational therapist.

“It’s so fun for me to get to try out different things, and I love the mental challenge that every day is different, because every kid is different, and my job is to show up and meet them where they are.” 

Photo of Emily Keay.