OTD CAPSTONE: Educational Focus on LGBTQ+ & Mental Health

This course is a presentation of a 14-week Doctoral Capstone Experience completed at Drake University's Occupational Therapy Doctoral program. Over the course of this capstone, evidence-based educational content was developed and delivered across multiple settings — including OTD coursework, campus wellness events, and faculty development sessions — all centered on advancing LGBTQ+-affirming practice within occupational therapy and higher education.

Guided by the Model of Human Occupation and a trauma-informed care framework, this capstone pursued four learning objectives with a consistent emphasis on creating materials that outlast the experience itself. The work produced includes original OT course lectures and labs, campus wellness programming developed in partnership with student organizations, interactive educational sessions for faculty and staff, and a comprehensive curriculum map designed to integrate LGBTQ+ content across all five didactic semesters of Drake's OTD program.

Whether you are an OT student, educator, or healthcare professional, this course offers a transparent look at what a meaningful, community-engaged capstone can look like — and demonstrates how one practitioner used the doctoral experience to create resources that can be shared, adapted, and built upon by others. Sustainability, advocacy, and inclusive education are at the heart of everything presented here, with the goal of moving occupational therapy forward as a profession that truly serves all people.