Sweet treats for treatment

Wedge Gardens Treatment Centre’s occupational therapists use meaningful activities in order to assess and treat their clients.

“Meaningful activities are those activities which are appropriate to the client’s interests, gender, culture, chronological age, developmental age, roles and needs,” said Ms Laetitia Goosen, the deputy manager of Rand Aid Association’s Wedge Gardens Treatment Centre.

Activities such as baking require the client, among other things, to understand and follow through the steps of a task, use their concrete cognitive skills such as judgement, decision making and problem solving skills, and to implement the appropriate delay of gratification needed to ensure a high-quality, end-product.

“In addition to this, the sweet, successful and tasty end products of baking feed constructively into the client’s feedback system in order to stimulate positive feelings of achievement and this will improve the client’s feelings of self efficacy and overall self esteem,” she said.

For more information, contact the Wedge Gardens Treatment Centre on 011 430-0320.