IN THE pursuit of dreams and careers, people can sometimes fall in and out of love with them. Finding purpose only to lose it—but also, to find it again. Such was the case for Janine Louise Dy, head occupational therapist, and clinic and program director of InterCare Life Skills Center—a full-service facility that offers programs on occupational therapy, speech therapy, and physical therapy for children and adolescents.
Growing up, Janine took an early affinity for the medical profession.
“As a child, I had always dreamed of becoming a doctor. While I was in first grade, I remember thinking that I wanted to be like my doctor and help the sick,” she said. Years later, she went on to take up Occupational Therapy in Cebu Doctors’ University and then pursue a Master’s Degree in Occupational Therapy Practice & Graduate Diploma of Health Sciences in Monash University, Melbourne.
“All of the things I learned in my post-graduate studies were priceless. It made me love my profession even more,” she said.
After Melbourne, she returned to Cebu with a new degree, albeit, also a lost sense of self.
“Coming back from Australia, I was in a really bad place. Toward the end of my residency there, I experienced burnout, workplace racism and homesickness.” As she tried to find herself again by venturing into the food business, she only realized that her passion was elsewhere. She returned to her roots and rekindled her love for occupational therapy, thus, InterCare was born.
With InterCare, she aims to realize her advocacy as an occupational therapist, which is to improve the therapy and special education practice in Cebu and bring it nationwide; and to establish InterCare “as a ocial enterprise that helps individuals with special needs have the opportunity to become valuable members of society.”
For Janine, the biggest hurdle to overcome as an occupational therapist is the lack of awareness about the profession itself.
“Majority of the population do not really know what Occupational Therapy is, which is why it’s difficult to explain the need for it to society.” But for Janine, every obstacle is worth it whenever she sees progress not just in her students but also in herself.
Aside from InterCare, she is also in the process of starting a Home Health Allied Services company with a friend and colleague called ComCare Community Allied Care Services. The business aims to bring health care professionals into the homes of Cebuanos who need medical assistance, regardless of age.
At 28, Janine’s journey as an OT, which she considers an occupation and a passion, is already quite the undertaking—but it has barely just begun. With both the heart and brain for the profession, there’s a lot in store for this passionate lady’s future and it is certainly looking bright.