JENNYS STORY - REINVENTING ONESELF THROUGH OCCUPATION AND NARRATIVE CONFIGURATION

Two life history interviews were conducted to discover how one woman, Jenny, experienced a traumatic head injury rehabilitation, and recover y. Narrative analysis of the transcribed interviews revealed a rich st ory of how Jenny had fashioned her identity and character through chil dhood occupations, including studying classical literature and music, and of how she drew upon resources developed in childhood to engineer her recovery. It also illustrated how Jenny used a recursive process o f narrative construction and engagement in self-devised graduated occu pations, including studying, playing music, writing, computer graphics , and theater production, to create a new identity and develop capacit ies to process complex information and exercise creativity. Jenny's st ory illustrates the usefulness of gaining a perspective on patients as occupational beings through the gathering of life histories focused o n occupation, the importance of collaborative patient-therapist goal s etting, and the necessity for considering both the doing (practic) and the meaning (narrative) aspects of occupation. Her story supports man y scholars' arguments that the therapeutic relationship, and thus occu pational therapy practice, may be enhanced through the use of life his tory interviewing in occupational therapy evaluation and treatment.