Meet the experts

Katie Freeman is a Senior Occupational Therapist currently in her 10th year of practice at the University of Colorado Hospital (UCH). Her clinical experience started with floating throughout all areas of the hospital before narrowing in on becoming a primary therapist on the neurosciences unit. Katie's professional interests also include clinical research, education, also acting as the fieldwork coordinator for UH.

Marie graduated with a BS in occupational therapy in 1994, post-professional Master of Health Science in 2001, and earned the certified hand therapist designation in 2002.  She has practiced hand therapy in the city of Pittsburgh since 2005.  She is adjunct faculty at the University of Pittsburgh occupational therapy program on the topics of orthosis fabrication and hand therapy.

Bridgette Pepmeyer has been working as an OT for 12 years in various settings, with a background focusing mainly on neurorehabilitation. For the past three years, Bridgette has been helping to run a Café that employs adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and has found that OTPs can play a major role in helping these individuals engage meaningfully in employment. Through adaptive and restorative lenses and with a strategy-training guided discovery approach like CO-OP, Bridgette has worked to help adults with IDD soar past functional plateaus and gain vocational independence and a heightened sense of self-accomplishment.