CURRICULUM VITAE

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Ivory Tifa

1717 N. Verdugo Rd. #262
Glendale, CA 91208

 

FORMAL EDUCATION

OTD

  • Boston University Boston, MA (anticipated graduation 5/22/2022)

  • Doctoral Project: “We Rise by Lifting Others”: An Innovative

  • Wellness Program for Transitional Aged Youth

M.A.

  • New York University New York, NY (5/13/2004)

  • Occupational Therapy

B.A.

  • Oglethorpe University Atlanta, GA (5/12/2001)

  • Sociology with a concentration in Social Work          

CREDENTIALS

Registered Occupational Therapist by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT)

LICENSED

Licensed Occupational Therapist, California


CERTIFICATIONS

Certified HeartMath™ practitioner

Certified HeartMath™ instructor

ITAP Medically Versed Spanish Bilingual Language Facilitator

POSITIONS HELD 

Home Health Occupational Therapist
October 2015 to Present
Kaiser Permanente                                                                                                                 
Granada Hills, CA

  • Designed and lead an ongoing wellness initiative to support over 100 home health, Palliative, and Hospice staff including performing needs assessments, direct interventions, and results analysis

  • Perform innovative staff education and trainings for over 100 staff on wellness topics, altruism-based activities, and trauma-informed care 

  • Represent occupational therapy department on multiple collaborative leadership committees including unit-based teams (UBT) and the regional occupational therapy practice committee

  • Supervise certified home health aides and certified occupational therapy assistants

  • Provide direct patient care for diverse patients across the lifespan in the San Fernando Valley, Ventura County, and Antelope Valley 


Occupational Therapist and Interim Senior Therapist,
November 2007 to October 2015   
Loma Linda University Medical Center - Children’s Hospital                             
Loma Linda, CA

  • Provided individual and group wellness interventions in a Level 1 trauma acute inpatient hospital based on individual and group needs assessment

  • Directly supervised clinical students, new hires, certified assistants, and volunteers

  • Developed educational materials regarding health and wellness

  • Educated and trained over 100 staff on various wellness topics for continuing education credits, including social interventions and lifestyle medicine 


Occupational Therapist
August 2004 to August 2007
New York City Department of Education 
New York, NY                                          

  •   Instrumental in evidence-based program development in the founding of the New York City ASD Nest program 

  • Performed individual and group wellness interventions for diverse populations of school aged children in Brooklyn, Harlem, and Washington Heights. 

  • Led multisensory wellness groups in English and Spanish using yoga as a therapeutic tool for children with a variety of physical, social, and emotional disabilities   

SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS

American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA)

SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS 

Wellness Consultant, National Foster Youth Institute
May 2020 to Present

  • Designed and led an innovative trauma-informed mental wellness curriculum for former foster youth and staff utilizing HeartMath™ self-regulation techniques, community outreach and therapeutic writing


Board Member, Lifting the Veil, Los Angeles, CA
January 2020 to Present

  • Provide community outreach and education on healthy coping strategies in mental health with an emphasis on the therapeutic use of kindness in diverse communities


Founder, Project Om, Los Angeles, CA
May 2017 to January 2020

  • Designed, managed, and implemented Project Om, an initiative to promote health and wellness outcomes through therapeutic arts and resilience activities at more than 7 settings nationally


Volunteer wellness consultant, DUCO program for refugee youth
June 2018 to January 2019

  • Designed and implemented a multi-faceted trauma-informed wellness program for institutionalized refugee youth consisting of art, Capoeira, community service, therapeutic writing, and gratitude groups

  • Led culturally relevant therapeutic groups in Spanish for over 100 youth

HONORS AND AWARDS

  • Unit Based Teams Wellness and Safety champion, 2021

  • Occupational therapist of the year, Kaiser Permanente Valley Service area, 2019

  • Arch award recipient for outstanding community service involvement, NYU 2014

PUBLICATIONS

– Non-refereed articles

Tifa, I. (June, 2021). Would you do anything differently? WORK: A journal of prevention, assessment & rehabilitation, 69 (2), 325-326.

PRESENTATIONS

Rose, I. (2022, October 29). We Rise by Lifting Others: An Innovative Approach to Wellness Using Helping Occupations [Conference session]. Occupational Therapy Association of California annual conference, Santa Clara, California. https://www.otaconline.org/education/annual-conference

Tifa, I. (2022, August 31). Helping Hands are Healing Hands: The R-evolutionary Use of Kindness and Volunteerism [Conference session]. World Federation of Occupational Therapy Congress, Paris, France. https://wfotcongress2022.org/

Tifa, I. (2021, September 15-18). HeartMath™ Resilience: Building resilience through compassionate heart-centered techniques [virtual presentation] COTEC-ENOTHE congress, Prague, Czech Republic. https://www.cotec- enothe2021.com/

Tifa, I. (2019, September 8-10). Project Om: The Healing Art of Kindness [poster] Schwartz Center Compassion in Action conference, Boston, Massachusetts. https://compassioninactionconference.org/schedule/

GUEST LECTURES

Tifa, I. (2022, June 18). HeartMath™ as a Resilience Strategy for Occupational Therapists. Boston University Contemporary Trends in Occupational Therapy Practice course.

Tifa, I. (2022, February 23). HeartMath™ as a Resilience Strategy for Occupational Therapists. Boston University Contemporary Trends in Occupational Therapy Practice course.

Tifa, I. (2021, August 18). Altruism, Wellness, and Occupational Justice [PowerPoint presentation]. Boston University Health Promotion and Wellness course.

Tifa, I. (2021, June 8). What does volunteering have to do with equity? [PowerPoint presentation]. SUNY Albany at Ossining High School. Racism, Classism, Sexism: A popular approach.

Tifa, I. (2021, May 1). What does altruism have to do with Occupational Therapy? [PowerPoint presentation]. Boston University Professional Service Management.

Tifa, I. (2019, January 30). The Mandala Project: Incorporating altruism into patient care in the acute care setting [PowerPoint presentation]. Loma Linda University Medical Center Rehabilitation Department.

Tifa, I. (2018, November 7-8). The Mandala Project: Incorporating altruism into patient care in the home environment [PowerPoint presentation]. Kaiser Permanente home health, palliative care, and hospice department.

AUDIO PUBLICATION

Tifa, I. Guest speaker. “How Kindness Can Help You Cope (with Ivory Tifa). Coaching, Cocktails, and Conversations. 2021, July 21. https://podcast.lolitawalker.com/episode-34-with-ivory-tifa/