Career

Ivory has been an occupational therapist since 2004 with experience in program development in the school, acute care, home health, and community health settings. She has a long history of community service. Once she began to study the therapeutic benefits of helping others, Ivory came to understand how helping others has contributed to her own resilience. She was awarded the Arch award in recognition for excellence in service from New York University.

Examples of her community service include:

  • The design, management, and implementation of Project Om, an initiative to promote health and wellness outcomes through therapeutic arts and kindness and resilience activities at more than 7 intergenerational settings nationally. 

  • The design and implementation of a multi-faceted trauma-informed wellness program for institutionalized refugee youth consisting of art, Capoeira, community service, therapeutic writing, and gratitude groups in Spanish for over 100 youth.

  • The design and facilitation of an innovative trauma-informed mental wellness curriculum for former foster youth and staff utilizing HeartMath™ self-regulation techniques.

 
 

Testimonials

Testimonials from HeartMath(™) course for transitional aged youth (young adults with lived experience in the foster care system) at the National Foster Youth Institute:

“Ivory was an excellent teacher and facilitator and the content was fantastic.” –Anonymous

“Thank you so much for exposing me to important knowledge about my heart, my energy, my wellness and my mental health. I’m so grateful to know that regularly applying the techniques I learned at Heartmath will benefit my health for the rest of my life.” –Japheth Kariuki-Ebanks

 

Guest Lectures

Ivory has expertise guest lecturing in the following topics: wellness, resilience, altruism, kindness, community health and wellness. Click here to send an email inquiring about a guest lectureship.

Guest lecture feedback

The following quotes are actual testimonials from attendees at Ivory Rose’s guest lectures.

 

TOPIC

Facilitating resilience and self-compassion for occupational therapists with the use of HeartMath™

AUDIENCE

Doctoral students in occupational therapy at Boston University

Impact:

"One of the best classes I’ve attended and learned from throughout my doctoral program," – Grace Muppidi

Topic

What does volunteering have to do with equity?

Audience

High school students at Ossining high school taking the SUNY Albany course Racism, Classism, Sexism: A popular approach.

Impact :

"Such an incredible speaker!"
"I was so captivated by the presentation."
"I'll never forget this talk."
"Two of my students stayed after class today and shared that Ivory’s talk was the best one they saw this year. They said the presentation opened something inside for them," – Jillian McRae

Occupational Therapy Association of California annual conference presentation October, 2022 

TOPIC

We Rise By Lifting Others: An Innovative Approach to Wellness Utilizing Helping Occupations

impact:

"Extremely talented person, engaging presentation, presented as very important concept- well done!"-Attendee

"Great presentation. Very informative and wonderful conversations. I loved the song! This is such an important topic to cover. Also loved the poem. Felt it deeply." -Attendee

"As a student we are constantly learning about helping others but not so much teaching future clients about helping others. Loved the topic." -OT student
 
 
 

podcast episode

How Kindness Can Help You Cope (with Ivory Tifa)

Question:  When you are at your lowest, do you think of kindness as that "thing" that will help you cope and heal through it all?  Hmmm. #nojudgement but worth the thought.

Ivory not only shares an original poem entitled, "Would you do anything differently?" but she also draws an intersection between therapy, healing and kindness.