Helen S. Willard
Helen Smith Willard was an American occupational therapist, educator and author who held leadership positions in national and international organisations. She was one of the first professors of occupational therapy. Willard co-edited Principles of Occupational Therapy, a seminal textbook written by occupational therapists. She was president of the American Occupational Therapy Association from 1958 to 1961 and the between 1957 and 1962.
Early life and education
Willard was born in Stamford, Connecticut, the daughter of Everett Chickering Willard and Charlotte Elvira Smith Willard. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1915. Willard completed a Special War Course in physiotherapy at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital in 1918. She qualified as an occupational therapist through the U.S. Civil Service in 1922.Career
Reconstruction Aide
Between October 1918 and October 1928 Willard served as a Reconstruction Aide. Reconstruction aides were civilian employees of the Medical Department of the US Army, during and after World War 1. They were deployed in America and France to treated sick, injured and shell shocked servicemen with the aims of returning to the battlefront or gaining employment on discharge.Willard worked as a physiotherapist at six facilities: Robert Breck Bingham Hospital, Camp Meade, Fort Oglethorpe, Detroit Ford Hospital, Walter Read Hospital, Hospital 50, between December 1918 and October 1920. She was then appointed Assistant Superintendent of Aides at Edward Hines Jr Hospital, in charge of the physiotherapy and occupational therapy departments. In 1923, Willard was Chief Aide in O.T. in addition to Chief Aide in P.T. She remained at Edward Hines Jr Hospital until December 1927, when she was transferred to the New York Regional Office as the Chief Aide in P.T. Willard resigned from the service in March 1928.
Occupational therapy
In November 1928, Willard joined the Philadelphia School of Occupational Therapy, one of five founding programmes in America. Initially, she was an instructor, Director of the Curative Workshop, and Director of the occupational therapy department at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate Hospital. She was appointed director of the School in 1935, a post she held for thirty-five years. Willard managed the merger of the School with University of Pennsylvania in 1950, the same year she was promoted to professor.In 1952 she helped to found the World Federation of Occupational Therapists and served as President between 1957 and 1962 In 1954 she was named a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania. She was president of the American Occupational Therapy Association from 1958 to 1961. She retired as an emeritus professor in 1964.
With her colleague and co-author Clare S. Spackman Willard traveled to Nagpur in 1960, to speak at a meeting of the All-Indian Association of Occupational Therapists.
Publications
- "Occupational Therapy: A New Profession"
- "Occupational Therapy as a Vocation"
- "Salvaging the Nation's Man Power"
- ''Principles of Occupational Therapy''