Since 2010, every October 27th is World Occupational Therapy Day. It is a day for us occupational therapy (OT) practitioners, “to promote and to celebrate the profession internationally”, according to the World Federation of Occupational Therapy (WFOT). Further, every four years, we professionals, from classrooms to clinics around the world, gather for a WFOT Congress. I attended the 19th WFOT Congress, which was hosted in Bangkok, Thailand, from February 8 – February 12, 2026.

Ninety-six of the 117 countries that are part of WFOT sent delegates to attend pre-Congress meetings where decisions are made. During Education Day, I learned of one decision made by delegates – to revise the eight areas of minimum standards, dating from 2016, for the education of OT practitioners. We spent much of the day in small groups discussing how to facilitate online learning, including simulations. Another day I went on a site visit to a pediatric psychiatric facility in Bangkok, where children and their families come from all over Thailand to get evaluated by a multi-disciplinary team including OT. Other days, I attended presentations – professionals from 70 countries presented in nine topic areas for 90 minutes, as well as for 12- and 3-minute lightning talks.

Thailand has a population of 72 million, served by a mere two OT schools and 1,900 OT practitioners. The OTs in Thailand train community volunteers for 450 hours each, to provide OT services in private homes, and since 2011, in the Community Rehabilitation Centers around Thailand. Dr. Pisak Chinchai, OT and past OT Program Director at Chiang Mai University, presented about OT in Thailand and the Community Rehabilitation Center model that he developed there.

Another presentation was about the OT profession’s relationship to the United Nations (UN) and to the World Health Organization. Dr. Satish Mishra, OT and Head of Global Programmes and Markets at ATscale in Switzerland – a global partnership with the UN – presented on assistive technology (AT) use around the world. Dr. Mishra stated, “There should be no AT without OT.”

Fengyi Kuo, DHS, OTR, CPRP, TMF, presented the lightning talk, “Empowering Executive Function and Self-Regulation through Mindfulness: Practical Strategies for Children and Adolescents.” Having met Dr. Kuo earlier on our site visit, I learned that her OT collaboration extends between continents – she does post-doctoral research and teaching, student mentoring, and train-the-trainor work to start new OT education programs, in addition to her work as a pediatric OT clinician, in China, Taiwan, and the USA.

I was left humbled and amazed at being in rooms full of OT professionals from around the world. I learned that many are accustomed to traveling between countries for OT education and work, and many are experienced with providing OT services in multiple languages. One attendee from a country in Africa pointed out how conference proceedings can reflect the connectivity gap that exists between countries. She illustrated this with the example of participants from richer countries using meeting time to discuss online learning, while in the meantime, therapists from her own (poorer) country, having experienced recent flooding, are required to go to villages to see if their OT clients are alive.

Photo credit: Christi Beltramo, MS, OTR/L, CBIS

At the end of Congress, I traveled with a group of OTs and a physician, led by Marilyn Pattison, OT and past President of WFOT, and by Jon Baines Tours, for a week, from Bangkok to Chiang Mai to Phuket, Thailand. We attended a Thai cooking school, and got to visit a Community Rehabilitation Center, an elephant sanctuary, a meditation center, and craft, food, and gem markets. After our days of compressed meetings, it was refreshing to have these activities while still connected and in this fascinating country.

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Christi Beltramo, MS, OTR/L, CBIS is an occupational therapist based in Missoula, Montana.

Tour group at a hospital in Chiang Mai. Photo credit: Christi Beltramo, MS, OTR/L, CBIS