Suzanne N. Rappaport

About

Dr. Suzanne Rappaport left her corporate career to pursue flying trapeze in the circus. After years of performing, she started teaching a variety of circus arts and found that sharing her love of circus to be rewarding. She taught recreational students and she was presented with the opportunity to teach students with physical and intellectual disabilities. She noticed that all the students perceived becoming physically stronger and more self-confident. A class observer remarked that the students got therapy without knowing it and

Dr. Rappaport soon realized that circus arts would make a great therapeutic intervention which led her to occupational therapy.

Since 2018, Dr. Rappaport has been an assistant professor in the Occupational Therapy Department at Regis College. She has taught a plethora of classes: OT Pediatrics, Clinical Reasoning, Leadership, Special Topics, School-Based Practice, Assistive Technology, Community-Based Practice, and a Fundamental OT Practice Course. Her clinical expertise is within community-based practices, adaptive sports, pediatrics, mental health, assistive technology, and advocacy and leadership.

Dr. Rappaport has been invited to present peer-reviewed scholarly work at the Massachusetts Association of Occupational Therapy (MAOT) Conference in 2011, 2013, and 2014. Nationally at the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Conference in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2019, and 2022. Internationally at the College of Occupational Therapy in Brighton, England in June 2014, OT24Vx virtually in November 2015, and at the World Federation of Occupational Therapy (WFOT) Congress in Cape Town, South Africa in May 2018 and in Paris, France in August 2022. She introduced her occupational therapy lens to the American Group Psychotherapy Association’s (AGPA) annual meeting in San Francisco, CA in February 2015 and to the world of social work at the National Association of Social Work (NASW) conference in April 2016.

She finds her personal mantra in the phrase, "The fire within you lights the fire within me.” All of her teaching--academic teaching, circus teaching, adaptive sports teaching--it is all because I enjoy lighting the fire or instilling passion and watching it burn brightly. As an educator, she cultivates growth mindset and servant leadership.

In addition to her peer reviewed presentations, Dr. Rappaport also hosts a podcast, OT JEDI. Dr. Rappaport’s goal is to empower her listeners to recognize barriers in our occupational therapy experiences that may be caused by social injustice, inequality, and racial trauma. Dr. Rappaport is committed to building opportunities for learning, growth, and accountability.