Mary Walsh Roche, DMH, OTR/L, LMT, CAPS

Occupational Therapy Program Academic Fieldwork Coordinator, Assistant Professor

A.O.S., Swedish Institute
B.A., Iona College
M.S., Columbia University

Certifications/specialties: Licensed Massage Therapist, Trained in Peggy Huddleston’s Prepare for Surgery: Heal Faster Program; Alumna of the Center for Mind Body Medicine’s (CMBM) Advanced Training program; Urban Zen Integrative Therapy Training Program; Certified yoga teacher; Reiki Master Level Teacher; Tai Chi Easy Practice Leader; Certified Infant Massage Instructor

Interests: cooking, literature, music, yoga

General background: Mary has over twenty years of experience as an occupational therapist in a variety of practice settings.

Clinical background: Mary was as an occupational therapist with the NYC Department of Education for eight years. There she participated in the Senior Instructional Therapist Training Program teaching workshops on seating and positioning and adaptive equipment to therapists in the New York City school system. During that time Mary was also involved in performing home accessibility evaluations and recommending environmental modifications for clients in the community. In 2007 she transitioned to work in adult inpatient rehabilitation at Bellevue Hospital where she worked on the orthopedic and neurological units. She also worked in outpatient traumatic brain injury rehabilitation at the James J. Peters Bronx VA Hospital and on the inpatient geriatric psychiatry unit St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in New York City.

Prior to working at Dominican University, Mary was an Integrative Health Specialist with the NYU Department of Integrative Health Programs at Rusk Rehabilitation. There she designed and implemented programs to help pediatric and adult patients, their families, caregivers, and staff ease pain, anxiety and stress through integrative health modalities such as reiki, guided imagery, adaptive yoga, and meditation.

Administrative background: Mary started as the Academic Fieldwork Coordinator for the Occupational Therapy Program at Dominican University in the summer of 2016. From 2012-2015 Mary served as the Westchester Rockland District Chair for the New York State Occupational Therapy Association. Mary is currently the Director of the Bronxville Senior Citizens where she develops wellness and social programs for active community dwelling older adults.

Academic background: Mary’s educational background includes a B.A. in English from Iona College, in New Rochelle, NY. She received her Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from Columbia University. After beginning her career as an occupational therapist, Mary studied at the Swedish Institute in New York City, where she received an A.O.S. in massage therapy. Mary completed a certificate in advanced shiatsu studies from the Ohashi Institute. She is a graduate of the first cohort of the Integrative Health Leadership Program at Duke Integrative Medicine. In 2018, Mary served as the Project Scholar for the New Jersey Council for the Humanities Literature in Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Healthcare program where she led a series of Literature and Medicine Sessions for first and second year medical students in the Arbor Vitae Literary Society at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Mary is currently a doctoral student in the Medical Humanities Program at Drew University working on her dissertation which focuses on loss and the lived experiences of older adults.

At Dominican Mary coordinates all Level I and Level II fieldwork placements and teaches the Introduction to Occupational Therapy and the Level I Fieldwork Seminar courses. Mary enjoys introducing students to the core tenets of the profession as well as its history and evolution. Mary also enjoys working with community partners to develop clinical affiliations and fieldwork experiences for students in traditional as well as emerging areas of practice.

Courses taught:

Introduction to Occupational Therapy
Level I Fieldwork Seminar

Research/Scholarly Interests:

Integrative health and wellness
Mind-body skills and non-pharmacologic methods of pain management
Narrative medicine and ethics
Productive Aging

Recent Publications and Presentations:

Lopes, A., Palase, N, Rigney, C. Wolosin, S., Garbarini, J., & Walsh Roche, M. (April 2019) The Effect of Mindfulness Practice on Graduate Occupational Therapy Students Perceived Stress and Well-being. Poster Presentation at The American Occupational Therapy Association Conference (AOTA), New Orleans, LA.

Lopes, A., Palase, N, Rigney, C. Wolosin, S., Garbarini, J., & Walsh Roche, M. (November 2018) The Effect of Mindfulness Practice on Graduate Occupational Therapy Students Perceived Stress and Well-being. Poster Presentation at The New York State Occupational Therapy Association Conference (NYSOTA), Palisades, NY.

Rust, N. & Walsh Roche, M. (November 2018) True Partners: The Dominican Charism in Occupational Therapy Education and Practice. Poster Presentation at The New York State Occupational Therapy Association Conference (NYSOTA), Palisades, NY.

Rust, N. & Walsh Roche, M. (June 2018). True Partners: The Dominican Charism and Occupational Therapy Education and Practice. 15th Biennial Dominican Colloquium, Providence, RI.

Lopes, A., Palase, N., Rigney, C., Wolosin, S., Garbarini, J., & Walsh Roche, M. (May 2018). The Effect of Mindfulness Practice on Graduate Occupational Therapy Students Perceived Stress and Well-being. International Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health (ICIMH), Baltimore, MD.

Walsh Roche, M. (April 2018). Mindfulness Practices and Graduate Occupational Therapy Students Perceived Stress and Well-being. Drew University Medical Humanities Colloquium, Madison, NJ.

Lopes, A., Palase, N., Rigney, C., Wolosin, S., Garbarini, J., & Walsh Roche, M. (March 2018). The Effect of Mindfulness Practice on Graduate Occupational Therapy Students Perceived Stress and Well-being. Drew University Medical Humanities Symposium, Madison, NJ.

Walsh, M., DeSio, T., Abatemarco, J. & Tafurt, M. (May 2016). Integrative Occupational Therapy: Building a Pediatric Rehabilitation Family Integrative Health Program. International Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health (ICIMH), Las Vegas, NV.

Walsh, M., Eberhardt, A., Ingraham, M. & Shrestha, D. (May 2016). Mindfulness and Imagination: The Creation of a Pediatric Rehabilitation Adaptive Yoga Program. International Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health (ICIMH), Las Vegas, NV.

Walsh, M., Eberhardt, A., Ingraham, M. & Shrestha, D. (November 2015). Mindfulness and Imagination: The Creation of a Pediatric Rehabilitation Adaptive Yoga Program. New York State Occupational Therapy Association Conference, White Plains, NY.

Walsh, M. (November 2014). Mind Body Skills and Occupational Therapy Practice. New York State Occupational Therapy Association Conference, Albany, NY.

Walsh, M. & Siminovich-Blok, B. (October 2014). The Practice of a Modified Form of the Ignatian Examen by Healthcare Workers. International Symposium of Contemplative Studies, Boston. MA.

Walsh, M., Lesser, S. & LaSorse A. (November 2005). Adaptive Environments for Children. United Cerebral Palsy of New York City Techworks Expo, Brooklyn, NY