Where Are They Now: Allison Bicskei, MSOT ‘16, OTR/L, LSVT

Her father is an occupational therapist (OT), so Allison Bicskei, MSOT ‘16, OTR/L, LSVT, had a front row seat for seeing how great of an impact OTs can have on someone’s life.

Still, Bicskei wasn’t convinced she wanted to follow in his footsteps until she was able to shadow some therapists while securing her undergraduate degree in psychology from Wilkes University in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.

“I originally got to see OT from my dad’s perspective,” the Vernon, New Jersey native said. “But the second I shadowed an OT and saw how much of a positive impact they made on somebody’s life, I was sold. It was exactly what I wanted to be doing.”

And, that makes her dad, John Bicskei, pretty happy, especially since his daughter had at one point considered going into physical therapy (PT).

“He was thrilled I chose OT over PT. He’s so proud to say that his daughter does the same thing as him. He loves it,” she said.

Bicskei chose Salus University because of all the schools she looked at, the personable faculty stood out during the interview process.

“I could tell that they cared and wanted me to do well,” said Bicskei, who entered as a member of the third class in the history of what was then the relatively new OT program at Salus. “It’s just such a friendly environment with the greatest faculty. I feel like I lucked out so much having faculty that came from all different programs.”

And, she gets to use her psychology degree every day as an OT.

“It’s so useful for any profession, but especially for OT, being able to understand somebody and see where they’re coming from and to apply that during our sessions is pretty important,” she said.

Since her graduation from Salus in 2016, Bicskei has been working for Fox Rehabilitation in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, which offered her an opportunity to be part of a mentoring program for new graduates. This, she said, provided her with a great transition into the professional world working in home care, assisted living, and memory care units, specifically with patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

As a result, she’s gone from the one being mentored to being one of the mentors.

“It feels like I’ve come full circle,” said Bicskei, who in addition to her job at Fox Rehabilitation has also worked per diem at Cedar Crest, a sub-acute rehab facility in Pompton Plains, New Jersey, for the past two years.

While she’s waiting for the OT world to decide what it’s doing with board certifications, Bicskei — who said she would love to get certified in geriatrics — has some exciting times ahead. In September 2022, she and William Bowers plan to get married.

When she’s not working, the self-proclaimed “dedicated cat mom” is taking care of her favorite feline friends, Fiesta and Siesta. As one might surmise, Siesta is the cat who sleeps a lot and Fiesta is the cat who likes to party. In addition, Bicskei enjoys hiking, camping and attending Broadway shows.

Nonetheless, her time at Salus undoubtedly prepared Bicskei to become the best professional OT she could be, and she never hesitates to tell people that.

“Even when I was a student, fieldwork supervisors would ask what school we were from and want to know where we were getting this great education,” she said. “I was very proud to say, ‘I’m from Salus and it’s the best program out there.’ I still apply everything I learned there to this day.”