Therapist Feature: Lisa Costa , OT
This month’s featured team member at Tilton’s Therapy is Lisa Costa, OT!
Lisa has worked in Occupational Therapy for 11 years. During the first eight years of her career, Lisa worked with pediatrics, specifically early intervention and outpatient pediatrics with a specialty in Hippotherapy (horse-assisted therapy). For the most recent three years, Lisa switched her practice areas to help develop an outpatient/community-based program for Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services (SNAMHS). Due to the unfortunate events we all have experienced in 2020 related to COVID-19, the program ended because of budget cuts. Although ending this program was not ideal, Lisa is able to see the silver lining. She has been able to bring the knowledge to Tilton’s Therapy to assist our launch for treating adults in Las Vegas!
Donna Costa, Lisa’s mom, is her biggest influence for her decision to become an OT, as she is also an OT! Working with Tilton’s Therapy since February 2020, Lisa initially took on a part-time role and is now transitioning to full-time. In addition, Lisa has assisted with launching treatment for adults in Southern Nevada and is excited to be able to continue working with clients with mental illness in her community.
In 2009, Lisa graduated with her Masters degree in Occupational Therapy from Touro College School of Health Sciences in NY. In addition to working with Tilton’s Therapy, Lisa has many years of experience in various settings. She spent over three years in early intervention, over three years in outpatient pediatrics (including hippotherapy and aquatic therapy), and about two years in skilled nursing facilities and inpatient rehabilitation.
When asked about what she likes most about her profession, Lisa says she loves that the OT profession “focuses on helping individuals of all ages and all abilities to learn to live as independently as possible, to be productive members of society, and to live meaningful and purposeful lives.” Lisa’s passion is working with kids who have neuromuscular diagnoses, as she had the amazing opportunity to complete her pediatric Level II at Shriners Hospital for Children in Salt Lake City. It was there where Lisa was able to learn and practice pediatric splinting and sensory integration techniques. After moving to Las Vegas, Lisa was able to continue developing her splinting and sensory integration skills while working at Children’s Therapy Center in Las Vegas (along with a fabulous team of therapists who she now gets to work with again at TT4T!) Lisa’s other passions in her profession are hippotherapy, previously working at Spirit Therapies from 2015-2016 providing her OT services. She received her Level I and II hippotherapy certification, and she hopes to resume her passion for hippotherapy again in the future.
Throughout her career, Lisa has had many OT students for Level I and Level II Fieldwork throughout her 11 years in the career in various practice settings. Most recently, she had a Level II student from Pacific University who was able to complete her mental health fieldwork at the outpatient/community-based OT program that she created in Las Vegas. Lisa also presented at the AOTA Mental Health specialty conference in 2019 as well as the WROTSS conference in 2020.
Born and raised on Long Island, NY, Lisa graduated with her Masters degree in Occupational Therapy, then moved out west to enjoy better weather and a much more inexpensive cost of living. Her mom Donna also lives in Las Vegas. For the past eight years, Lisa has enjoyed not shoveling snow or sitting in traffic for hours in Southern Nevada! She has a great appreciation for the 300+ days of sunshine in Las Vegas.
Lisa most enjoys that she can provide her OT services in the natural environment. Although she sometimes misses working in the clinic setting because of the daily collaboration, co-treating opportunities, and access to equipment, she feels that the natural environment is the best way to practice “real OT.” Outside of her work as an OT, Lisa enjoys spending time outdoors, especially when she is accompanied by her two dogs! They love to go hiking at Red Rock and Mt. Charleston along with going on camping and road trips!
You can read about some of the other amazing members of our team in the resources section of the website. If you’d like to get in contact with Lisa or have a question about treatment options, please reach out and contact our team!
