Quinn Tyminski

Dr. Tyminski earned her master’s degree in occupational therapy from Washington University in St. Louis in 2012. She then completed five years in community-based mental health practice in the St. Louis area with Peter & Paul Community Services. Within the agency, she served as the occupational therapist for a transitional housing program for men experiencing severe and persistent mental illness and homelessness and spent a year as the agency’s clinical director coordinating occupational therapy services and students. As part of her doctoral work, Dr. Tyminski introduced occupational therapy services to a local homeless shelter through the use of Level II fieldwork students. Following the success of the program, Dr. Tyminski opened an outpatient student experiential learning clinic in collaboration with St. Patrick Center in downtown St. Louis in 2018. The Community Independence Occupational Therapy Clinic provides occupational therapy services to individuals experiencing homelessness on referral from case managers at St. Patrick Center.

Quinn’s educational research interests include exploring issues of belonging and inclusion within occupational therapy education. Quinn seeks to understand the experiences of belonging for students from historically minoritized identities within occupational therapy education with the goal to strengthen the recruitment and retention of students from historically minoritized backgrounds. Quinn’s work focuses on using qualitative research methods to better understand and intervene in belonging for occupational therapy students. Ultimately, Quinn hopes to create a more inclusive learning space for all students, vital to the success of the profession of occupational therapy those the profession serves.