Dr. Sandra Bostwick

Sandra Bostwick is a life-long learner who continually searches for creative and empowering activities that bring growth, joy, healing, and empowerment to life. She has pursued many career dimensions, but all have a central focus on helping others. Her favorite gigs have been waitress, music therapist, music teacher, occupational therapist, adjunct professor  helping students with disabilities transition from high school, adjunct professor with master’s level OT students, and summer cruise director on the Mississippi Queen Steamboat. She is the founder of Creative Learning Studios LLC, her Occupational Therapy private practice in NJ. She has enjoyed contracts in inpatient and outpatient mental health and substance abuse units, medical and physical rehabilitation centers, traumatic brain injury units, public and private schools, Montessori schools and ABA Preschools. She has also enjoyed being a virtual therapy pioneer since 2016 in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and Uganda Africa.

Sandra’s community activities include deployment for emergency disaster shelters and hotlines with the Morris County Medical Reserve Corp. She completed intensive training to attain community including NJ Disaster Response Crisis Counselor and Incident Defensive Operations for Emergency Responders.

She was a supporting author for the bestselling PassPorter books including Walt Disney World Guides, Disneyland Guides, Disney Cruise Guide, and Open Mouse, Disney with Special Needs. She wrote the award-winning book Navigating Disney; How to make the most of your Disney experience with a sensory sensitive child. She has published several articles on treating individuals after disaster and special needs travel.

Sandra has been living well with multiple physical challenges including Progressive Systemic Sclerosis and fibromyalgia, both diagnosed in her twenties. She also lives well with ADHD and a severe math dyscalculia that went officially undiagnosed until she pursued doctoral studies in her fifties. She also developed a painful exacerbation of vision challenges during her doctoral work, which raised her sensitivity for students with visual disabilities in the age of screens. She brings a background in the use of strategies, modifications, faith, and creative activities to rise above challenges to her philosophy of helping others.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in music therapy and a certification in music education. When her physical condition took away the hand dexterity she needed for playing instruments, she turned the loss into a growth opportunity and pivoted to a masters degree in occupational therapy. After twenty years of working as an OT she pursued a clinical doctoral degree in occupational therapy specializing in online teaching a learning. This experience illuminated that outliers must nurture their unique creativity as they interact in today’s highly structured, standards-based, productivity-driven, evidence-driven world.

As a therapist and a participant, Art, Music, Dance, Nature, Drama, Writing, Worshiping, Meditating, Gardening, Exercise, Yoga, and Self-care have been healing and restorative for Sandra. However, she finds that when these activities are provided in many of today’s traditional medically-based or educationally-based models, the focus is on structure, standards, data collection, and evaluation instead of joy and self-expression. Since this is a requirement for best practices as a therapist or teacher, Sandra wanted a new means to provide healing through learning and creativity.

Restorative and Developmental Enrichment is the next step in Sandra’s development both as a giver and a receiver. Bright World Connections is her answer to the question, “Where is the place where I can follow my intuition in the moment with people who want their full attention on their own unique creative process?”  

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