Faculty
Rachelle Murphy, DHSc, OTR/L, DipACLM
Fall 1980 - Fall 2120
Assistant Professor I
Occupational Therapy Program - CA
rachellemurphy@scuhs.edu
Current Position
Biography
Dr. Rachelle Murphy is the Academic Fieldwork Coordinator for the OTD program at Southern California University of Health Sciences. Dr. Murphy graduated with her MOT degree from Loma Linda University in 2010 and her DHSc degree from Nova Southeastern University in 2016. During her graduate studies, she electively studied complementary, alternative, and integrative health and their applicability to occupational therapy practice and developed her doctoral practicum on the use of mindfulness-based interventions in the school-based setting. Prior to SCU, Dr. Murphy has served in the roles of Founding Academic Fieldwork Coordinator for the OTD program at Keck Graduate Institute in Claremont, CA and Program Director of the OTA program at American Career College in Anaheim, CA. She is board certified in Lifestyle Medicine through the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and is excited about bridging occupational therapy’s scope of practice with integrative health promotion and wellness services using a lifestyle approach. In her clinical practice, Dr. Murphy has worked as a pediatric and school-based occupational therapist and women’s lifestyle coach. Her professional interests include using lifestyle approaches to address health promotion and wellness across the lifespan, community-based practice, leisure and adaptive recreation, and nature-based therapy.
Degrees
D.H.Sc., Health Science, Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, United States
OT, Occupational Therapy, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California, United States
B.A., Communications, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, California, United States
Professional Licensures (Healthcare)
Occupational Therapist, California, United States, 11478, Active, 2010, August 2024
Certifications (Healthcare)
American College of Lifestyle Medicine , ACLM Certified Diplomate, 0000691, 2021-12-11, 2031-12-11
National CPR Foundation, CPR/AED/First-Aid, Infant, Child, Adult, 41592A, 2022-09-17, 2024-09-17
American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), Fieldwork Educator Certification, N/A, 2021-06-02, 2026-12-31, Yes
National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT), Occupational Therapist Registered (OTR), 277653, 2010-09-09, 2025-03-31
Work Experience
2022 - 2023
Occupational Therapist, Vibrant Minds Charter School, Anaheim, California, United States
2021 - 2022
Assistant Professor & Academic Fieldwork Coordinator, Keck Graduate Institute, Claremont, California
2018 - 2021
OTA Program Director, American Career College, Anaheim, California
2016 - 2019
Occupational Therapist, Vibrant Minds Charter School, Anaheim, California
2016 - 2018
OTA Instructor, American Career College, Anaheim, California
2015 - 2016
Occupational Therapist, My Therapy Company, Corona-Norco Unified School District
2014 - 2015
Occupational Therapist, Sunbelt Staffing, Alta Loma Unified School District, Alta Loma, California
2012 - 2014
Occupational Therapist, My Therapy Company, Corona-Norco Unified School District, Corona, California
Scholarly Contributions and Creative Productions
Journal Article
Completed/Published
Presentation
Completed/Published
Professional Membership
Summer 2023 - Ongoing
American Occupational Therapy Association, November 2007
World Federation of Occupational Therapists, April 2021
Occupational Therapy Association of California, November 2007
American College of Lifestyle Medicine, April 2021
Interests
Occupational Therapy, Fieldwork, Lifestyle Health, Leadership, Community-based Practice, Lifestyle Medicine & Health, Leisure & Adaptive Recreation, Nature-Based Therapy, Diversity & Inclusion, Community-based Practice, Older Adult Health & Well-being, Women's Health Education, Adaptive Recreation, Lifestyle Health, Pediatrics, Older Adult Well-being & Home Safety
Hear from the Students Who’ve Been in Your Shoes
I chose SCU when looking for a PA program because of their Integrative Medicine approach. I am from Michigan, and not many programs focus on this Integrative, Holistic approach when it comes to patient care in the Midwest, and I felt that was very important for me to learn as a future provider. My transition to semi-virtual learning has been very smooth and quite enjoyable. [su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]My favorite part about attending SCU is how tight-knit and diverse the community is. Coming from a large undergrad university and moving so far, it was very important for me to have a PA program that made me feel valued and invested in my success. At SCU, they do a great job of making you feel that.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Brianna Hadley
MSPA Class of 2022
One of the great things about SCU is we do have a campus layout, so all your classes aren't in a single room. We have our cadaver lab. We have different specialty rooms for physical assessment classes vs. acupuncture classes. All our acupuncture-specific classes have all the herbs in the room. You can pull out the herbs and look at them, whether in class or in between classes to get that extra studying in.[su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]My favorite part of SCU is the collaboration from our beginning terms. We were working alongside chiropractor students, PA students, and ayurvedic students. It's a unique community where we get to learn about these different fields and sit in classrooms with them and work with them in the clinic. It allows you to get an understanding of all the different fields and how they can work together, and what is unique about your field. I think that is a wonderful aspect that I didn't think was going to be as prominent as it is here; even now, in my upper term classes and I am not in class with chiropractic students, I can still reach out to them about a certain aspect I may not understand or if I am working on a case. I want another perspective I know I have them to reach out to, so that has been a great networking community to have resources for.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Dr. Jamie Kuljis
Graduate, Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine
"There are a lot of things that I love about the program at SCU. The first one is that the faculty come from a long line of Ayurvedic knowledge deeply rooted in ancient classical text. They studied Ayurveda, but they also lived it. When you learn from people who embody this wisdom, it's much easier to grasp this knowledge. The second thing I love is the camaraderie within the cohort. The combination of the training, supportive faculty, and the support of my peers and classmates has given me the confidence I need to start my own practice."
Portia Harris
Student, Ayurveda Program
Some of my favorite courses at SCU have to be the chiropractic procedure classes; those are the classes you get to hone in on your chiro skills, your palpation skills and ultimately work on the adjustments that make you a chiropractor. Those are the classes I feel enhance my knowledge the most and are some of the reasons I chose to become a chiropractor here are SCU.[su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]On top of chiropractic procedures classes, my favorite is the cadaver lab experience. The cadaver classes opened up my perception of what the human body is made up of. It allowed me to get an in-person perspective of how the body works and looks on the inside. I am genuinely thankful for those experiences because they opened and broadened my horizons to the human body and anatomy in general.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]
Jordan Vega
Student, Doctor of Chiropractic
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