American Palliative Rehabilitation Alliance

Advancing rehabilitation for people living with serious and life-threatening illness through education, collaboration, and evidence-based practice.

Upcoming Webinar

Join us and our guest speakers on Tuesday, September 22nd at 7 PM EST for Navigating Difficult Conversations in Hospice and Palliative Care!

The next APRA webinar will discuss tips and strategies for approaching communication with patients with advanced or life-threatening disease.

September 2026 Webinar Registration

OUR MISSION

To serve as a collaborative professional network and community of practice for healthcare professionals interested in advancing rehabilitative principles for people with a serious illness. This organization will advocate for high quality rehabilitation services for this population to optimize quality of life. This organization will provide professional training, resources, and support for professionals providing care for seriously ill patients.

Established in 2023, this network of professionals interested in advancing rehabilitation involvement for people facing a life-threatening or serious illness. Anyone is welcome to join including rehabilitation professionals (physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, recreation therapists), palliative care specialists, physicians, nurses, pastoral care professionals, social workers, hospice personnel, ANYONE!) Despite our name, you don't have to live in or practice in the United States to join us!

OUR VISION

Every patient with a serious illness should have unrestricted access to high quality, evidence-based rehabilitation services as a component of a collaborative, interprofessional, coordinated palliative care approach.

Together as healthcare providers, we are dedicated to helping all people live their fullest life through access to high quality rehabilitation services when facing a life-threatening illness.

Internal Medicine Grand Rounds at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital & Maryland Occupational Therapy Association Annual Conference

Co-Founder Ann Henshaw OTD, MBA, MPH, OTR/L @ the AOTA Conference 2025 presenting The Role of OT in Goals of Care Conversations

~ NEW! NEW! NEW! ~

Rehabilitation Within the Context of Palliative Care - A special topic in the journal Frontiers in Rehabilitation Science, co-edited by Chris Wilson, Co-Founder of American Palliative Rehabilitation Alliance!

https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/55098/rehabilitation-within-the-context-of-palliative-care

Bridge-Builders in Palliative Rehabilitation: A Call to Action, co-edited by Ann Henshaw, Co-Founder of the American Palliative Rehabilitation Alliance!

https://www.aota.org/publications/ot-practice/ot-practice-issues/2025/bridge-builders-in-palliative-rehabilitation

Editorial: Rehabilitation within the context of palliative care, co-edited by Chris Wilson, Co-Founder of American Palliative Rehabilitation Alliance!

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11445227/

Friday Chalk Talk -

The Dual Framework: Understanding Psychological Processes in Patients Facing Serious Illness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmmoCQqlObE

Center of Palliative Care (CAPC) Article:

How to Build Bridges Between Palliative Care and Rehabilitation Teams

https://www.capc.org/blog/how-to-build-bridges-between-palliative-care-and-rehabilitation-teams/?clickthrough_doc_id=blog.blogpostpage.3460&clickthrough_req_id=snnYuU_tT--I8MNJRpFJBA&clickthrough_query=Rehab

Check This Out!

Co-Founder Chris Wilson PT, DScPT, DPT, GCS hosts a podcast on the APTA website to shed some knowledge relating to a HPC article as well as expanding platform growth to other healthcare team members!

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/28kG3ODFxhf5vfgXICwKqG

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/palliative-care-rehabs-must-know-information/id1630017934?i=1000659186546

Or click "Join" at the bottom of this page!