Blog - Page 5 of 8

When it feels like a marathon

September 12, 2016

There are times in your life when you feel like you are running a marathon, except you are not physically running, you don’t have the training, the right trainers and sometimes there doesn’t seem to be an end! This is how my life has felt for the last year – I hit the 6 weeks school holidays exhausted. I had been looking after my teenage daughter full time since February and whilst she had been given a place in anew supported school, that wouldn’t start until September. I…

Coaching for Chronic Illness at Work

June 12, 2016

jen

Coaching and wellbeing

Occupational Therapy enjoys an important relationship with the domain of work, with work being a primary occupation for human beings and one which gives identity, meaning, security and wellbeing. In the UK the role of OTs in vocational settings has grown alongside a general growth in vocational rehabilitation services as a whole. Work has been a significant interest of mine both personally and professionally. Professionally, my last regular OT jobs were in vocational settings including a role as an…

Cowboys of OT

May 12, 2016

jen

Popular

This short musing was inspired by Bob Garvey who wrote a paper on the “Cowboys of Coaching” a few years back and it prompted me to consider what might mean in relation to OT. Having spent the last 10 years working, not only independently, but also in a “new” area of practice and one that is not regulated (coaching), I often wonder if I might be considered a bit of a Cowboy…. Whilst I maintain my HCPC registration (worked hard…

Beliefs, coaching and recovery

March 12, 2016

jen

Coaching and wellbeing

I had planned to start exploring my new health coaching book, but I lent it to Maggie so I won’t see that for a couple of weeks! However, one theme I am sure will be covered is the relationship between health beliefs and self-management/recovery. In the coming years, I think stronger and stronger evidence will emerge around this and what we know intuitively about this – that an understanding of how our thoughts/beliefs may affect our physical recovery and…

The Art of Taking Action

January 15, 2016

jen

Taking action, making plans

I treated myself to a new book before Christmas, which will come as no surprise to most of you. Unusually for me, as I prefer paper pages, it is an ebook called “The Art of Taking Action: Lessons from Japanese Psychology” by Gregg Krech. I am very interested in Japanese psychology and philosophy be it our own “Kawa Model” through to “Kaizen” as embraced in my creativity coaching. As Occupational Therapists we are pretty good at identifying actions with…

The Gifts of Being Your Own OT

November 20, 2015

jen

Popular

Why becoming your own OT could be the best thing you ever do for yourself (and if you can’t do this alone, perhaps work with an OT who can help you – yes I do mean hire an OT for yourself – you don’t need to have an illness or disability to benefit from the OT approach.) Go on, grab an assessment from work and do it on yourself! It might be MOHO or perhaps PEO or COPM…or draw…

OTs Doing it Differently: Mick Collins

October 14, 2015

jen

OT Stories, OTs Doing it Differently

Book Review: “The UnSelfish Spirit:Human Evolution at a time of global crisis” by Mick Collins, reviewed by Maggie Jeffery I’ve been a closet OT all my life but way back in the 60’s inadvertently trained as a nurse instead. Since then the challenges that life produces have drawn me time and again to awareness of the vital importance of balancing ‘Doing’ as well as ‘Being’. Psychosynthesis training in fact included the old song – ‘Do, Be, Do, Be, Do’. How…

Escaping the claws of “I’ll start when…”

June 20, 2015

jen

Support for OTs

There are times of extraordinary upheaval and stress, catastrophic events, sudden bereavement and other awful, awful stuff- so please don’t mishear what I am about to say. I remember when my kids were very small and it seemed impossible to do anything (watch this if you are in any doubt!) and my lovely mum, who is also my best friend, would say things like “in a few years Jen, it will get easier…” Well it didn’t – it just changed.…

Coaching Occupational Choices: from “I” to “We”

May 20, 2015

jen

Coaching and OT

I made this video yesterday and immediately doubted whether I should post it or not, but these are issues I feel very strongly about. Whilst we are a profession with our roots in healthcare and the medical model and a profession which values independence and personal choice, we and our clients operate in a much wider world. This world is interconnected, global, interdependent and our occupational choices impact way beyond our immediate world. Enjoy and if you hate it, feel…

OTs Doing it Differently: Barbara Neiman

May 19, 2015

jen

OT Stories, OTs Doing it Differently

“Mindfulness and Yoga Skills for Children and Adolescents: 115 Activities for Trauma, Self Regulation, Special Needs and Anxiety” a book by Barbara Neiman Unique exercises in yoga, meditation, guided imagery and somatic explorations fill this comprehensive skills guide. This book is brimming with tools and stories supporting critical life skills for families, classrooms and therapy sessions. Holistic strategies include: • Meditation to support body-mind-spirit connection • Yoga pose adaptations for Autism, sensory processing & special needs • Trauma sensitive guided…