Blog - Page 6 of 9

Beliefs, coaching and recovery

March 12, 2016

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…

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness…

March 16, 2015

jen

Taking action, making plans

As I sat at an OT networking day recently and several (that’s an understatement) things hit me… The willingness, courage and confidence it takes to reinstate occupation at the heart of our practice, when perhaps it has been missing for sometime How we need to say “no” to other things to do this Why this interests me as a coach… Change is natural, normal and continuous and as my working life has progressed, I can see now that very little…

Masters of Integration

March 16, 2015

jen

Popular

I am busy trying to find out where I heard this fabulous phrase, which apparently if you find a deeper definition of “Jack of all trades” rather than being “Master of none” it means being a “master of integration” (If you know where I heard it, please tell me!). I started to ponder what the term “master of integration” might mean in relation to Occupational Therapy, coaching and what we offer to our clients. As so often happens, various synchronicities started to…

Energy for movement…but perhaps not in the usual way?

March 16, 2015

jen

Taking action, making plans

I don’t mind admitting that the end of 2014 left me bereft of energy. What will a health challenge, the loss of Treacle (the best cat you will ever hope to know – she was only 2) and months of isolation whilst I tried to finish off my second book. I piled into January feeling rubbish. Usually I draw upon the things I love such as painting and seeing friends to give me a boost, but the effects were fleeting.…