OT Stories

ABIGAIL OFFICER

Abigail Officer Occupational Health: Health & Wellbeing Service

As a newly qualified OT, I took on a huge challenge developing a brand-new role for an Occupational health, health and wellbeing service. The idea was to provide telephone based intervention for teachers who were absent from work with mental health and/or physical challenges. My intervention packs focus on stress, anxiety, fatigue management, lifestyle coaching, condition management and work-life balance.  I felt as if I had been thrown into the deep end, trying to make sense of my learning from university and rummaging through reflections from past placements.…

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MICK COLLINS

OTs Doing it Differently: Mick Collins

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…

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BARBARA NEIMAN

OTs Doing it Differently: Barbara Neiman

“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…

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EVA NAKOPOULOU

OTs Doing it Differently: Eva Nakopoulou, Occupational Therapist, Bristol

Eva talks about her contribution to “The Occupational Therapist’s Guide to Sleep and Sleep Problems” and her interest in “sleep” as a vital domain in OT. “Edward Norton playing the narrator in Fight Club says: ‘When you have insomnia, you’re never really asleep…and you’re never really awake’ and look where his insomnia got him! Hollywood aside, we all have experienced at least one night’s bad sleep (or no sleep at all) and the affect it had on our daily lives.…

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ERIN PHILLIPS

OTs Doing it Differently: Erin Phillips Assistant Professor, St. Ambrose University, IOWA

This is a summary of an educational project I am implementing in a health promotion course for OT students. I am really interested in how to best prepare our students to “do OT differently!” This project involves teaching empowerment through coaching strategies. The students will experience coaching for self-assessment, learn a few tools from motivational interviewing and coaching, and practice them in a community setting. I am eager to see how this experience resonates with them in terms of their…

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VANESSA VOLPE

OTs Doing it Differently: Vanessa Volpe

I have been very fortunate to experience both traditional and non-traditional approaches to my work as a role emerging (RE) OT. I have always been fascinated by the concept of colour as a therapeutic medium, and for 25+ years have attended training courses to explore this concept. I graduated in 2000 with BSc (Hons) OT and completed a ‘basic grade rotation’ before being offered a Senior II post. Simultaneously I was developing myself as a self-employed therapist using ‘complementary approaches’,…

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OT’s Doing it Differently: Kate Sheehan

Work, life balance is always hard to achieve but sometimes you have to manage your life in a different way to achieve that essential balance between your professional and personal goals. I was motivated to re-evaluate my life, after working in statutory services for a number of years and realising that I was missing my young’s son nativity because in the words of my manager ‘it was not in the strategic interests of the organisation to allow me time off…

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JILL MAGLIO

OTs Doing it Differently: Jill Maglio

Jill Maglio founded CircusAid in 2016. Jill is a certified occupational therapist and the director of Holistic Circus Therapy (HCT), a registered and accredited private practice that combines occupational therapy with circus arts to address the unique health and well-being needs of individuals and communities. Jill has been researching circus and occupational therapy for over 12 years in Australia, Europe, South East Asia and the United States. Upon the completion of a Master of Occupational Therapy Practice degree from La…

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CATHERINE BEYNON-PINDAR

OTs doing it differently: Catherine Beynon-Pindar

I met Jen in 2005 at the College of Occupational Therapists (COT) conference in Brighton. I had just finished my degree in occupational therapy and was excited by the future, passionate about occupational therapy and felt that the world was my oyster! I felt confident that I had made the right choice in my first job and indeed there were many advantages and opportunities within a private medium secure hospital but I felt stifled by 9-5 working that challenged the…

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