OT Archives - OTCoach

Business Development for OTs, Inspiration, OTs Doing it Differently, Taking action, making plans

If you haven’t “met” Rhiannon Crispe and her fabulous work creating and running The OT Lifestyle Movement, you really are missing out. With a fabulous podcast (more about that in a mo) a growing and active Facebook community, Rhiannon has created something very special. Here is the truly inspiring and juicy introduction on the website: “We believe in a holistic approach to healthcare and creating sustainable behaviour change through lifestyle optimisation. We believe in a back-to-basics approach to living well; real food,…

To change or not to change – that is the question

November 19, 2020

More often than not, the answer is not a simple one. Whether it’s ourselves or our clients, changing jobs, habits, behaviours or beliefs which we have had for a lifetime, is one thing, but just making the decision to change can be torture. As a coach I became fascinated in the concept of decisional balance, as a simple(ish) way of seeing whether change was likely or not. I use it in my own reflections when I realise that I am…

The Importance Of Embracing Uncertainty

November 19, 2020

We are living in uncertain times right now, but right now I am pondering a different type of uncertainty we grapple with, as OTs who coach. I started to read the Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC) book (mentioned above) and the following phrase jumped out at me: “Getting comfortable with (this) uncertainty has been a key part of the journey to becoming skilful at OPC” The uncertainty that Fiona Graham talks about is to do with an internal shift we need…

Coaching Health Literacy- Coaching Occupational Literacy

November 19, 2020

This week I finally took a look at the International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring. I try not to look too often as I get rather excited and distracted! I’m always interested in what makes coaching “work” and what hinders it, but also how occupational therapists can use coaching to strengthen their practice and ensure relevance. It’s with that lens that I read papers such as this: “Exploring Health Literacy and its Relationship to Health and Wellness Coaching”…

Perfectionism vs Improvisation: Essential vs Non-essential

November 19, 2020

I have long struggled when I see perfectionism slowing things down unhelpfully, reducing spontaneity, limiting creativity, preventing people making a start and when it squashes delicate confidence. The mantra is “I am not good enough”. Sticking too rigidly to rules and protocols which have often been invented out of nowhere and somehow now flourished with certainty, can also have the same effect as stifling perfectionism, but the mantra is often “I am not allowed to…”. I am aware that my…

Post Traumatic Growth

June 30, 2019

Coaching and wellbeing, Support for OTs

Post Traumatic Growth Post Traumatic Growth (PTG) is the positive change that can happen in the wake of a traumatic event – the positive psychological change that comes as a result of the struggle with highly challenging life circumstances. This idea fits well with the work that many OTs are involved in – doesn’t it. We work with people who have their occupational lives challenged by many situations disability, injury, disease as well as isolation, marginalisation and displacement (and we…

Helen Barnes – Coach and Occupational Therapist

March 20, 2019

Find an OT Coach or Mentor

Helen is a skilled and compassionate coach, coach supervisor and occupational therapist. Her experience has been rich and varied, working with a diverse range of clients in the NHS, public, voluntary and corporate sectors. She has a deep curiosity and intuition about people and believes that a client’s narrative is the best way of getting to know them; where they are in the context of their lives and where they might be thinking about going. For many years Helen’s professional…

Choices

July 6, 2018

Coaching and OT

Why do we sabotage our plans…? There are not many things at which I readily admit excelling at, but self sabotage is definitely one of them. According to Psychology Today, behavior is said to be self-sabotaging, “when it creates problems and interferes with long-standing goals. The most common self-sabotaging behaviors are procrastination, self-medication with drugs or alcohol, comfort eating, and forms of self-injury such as cutting” I think the last one is rather contentious as other factors are often at play, but that’s the…

Understanding our occupational selves: coaching and OT

July 6, 2018