Episodes

Our Roundtable Brad: Brad Williams is an occupational therapist based in Adelaide, Australia and enjoys thinking deeply about why we do things the way we do and shaking things up or trying new things when there might be better ways of doing things. Brad created Naturally Gathered with the mission of changing children’s lives through connection, belonging and occupations in nature. They do this by delivering engaging, strength-focussed and nature-based therapy services to support children to reac...

Carissa returns to the podcast! During her last episode (OCCUPIED 123) she discussed her personal experience with eating disorders and was about to embark on her doctoral project. She has now completed that project and has come back to talk about how it went. Look after yourself, look after others, and always keep Occupied Brock@brockcookOTbrock.cook@me.com If you want even more valuable content join <> for bonus podcast episodes, resources, mentorship and much much more!

Session Title Digitally Occupied: Alienation, Autonomy and Resilience Session Details This session will cover the learnings from a number of years research into digital workers’ occupational experience. Findings from a four-week diary study, using online data collection and a variety of elicitation methods will be presented in detail. The data points to a need to extend Wilcock’s framework in order to account for the knowledge component, implicit to this type of work. Lastly, a number of tools a...

Our Roundtable Guest: Nancy is an occupational therapist in Maryland who has worked in a skilled nursing facility for 3 years, the first year as a new grad traveler. Nancy loves helping people as cliche as it may seem, that’s her passion in life. Helping people in all/any capacity, and OT especially allows her to do that everyday. Nancy has a YouTube channel, where she teaches students and clinicians about OT and healthcare in general. She also has a psychology background so she functions from a...

I am a fan of Moo Smith. A YouTube creative who’s style and attitudes towards creativity align quite closely with my own. I’ve observed Moo’s development and growth in her field for a couple years now. I’m wanting to put together some episodes exploring aspects of everyday occupations and the things people get out of it, why they choose to do certain things etc. In this episode Moo and I explore creativity and where the mental and physical benefits of creativity might lay as well as how Moo mana...

Our Roundtable Guest: Tomeico is an occupational therapist in North Carolina and entrepreneur extraordinaire. She is the host of the Therapy Entrepreneurs and Leaders of Color podcast, owner of Fasion Consulting (a business coaching and consulting company for therapy entrepreneurs), an author of 3 books on entrepreneurship, and a business owner with over 17 years experience. Talking Points What makes OT practitioners good (and bad) as entrepreneurs Navigating the ins and outs of business without...

Session Title “How Did I Get Here? One Occupational Therapist’s Search for Meaning” Session Details (TW // sexual violence) The purpose of this session is to provide my personal perspective as a practitioner, educator, and researcher on the topics identified as the focus of this seminar series. In these roles, I have attempted to understand people as occupational beings. This quest has led me to explore and promote people’s engagement in activities, and in learning in particular, and appreciate ...

Natalie has an amazing breadth of experience for such a young clinician. This ep we have a look at that experience and then funnel down into her interest and experience living and working with chronic pain. Check out her work here: Also if you’re in the market for some gorgeously designed clinic posters for your workspace then check out <<>> Look after yourself, look after others, and always keep Occupied Brock@brockcookOTbrock.cook@me.com

Today is a VERY special episode! Firstly I got the opportunity to talk with our WFOT President Samantha Shann. We explored her journey through the profession, How she got involved with WFOT, how she made it to the position of President and then we explore the upcoming WFOT Congress in Paris. The upcoming congress in Paris is looking towards to being an amazing, unique celebration of diversity within the profession. If you want to go, and save yourself some $$$ get in and register before 23rd of ...

Our Roundtable Guest:Alondra is an occupational therapist in Bay Area California and currently, she provides services via Hippotherapy, which entails incorporating horses And utilizing the movement of the horse Within the treatment sessions. She has a keen interest in imposter syndrome given her own personal experience of it. Talking Points What is imposter syndrome? How does it manifest? Physical and mental Impact of comparison Can lead to increased stress and anxiety Why are some people more a...

You may know Tailor best as @BecomingOT on instagram, an account she started to share the transition from “anxious OT student to growing practitioner”. Her passion for improving those around her and assisting people to learn from her experiences is infectious. But how did it get to this stage? How did she get to share her content with thousands of OT’s? How does she cope with modern day stressors of being a content creator? These are just a couple of the things we explored. I can’t thank Tailor ...

Daniela Castro de Jong, Lecturer in Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra (Australia) & Georgia Pike-Rowney, Practitioner and researcher in the transdisciplinary space of music, community, education, health and wellbeing, Centre for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University Session Title Doing music together as a shared occupation: a socio-altruistic music program as a collective occupation and a learning opportunity for occupational therapy students Se...

I’m the first to admit that I never used the MOHO much in clinical practice for a number of reasons. Conversations with Ruth started to get me to revisit some of the thoughts I’d had for a long while. We started with the basics exploring the model and then moved into a bit more of a critical analysis. Check our Ruth here: and check out her website and webinars here: https://www.themohoot.com Look after yourself, look after others, and always keep Occupied Brock@brockcookOTbrock.cook@me.com

Outcome measurement in Occupational Therapy – What are we scared of? Dr. Danielle Hitch, Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy, Deakin University, Australia & Allied Health Research & Translation Lead, Western Health, Australia Session Details: Outcome measurement is crucial to proving the effectiveness of occupational therapy, but remains scarce in many areas of practice. So what’s holding us back? And what does / should ‘outcome measurement’ look like in occupational therapy? For more and ho...

Collin Hernandez loved working with his hands. Building things was a job that continued as a hobby. That was until he had a traumatic accident that severely compromised his ability to engage in the things he loves most. In this episode we explore the injury and his rehabilitation up to this point from an occupational perspective. Check Collin out here:https://www.instagram.com/c_hernandez3/ Look after yourself, look after others, and always keep Occupied Brock@brockcookOTbrock.cook@me.com

Our Roundtable Guest:Tegan McKay is a provisional psychologist who owns The Mindful Hub and is also one half of the Strong Minds Club podcast. Her psychology background adds an important dynamic to the occupational therapy perspective of the rest of the roundtable. This episode we are diving into the effects we have been experiencing recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic and “safer-at-home” restrictions. We looked at how it has impacted our habits and routines and also what we can do to adjust t...

Dr Nick Pollard is a senior lecturer in occupational therapy at Sheffield Hallam University, teaching occupational therapy students at undergraduate and post graduate level, and course leader of the MSc pre-registration programme. He was previously professional lead in occupational therapy, vocational rehabilitation and dietetics on an interim basis for 23 months, and before that team leader and research co-ordinator for occupational therapy also at senior lecturer grade. His MA explored interna...

Understanding Meaningful Occupation and its Healing Qualities Moses N Ikiugu, PhD, OTR/L, Professor and Director of Research, Occupational Therapy Department, University of South Dakota Session Details In this seminar, we will discuss the following: – The nature of meaningful occupations – The difference between meaningful and psychologically rewarding occupations – The postulated healing properties of meaningful and psychologically rewarding occupations – Future research to clarify the nature o...

You know her. You love her. I’m honored to have the phenomenal Professor Gail Whiteford back on the podcast. This time we got to talk about a project thats very close to her heart and we lay out a challenge to you all to get involved! When you’ve uploaded your “Occupational Narrative” I want you to tag Occupied Podcast on social media so we can share it with the OT community! https://occupational-narratives.wfot.org/ Look after yourself, look after others, and always keep Occupied Brock@brockcoo...

Our Roundtable Guest:Dr. Jesse Wilson is an Assistant Professor at Western University in Ontario, Canada. She has extensive experience in supporting youth with autism and The Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) approach to therapeutic intervention. Jessie also brings a Canadian perspective on the current COVID-19 situation. As occupational therapists, we are innately adaptable, but these are especially unpredictable times, there is no question. Our occupations, both o...

Just a short update about where I’ve been, what I’ve been up to, and what the plan is for 2022! Look after yourself, look after others, and always keep Occupied Brock@brockcookOTbrock.cook@me.com If you want even more valuable content join <> for bonus podcast episodes, resources, mentorship, and much much more!

Jacklyn and Greg are OT’s, cofounders of social enterprise B3 coffee, and both identify as neurodivergent. This discussion was fascinating being able to discuss this very common and often misunderstood experience. We discuss the wider societal acceptance of neurodivergence, their personal experiences, and how B3 is pushing the way forward for an all-inclusive future. Look after yourself, look after others, and always keep Occupied Brock@brockcookOTbrock.cook@me.com If you want even more valuable...

Occupational Disruption in the Pandemic: A Window into the Better Understanding of our Clients Dr. Paula Kramer PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, Professor Emeritus, University of the Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, USA COVID has drastically changed the critically important occupations of many and has enhanced our understanding of occupational disruption experienced by clients with disabilities. Occupational therapists profess to understand disruption, but now have a personal experience of disruption. The pandemic...

On October 15th 2021 I was honoured to be asked to give a short guest talk to the graduating class from Central Queensland University. The topic was left up to me and so I thought about what I would want to know if I was back in their shoes, about to step into the world as an OT for the very first time. So here it is, my lessons from a career in OT. Look after yourself, look after others, and always keep Occupied Brock@brockcookOTbrock.cook@me.com If you want even more valuable content join <> f...