When I was first considering occupational therapy as a career, I wasn’t entirely sure what exactly an occupational therapist was or did. My career mentor had suggested it and the respect I had for her meant that I considered it seriously. But what exactly was an occupational therapist and what would I be doing if I ended up there? It turns out that there is no easy answer to this question. Occupational therapists work in a diverse range of fields, so any definition that captures us all, ends up vague and confusing.
My career mentor did share one helpful illustration that I think captures the spirit of occupational therapy. She said, “an occupational therapist doesn’t just give you stretches (or at least we try not to!) they move your radio out of your reach so that you have to stretch every time you want to change the volume or channel or switch it on or off”. Essentially, we are trying to incorporate the stretches into everyday life.
Occupational therapy considers both the body and the mind. We understand which stretches will best address the issues in the body, but we also understand that almost no one does their prescribed stretches. So, we dig deeper, we try to link what is needed to restore function, to what is meaningful to the client – whether child or adult. It is only when we find the meaningful that we find the motivation.
Now, this doesn’t mean you never have to do boring stretches or exercises ever again. Sometimes, the boring things in life are necessary to enjoy the meaningful things in life*. What is does encourage us to do, is find the meaningful when we engage in therapy. Finding the meaningful, lends us the motivation to create progress and generate change.
In paediatric occupational therapy this looks like painting monster trucks, instead of writing lines of meaningless words. It looks like building volcanoes to learn about our feelings, instead of doing worksheets on anxiety or anger. It looks like making playdough instead of doing hand strengthening exercises.
In maternal health occupational therapy, it looks like balancing your prioritises instead of burning out trying to do it all. It looks like identifying your values and finding your voice, instead of letting others direct your motherhood journey. It looks like finding the right solution for your family, rather than applying cookie cutter advice to your life. It looks like investing in yourself, so that you can parent the way you want rather than the way you default.
So, this ‘Motivational March’ consider what is meaningful to you?
What change do you want to see in your life? And how do you link these two things together to generate motivation?
Or you can contact New Directions Psychology and see if Occupational Therapy is the right fit for you or your child 😊
*If you watch Bluey, you may remember an episode called ‘The Pool’ that demonstrates this truth beautifully:
