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A poem to remeber

Another profound  life-long reflection that I will be leaving this module with – this module that has its foundation built on group work and interpersonal relationships is:

·         You will continue to suffer

If you have an emotional reaction

To everything that is said to you.

True power is sitting back

And observing everything with logic; true power is

Restraint.

If words control you that

Means that everything else can

Control you; breathe

And allow things to pass;

Breathe and blow breath back into your bones;

Breathe…

Breathe…

You are strong.

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More things that I think will be beneficial to pack in your toolbox for life...

·         The biggest communication problem is that we don’t listen to understand…we listen to reply. Change this.

·         We don’t grow when things are easy, we grow when we face challenges. Remember this.

·         So look at the scars on your heart and see your greatness for you have walked through the fire to become an unwavering flame. Reflect on this.

·         Do not be people without minds of your own, saying that if others treat you well you will treat them well and that if they do wrong you will do wrong, But instead accustom yourselves to do good if people do good and not do wrong if they do evil. Adopt this.

·         How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it.  How beautiful a day can be when OT touches it. How beautiful a day can be when kindness in an OT touches it….because if this happens,  life is a success. Sing this. 

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You are strong enough to blow strength back into your bones

Its 4 am…I am awake…my thoughts are racing…my mind is active…but my limbs are weak and lifeless.

This is my closing blog to encapsulate my learning experiences during my block of community practise in OT. In saying this…as a reader you’re probably eagerly awaiting a blog that unfolds a long scroll of my positive experiences that were collected while working within the community and while interacting with community members, fellow OTs, and individuals across the realms of the multidisciplinary team – and life - on a level deeper than just on the surface. If you are…in this tired state…this emotionally worn out state where my heart beats with the blood that it drained from my limbs to keep beating, I hope that I can satisfy you…I hope that by this evening when my blog is uploaded and ready for you to read, that I am strong enough to blow strength back into my bones and to write about the positives that you want to hear.

During community practise in OT - or community based rehabilitation in general, across all professionals – group work is one of the most important tools that you have to keep in your toolbox for successful community engagement and attempts toward building a resilient community. This tool needs to be hardwearing, it needs to be well maintained, and it needs to be of good quality because it is a tool that you turn to nearly every day, i.e. for most of the day. This tool comes in many different forms. At some instances it is branded with fellow peers and members of the multidisciplinary team, whilst at other times, it is branded by community members themselves like your clients’ families, or community stakeholders that play a significant role in the running of the community or in the running of family homes. In community practise, group work is alive in the most real way.

In this blog, you are going to see a strong link between group work and both my personal and professional learning. Perhaps this theme of my blog is chosen because majority of my learning has come from working as a team, or perhaps my racing thoughts which are incohesive has spilt itself on the screen in front of you against my will…I’m not sure…perhaps continue reading and find out if this blog is going to pull you down with me or inspire us both…and?...say it with me…AND BLOW STRENGTH BACK INTO MY BONES.

During this block I have come to realise that you become so dependent on the people around you. It is nearly impossible to provide intervention and service delivery at a community level without the assistance of others. It is merely a one man task. Whilst this is true and can be a major advantage, it can also be a disadvantage. However this only occurs when there is conflict that disrupts the harmony that coexists within the community, within client homes, and within groups. It is so unfortunate that this profound tool, this needed wand of magic, has the power of destruction. It is so sad that it has the power to breakdown relationships between people, between clients and stakeholders, between professionals and steak holders, between professionals themselves, and more sadly, even in a person themself to a point where they do not feel strong enough to piece themself together and rise above again.

I’m sorry but I cannot sit back and see this happening. I cannot keep feeling limb. I cannot see others feel limb…I cannot let a deadly poison see growth to an abrupt end. It won’t happen.

During my fieldwork block, I saw many examples of how group work was positive, but ever so recently, the negatives became more evident. Whilst this may sound like a bad thing, it is not so bad if you choose to look at this positively. If you choose to blow strength back into your bones and learn from everything that life throws at you.

Some examples of how I did this are listed below:

·         When communicating with community stakeholders, it was brought to my attention that caregivers within the community, on whom OTs are somewhat reliant when it comes to providing effective intervention for home visit clients, did not want to work with the occupational therapy students anymore because students have not delivered on their promises in the past. This breakdown in the relationship between OTs and the CCGs is because clients did not want to receive any assistance from the CCGs because they were associated with us – with the people who have disappointed them. Now my reason for providing you with this is example is simple, it is very ‘close to home’. I have experienced first-hand of how a negative relationship creates a stressful working environment that causes anxiety that is so bad, it makes the execution and completion of work tasks daunting and close to impossible. With experiencing this, I believe that as OTs when we are providing care, we should at all costs prevent a breakdown in relationships. We are meant to be uplifting the lives of others and not making it more difficult. Hence when we work with other people, we need to uphold all ethical responsibilities and deliver through with what we have promised. Also, we need to make promises that we know that we have the capability to fulfil in order to ensure that every member in the interconnected group of intervention experiences some satisfaction. We cannot be the cause of CCGs working in a stressful environment because of our wrongs; similarly we can’t let our actions affect the relationships and quality of life of the people that we work with.

 ·         Having a part of your future in other people’s hands is a great responsibility for the person that is holding it  - I am feeling uneasy right now knowing that a peer has the power to influence my marks which could impact on my future in a variety of intensities. Feeling this uneasy about the peer reviewing which may do me a disadvantage, I came to realise that as OTs we have our client’s lives in our hands and as a result we need to do everything to the best of our ability to help them. We need to uphold all ethical behaviour and we need to respect our clients so that we can improve their quality of lives. We cannot do our clients a disadvantage when they let us enter their homes and their lives with open arms. We cannot do them a disadvantage when they are in fact helping us to grow as professionals. This nagging thought has taught me something good… it taught me that we need to always establish a symbiotic mutual relationship with our clients.

 ·         This practical block experience has also taught me the importance of support systems in a person’s life. I feel like I would not have managed without a strong support system of people who loved me and who helped me to rise up again. Love and support is what we all need. In saying this – love and support is what our clients need to. When working in the community we need to observe the dynamics between clients and their support systems. If a support system is poor and lacks nutrition, we need to intervene! A support system is a human need. We need to build one.  Although not all OTs may agree with this and with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Christopher, 2017), I believe in it. How can a tree with rotten roots bear sweet fruits? How can a client/their family who has experienced a critical life event see effective and efficient improvements without the support of his her/family.

 ·         This practical block has also taught me that growth is not always a pleasant experience. It is sometimes a very painful process. It has been so painful for me that at times I envisioned a chicken being stuffed with genetically modified products to a point where its eyes popped and its body nearly burst its contents. But whilst it taught me that it is not always a pleasant experience, it also taught me that this is a good thing. In fact it is a great thing because now that I have grown above all of the difficulties I have been made to face, I have more space to show tolerance toward unpleasant life experiences. This growth can help me both on a personal level as well as during my provision of intervention. No matter what difficulties I may experience, I will be resilient to face it. Professionally, I will be able to provide effective intervention as an OT without letting personal life issues come in my way of this.

References:

Christopher, C. Personal Communication, May 4 2017.

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Discuss OT role in health promotion, primary health care, and use of media.

In reading the title of this blog it is unmistakable that OT has a role in many walks of life. So what is OT actually, what do OTs do, and how many roles does OT have?

Occupational Therapy Practitioners help members of society with various limitations achieve a fulfilled and satisfied state in life through the use of "purposeful activity or interventions designed to achieve functional outcomes which promote health, prevent injury or disability and which develop, improve, sustain or restore the highest possible level of independence. Evidently, there is a large responsibility placed on the shoulders of this profession – we have the responsibility of helping a wide range of individuals, of various limitations ACHIEVE A SATISFIED STATE OF LIFE!

An occasional outsider may ask “How is this possible when OT practitioners themselves may not live a satisfied state of life?” Fair enough...we may not, but OT is our profession! We have adopted it. And we have adopted the responsibility placed on the shoulders of OT too. Hence, we will be a helping hand to the profession, and we will lend it our shoulder to bear the weight of the responsibility it carries. One way in being a helping hand to the profession is health promotion.

“What is health promotion?” asks the outsider. “What is Occupational Therapy’s role in health promotion?”

According to AOTA (2008), health promotion is a prevention strategy that allows people to manage and improve their overall health status. An Occupational Therapists role in improving the overall health status of an individual comes in with our unique ability and perspective of viewing a client holistically. Behaviour patterns which can be influenced by the environment, education, poverty, genetic disposition, and access to health care are often leading causes for poor health and disabilty (McGinnis, Williams-Russo, & Knickman, 2002). Due to our wholesome understanding of the complex and dynamic interactions between the person, their environment and activities they need to accomplish in their daily lives, we are able to promote health amongst such individuals. Our ability to do this is aided by our belief that occupation is a determinant of health and that through participation in their daily occupations, individuals can positively influence their health (Wilcock, 2006).

Therefore, in promoting heath we help people do the day-to-day tasks that "occupy" their time, sustain them, and enable them to contribute to the wider community. For people with limitations in function, we adapt and organize their daily occupations or activities related to self-care, home management, community participation, education, work and/or leisure into daily routines to create opportunities to do that prevent and minimize dysfunction, promote and develop a healthy lifestyle, and facilitate adaptation and recovery from injury, disease, or developmental challenges. It is therefore these opportunities to "do", which occupational therapy provides, that prove important and meaningful to the health of people.

We create opportunities to do by recognising that choice is important for health promotion. We also recognize the importance of habits and routines that promote the adoption and maintenance of healthy behaviours. Additionally, we identify barriers between an individual’s abilities and the demands of their daily lives. This enables us to facilitate success by matching the person’s skills to the demands of meaningful activities, by utilizing environmental supports, by minimizing environmental barriers, and by offering solutions to challenges associated with changing habits and routines; thereby promoting a healthier lifestyle.

I have witnessed first-hand the role of Occupational therapy in health promotion when the person, his environment, meaningful occupations, skills and abilities, and routines were taken into consideration when developing an intervention program. Doing this with my client moved him from being an individual who had lost his occupational identity to one who has now recreated an occupational identity for himself. Only when all of these considerations were taken did my intervention see the light of success in promoting his health.

Based on my experience I feel that for Occupational Therapists to make an impact that will truly last and be a continual presence, we need to be based within communities, we need to be providing intervention and access to our services as close to where people live as possible- which is the function of Primary Health Care (WHO, 2008). This will allow for us to submerge ourselves into the lives of the clients and the community and leave with a holistic picture of relevant members in order to plan effective and realistic intervention so that we can be an actual means of promoting their health. Primary health care will therefore allow for a more accurate frame of thought when planning and implementing intervention programs with hope of promoting health.

Additionally, in order to bring success to our profession in promoting health and well-being we need to show society that we care. We therefore have the responsibility of adopting the role of being a genuine human being who is genuinely concerned about promoting the health of the individuals and community that we interact with. We also have to advocate or our profession. A way that we can combine our caring empathetic nature and advocacy to help individuals achieve a satisfied state of life and to promote the health of members within a community is by using media.  By using the media we can rope in clients who have limited knowledge of the profession. Therefore by using what we know that works (Social Media), we can create a client base of individuals by showing them what OTs can do and by highlighting the necessity of OT in promoting the health of individuals like themselves.  

Although media is a great tool in promoting health, it should utilise both an OT and Primary health frame of thought and ensure that what is advertised in media about the profession and about health promotion is relevant to the context of the individuals that it is targeting. By doing this it emphasises that this is a profession that cares.

Hence, the success of occupational therapy’s role in health promotion, primary health care and the use of media are dependent on the context of the individual and community.

References:

American Occupational Therapy Association (2008). Occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and Process, 2nd Ed., American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 62(6), 625-683.

McGinnis, J. M., Williams-Russo, P., & Knickman, J. R. (2002). The case for more active policy attention to health promotion. Health Affairs, 21, 78-03.

WHO (2008). World Health Report. Primary Health Care- now more than ever.

Wilcock, A.A. (2006). An occupational perspective of health (2nd ed.). Thorofare, NJ: SLACK incorporated.

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Why are so many people so easily offended by everything nowadays?

In the community, AT SCHOOLS, BY EDUCATED PROFESSIONALS…Occupational Therapists (who may I add, work as part of the multidisciplinary rehabilitation team) were questioned about tree cutting and the safety risks it poses to school children. Uhm… Hello?! We are OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS NOT OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY OFFICERS! How do you not know the difference?!!?

During my four weeks in the community, it has become more and more evident that citizens, regardless of their age and educational status, lack considerable knowledge on the profession of occupational therapy. During interactions, we are either questioned about the nature and role of our profession, or people completely confuse us with other professionals, if not create their own profession and description to fit the term “Occupational Therapy”. It also appears, that unrelated to the number of times we attempt to clarify our identity as occupational therapists and what it is that we do, society remains confused. It sometimes makes one question if these people are purposely being imbecilic or unreceptive to this information.

Being a group of only four occupational therapy students in a community with a population size that makes us look invisible, it is a difficult challenge to make a difference and intervene in community issues where OT is the only answer. An exacerbation to this problem is the slow journey that the OT profession has embarked on to becoming common sense that people possess. Such an example of a community issue is the need for OTs at schools.

Within the community, a large scope for occupational therapists at the foundation stage of primary school has been identified. In a community that has no permanently employed occupational therapists, the students try to provide services within their capability to address the developmental delays present amongst grade R and 1 students, however the effectiveness and sustainability of our intervention is not possible without the educator’s co-operation. The OT students need the educators to identify children who may possibly have learning difficulties based on the educator’s knowledge of their performance and ability to cope with school related tasks, or by utilising simple screening techniques that we (the OT students) continuously attempt to teach them. This help from the teachers will provide us with vital information and enable us to complete thorough assessments on the students and provide them with the intervention that they need. But how do we actually make a difference when the educators minds’ present with some sort of intolerance to the role of OT??– they keep forgetting what OT is and what it is that we do – almost as if their minds won’t allow them to accept this information!

How do we actually make a difference when the people that we need to help us do not fully acknowledge our identity…our role…our purpose! This is food for offence! Why don’t they know what OT is!?

In the community teachers don’t really know what occupational therapy is despite our constant efforts at increasing their knowledge and providing them with skills to work hand-in hand with us to combat educational problems amongst school children. They remain in the dark about our profession. They remain non-cooperative - And with this our frustration festers…

But why do we actually get frustrated with the teachers?  Why do we hear ourselves asking in annoyance, “If they still don’t know what occupational therapy is, WHY DON’T THEY DO SOME RESEARCH!?” Do we have reason to be offended by their neglect towards our profession? Being too easily offended is a form of self-victimization (Shafer, 2017).” It seems like everyone thinks they are simply “entitled” to everything, and they are always right” ("Why are so many people so easily offended by everything nowadays?”, 2017). We need to think well on this - Can teachers actually be blamed for their non-cooperation?

Finding the motivation to complete my blog on this cold and rainy day made me realise how inappropriate our feelings of offence actually is. Using my blog as a comparison to the educators’ cooperation may seem slightly strange but I found it absolutely realistic to the situation. Writing my blog was the last thing that I felt like doing in this weather and the only way that I managed to will myself out of bed and actually complete it was coming to a realisation that by not completing it I would purposely jeopardise my career. Now with regards to the teachers, doing OT assessments and screening the students is not actually their duty. It is the duty of occupational therapists. Their career cannot be jeopardised by their lack of cooperation, and considering the amount of work that they have to complete in a day whilst working with 40+ students, can one actually grow offended with them for not cooperating? – If they do not cooperate can we actually hold it against them? Personally, I don’t think that it is fair to do that.

Perhaps, if there is anyone that we want to direct our offence to it should be the department of education. It is their duty to acknowledge the need for occupational therapists at schools. Why have they not done it already? Do they not take our profession seriously?

Or perhaps it is the OTs who are to be blamed too. Maybe it is the way that we define our profession that confuses people or makes it difficult for them to create a clear depiction of our profession. As OTs in the community, we need to create a uniform definition of OT that clearly defines our roles and expertise. Perhaps then we will see a change – If we don’t know how to properly define our profession, each giving a different description, how do we expect any better from others?

At the end of the day, I know that majority of our offence and frustration comes from being proud about our profession and feeling overprotective over our profession when it comes to advocacy, or the lack of it, but at the same time we should not let this manifest into an ego imbalance, selfishness and a sense of entitlement. Before getting offended we need to think of the situation and context appropriately to see if there is actual room for our offence and who it should be directed at.

It’s a broken world that we live in; a world that is still trying to make sense of how to piece itself together – let’s not be people who are easily offended. Let’s not be the walking wounded. We are OTs. We bring life back to the broken; we bring life back to the wounded.

References:

1.      Shafer, J. (2017). Are You or Anyone You Know Too Easily Offended?. Trans4mind.com. Retrieved 12 May 2017, from https://trans4mind.com/counterpoint/index-communication-relationships/shafer25.shtml

2.      Why are so many people so easily offended by everything nowadays?. (2017). https://www.quora.com. Retrieved 12 May 2017, from https://www.quora.com/Why-are-so-many-people-so-easily-offended-by-everything-nowadays

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What queer disease is this that comes over us and makes the occupation of others insignificant?

“Because occupation is so all-embracing, and apparently, so mundane, its significance has failed to be appreciated significantly (Whiteford, Hocking, 2012).” Within the community, informal salons, takeaways, butcheries and panel-beaters, all, have become fixed landmarks, one situated on every corner. But how often do we actually take notice of these? Do we remember them as well as we remember a well-established enterprise. Do we even acknowledge the employees, the bakers…the painters, like we would for master Chef or Cake Boss?? What queer disease is this that comes over us every day, a certain blindness that makes us unseeing to the occupational beings standing right in front of us?

Our judgements concerning the worth of occupations, big or little, depend on the feelings the occupations arouse in us. Where we judge an occupation to be valuable to society - precious, in consequence of the idea we frame of it, this is only because the idea is itself associated already with a feeling. If we were radically feeling less, and if ideas were the only things our minds could entertain, we should lose all of our likes and dislikes at a stroke, and be unable to point to any one occupation in life more valuable or significant than the other.

On my entry into the community, I saw little businesses, some standing in solitude whilst some in resemblance of standing dominoes, one next to the other. On some street corners there were small gatherings of people and on others there were larger groups too - each adding a unique decoration to the rural civic. This decoration, these businesses and people became so mundane; their presence on every street became so common, so much so that during my drives through the community I unconsciously turned a blind eye to the community decorations…I failed to notice the beauty of the decorations. Perhaps, within my unconscious, I felt that by seeing one I had seen all… I failed to critique the reasoning behind masses of the population opening up business that targeted the same population…or businesses that seem complacent and at ease with the competition posed by the business next door providing the same services as them, themselves, as well as the business before them. I failed to critique the meaning that these small business had for the community, and for the business owners themselves. Perhaps they all loved the occupation so much that they did not mind the competition?

A common thought that came to my mind during my seldom states of clear vision was “Shame, they’re forced into opening these small businesses, they’re forced into working so hard just to make a means, just to survive”….but why did I not ask myself “Do they enjoy what they do?”, “What do these occupations mean to them?”. Perhaps I did not ask myself this because in my sub conscious I made a statement - “They don’t enjoy their occupations”, “They can’t possibly enjoy their occupations?”, “What is there to enjoy whilst working so hard in the hot sun only to make a rationed living?”

We are all practical beings, each of us with limited interests…and limited functions and duties to perform. We are all bound to feel intensely the importance of our own occupations and the significance of the situations that call these forth. But this feeling is in each of us a vital secret, for sympathy with which we vainly look to others. We are so often too much absorbed in our own vital secrets to take an interest in others. Hence the stupidity and injustice of our opinions lead us to living alien lives. The falsity of our judgments presumes to decide in an absolute way on the value of other persons' conditions or on the meaning that they attach to their occupations.

How sad is this queer disease that comes over us – Our blindness and this spectator's judgment is sure to miss the root to every occupation, and to possess no truth (James, 2017). Our blindness and this spectator’s judgement fail to see the purpose, meaning and complexities of interactions between people and what they do.

Occupational Science in Occupational Therapy forces individuals to consider the nature, function and meaning placed behind the occupations that individuals engage in. It makes an individual question “Why do you engage in this occupation”, “What does it mean to you?”. It is important to ask these questions as these routine engagements in doing and being shape the identities of people and their lives. Hence, in order to understand people, and to break out of our alienated lives filled with false presumptions and judgements, we need to ask these questions and become occupational scientists.

Within the community, I forced myself to be an occupational scientist – I found a cure to my queer blindness. With an occupational scientist frame of mind, I developed a growing interest to experience what it feels like to engage in an occupation that society generally excludes for females – in the subconscious. This occupation is a mechanic and panel beater. Why society excludes this occupation for females, in its subconscious or not, or why I thought that society does this, was one of the reasons that motivated me to experience what it feels like to be a panel beater and a mechanic so that I could understand my judgement or correct it.

Working as a mechanic and a panel beater is a heavy duty occupation. It is also an occupation that requires that the employees are knowledgeable and skilled in multiple areas including wiring, panel beating and electrical. Employees need to have extensive knowledge on different types of cars, different models and different brands. On enquiring about the experience needed to acquire such knowledge the employees stated that it is self-acquired knowledge and that it takes up to 10 years of experience to completely understand every car and every indicator for repair. But how motivated does an individual have to actually be to work for 10 years in such difficult conditions?

As an “occupational scientist” I found that the information that I accumulated from my analysis of the occupations as well as from the responses from the employees, was incredible. Considering that these panelbeaters and mechanics were the same people that I once turned a blind eye to, or maybe even sympathised with in my mind during an occasional stage of visual clarity because of the environment that they worked in with a lack of shelter, and uneven terrain. Considering that these were the same people that I asked myself about with regard to how do they cope in the heat, and how much of joy can they get from this occupation that looks so difficult and probably pays so little….when I had actually worked with them and gathered their responses, only then did I see beyond the beauty of their occupation, beyond all of the negatives.

Despite the fact that the surfaces were uneven, and the workers had to carry bucket loads of water from the next street to wash out an engine or wash a car after panel beating it, many of the employees loved their occupation. When I had asked two of the employees if they would like to continue being panel beaters for the rest of their lives, they replied with a positive “Yes”. One person stated that he loved the occupation and that fixing a car was a type of art for him because he has to almost form a connection with the car to be able to understand what was wrong. The other stated that fixing cars allows him to experience a sense of pride by being able to have such extensive knowledge on cars without actually attending any formal training.

The poor infrastructure and environment therefore was irrelevant to the employees – perhaps this was because they were all self-employed and worked together rather than for someone, however they were happy performing these occupations daily. They were happy with their lives being shaped by these occupations. It is therefore important that we do not always think that people are unhappy where they are, or sympathise with others, or make judgements about their conditions without actually considering why they engage in the occupations that they do and what it means to them. We should not allow our judgements to make us turn a blind eye to them and categorise all as the same. Different people attach different meanings to their occupations and regardless of our opinions of their occupations; it could add significant value to their lives.

References:

James, W. (2017). On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings. Retrieved 5 May 2017, from https://www.uky.edu/~eushe2/Pajares/jcertain.html

Whiteford, G., & Hocking, C. (2012). Occupational science: Society, inclusion, participation. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.

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A Kaleidoscope of Colours

There is no simple description of life; there is no precise description of lifestyle, neither is there an error-free description of a person. This world…this life… that is a common event for each of us is nothing but a broad canvas and the constantly changing patterns and core elements in each of our lifestyles come together in a kaleidoscope of colours and beautifully paints a picture on the canvas of  life. If we are all just different colours, different shades in different hues, why then do we allow our contrasting colours, and at times slightly different perspectives, make us think that we are all but different, that we are one better than the other. We need to stop pretending that we aren’t all the same; we are a kaleidoscope of colours (Franco, 2016).

This world is made up of numerous places, all so different in its composition, but places nonetheless. On the canvas of life a large portion resembling different shades and textures is the bright contrast between the rural environments and urban metropolis. Trying to envision this canvas whilst typing, by drawing colours of paint from my practical experience in week two, I picture the rural settings splodged in molten grey paint for clouds whilst the urban conurbation have perky bright flowers bursting in all its glory, emitting cheerful strokes of life and green. As a reader you might be confused. Your vision might be disarrayed by looking at my painting and trying to comprehend whether or not my intention was to paint it in abstract strokes or in finer detail. My writing might feel like a puzzle rather than a detailed artwork. Continue reading until you find the meaning embedded in my artwork.

During my constant quest for new home visit clients in my second week of community practice I had identified a male, of the age of 29, who desperately needed rehabilitation. After hearing of the severity of his condition, finding his home became my new drive, but the drive was not easy. The road was difficult and hard to navigate. In the bus a radio of fellow students’ voices played at a monotonous pitch and the lyrics were comments in the form of questions of the flowers that I want on my death bed…questions of the people that I want at my funeral…comments and questions of the picture I would like displayed next to my coffin. My fellow students believed that my quest to find the service user was an image on the canvas that resembled the corpse flower, best known for its terrible smell…the flower that grew best under molten grey skies. The service user lived in the lowest area at the bottom of a hill that was believed by the community members to be infested with Whoonga; leading to the credence that I was placing my life at risk as a young female willing to wonder so deep into a foreign place. They believed that it would not be safe for me to see this service user as he could potentially have a place in the infestation of the drug in the community. There were so many questions, so many comments, and so many words that were not in the favour of seeing this client. Having heard these words play on repeat, it was hard to get the lyrics out of my mind. I began to sing the song to myself. I began to doubt the credibility of my ambition. I began to slodge dark grey paint on the canvas.

After a good 20 minutes of driving around the rural neighbourhood and 10 minutes on foot to locate the service user’s house, his house was spotted far in the distance. With my heart in my mouth and doubtful sweats drip down my forehead I took my first step to descend an invisible staircase built in the rock towards his house. One step…two steps… I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go down alone. Suddenly everything that I had heard in the bus, on the “radio” became alive inside of me, the reality of going down and coming to a devastating and shattering end felt like a possibility. I ascended. I ascended with feelings of fear, feelings of hopelessness, feelings of weakness…AND overwhelming feelings of guilt. “How can I be such a coward?” I thought to myself, “How can I let my preconceived ideas of the ‘danger that creeped around the neighbourhood’ stop me from providing services to an individual who may be extremely needy of the services that I have to offer?” . Again, I descended. I crawled down the rocks on all fours, although careful, very wary and very careful in my step, I descended straight into the arms of a stunning family of 5 individuals and a highly reputable service user, all who welcomed me with a heart-warming embrace.

For people every new challenge with a pallete of pessimism, every piece that they paint on the canvas of life will be painted in bleak colours of grey. If I did not fight my fear and go down to see my service user I would have stunted my growth, as a person as well as a health professional for all future endeavours. As human beings, we have a tendency to always make everything slightly more difficult than it needs to be (Berreilis, 2014). Oh us! Why do we do this? Why do we always let our misconceptions, and preconceived ideas get the better of us? Why do we even have these preconceived ideas that mislead us on numerous occasions? The world can so beautiful if all of this can stop.

I find that in my community whilst growing up, we were brought up in a very sheltered manner. Although “sheltered” might be a hard or insensitive term to use, because we were actually just protected from anything unknown that had a potential of harm, it inhibited our growth to a particular extent. Although this was done out of love by our parents, guardians and community members – something that I myself might do one day to the people that I love too, God forbid, it has stunted our growth in a sense where we are afraid to take on new challenges that are outside of our comfort zone. This lack of exploration has led to limitations in meeting new people and interacting with others outside of our immediate environments; hence people on the outskirts evoke fear in us. How delusional is this thinking? How delusional is it to think that something different is bad? We are now adults with the power to rule our own lives yet we are still stuck in this childish thinking that different is only going to bring us to our ruin, or draw the worst outcomes?

Although people of rural environments and people of urban metropolis come from different geographical locations and have commonly been brought up with cultural differences, how different are we all actually? We all have the same organs; we all have the same number of cells, or red blood running through our veins. We also have the ability to reason and we have the capacity to experience feelings…we all possess a heart, some soft and some hard. The main difference in our lives is the experiences that shape our life, but in actuality we are all just a kaleidoscope of colours. We all possess different colours of greys or bright greens and yellows, but how will you actually know what colours a person possesses until you actually meet them, until you actually interact with them personally. How can you paint a canvas without knowing the colours in your pallete.

My experience, my beautiful experience that proved my fear, my misconceptions and my delusional thinking improper has fed my request for courage. We have to learn to face the things that scare us and do our best to stay there. We need to look for the best in people, and in situations, and build up our inner strength. If we do this with our faces turned towards the light, we will experience the magic as our different colours, shades and hues collide.

[mylittleotbook-blog]

There’s a Place for Occupational Therapy Beyond Inpatient Settings, Old-Age Homes and Protective Sheltered Workshops.

Community practice in OT, within client homes, means OTs can use their skills to make a real difference. The guidance of wonderful readings, powerful OT supervisors as mentors, as well as a week in the community taught me that OT is as much about thinking, reasoning and advocating as it is doing--and that our profession is most powerful when it deals with the most commonplace, that is the individual’s home, their habitation, their community.  

When you look at the picture above what do you see? What thoughts or feelings does it evoke? Does it make you wonder how it is possible for anyone to do any occupation effectively within this restricted setting? I ask these questions purely because I am an Occupational Therapy student who has for the last 4 years of my duration of studies spoke about how the magical profession, OT, helps people across the lifespan to do the things they want and need to do, independently and efficiently, through the therapeutic use of daily activities (occupations) within the environments that they interact with on a daily basis. I spoke about how the magical OT is the only profession that enables people of all ages to live life to its fullest by helping them promote health, and prevent—or live better with—injury, illness, or disability. But I did this without for once picturing a home that looks like this. Whilst it is a distressing picture for some…it is a reality for others. During my first week in the community I was rudely awoken by this painful image right before my eyes. It made my heart drop. It made my mind shatter. It made me question the accountability and credibility of my role as a magical practitioner, an OT.

Let me walk you through my experience and my thoughts.

On my 2nd day in the community I went to locate my home-visit client… I left the bus, I walked into a double story house and then I stopped…confused. “How many people were actually living in this house? “, I asked myself. Confused, I continued walking. I walked up a dark and narrow staircase and then I walked down a dark and narrow passage. There I saw a room. Was it a room?  Was it a house? WAS IT A HOUSE INSIDE A ROOM? … It was a house inside a room! I was shocked! There was a bed in the centre of a small room with a full blown kitchen, a toilet, a wardrobe and a linen room, a lounge comprised of stools, some type of store room around it, and in all this clutter laid a female with a bilateral amputation on the bed, and her daughter. When I entered the “house” to introduce myself, it could barely occupy one more individual due to the tight space constraints. Then I saw a wheelchair… a wheelchair folded up in one corner of the room on a pile of stool. The “house” was so small that even a folded wheelchair could not fit in the “house”. Walking into this house and witnessing a patient with an amputation, with a wheelchair in a room wherein any person could barely move on foot, leave alone on a wheelchair, made my mind flood with guilt for the many years that I have worked as an OT and never for once considered that my clients’ homes had a possibility of looking like this. Is it not unrealistic or unethical even, to give a service user wheelchair training for effective community reintegration when the client does not even have space within her home environment to open up the wheelchair, leave alone transfer into it and mobilise around the house? What will the service user do with the wheelchair in a passage way that is not wide enough for the wheelchair? How will the client come down the stairs from the top story that has no ramp to push the wheelchair down?

Previously, I have always gathered collateral information regarding my client’s home and context and I developed a mental picture of what the environment, as per the discussion with the client, looked like…but did it actually look like the way I envisioned it. I also made attempts of gathering information regarding the systems that interacted on the client’s life and occupation to plan intervention and make recommendations that were appropriate, realistic and sustainable – but what reassurance do I have that those recommendations were actually implemented and sustainable in the long term? It made me question if all of the intervention that I had planned for my service users’ actually improved their functioning within their natural environment, if the skills that  I had taught them within the inpatient setting were actually realistic and allowed for transferability within their environment. As an OT, about to qualify, I never want to ask myself these questions with self-doubt looming over me, again. Occupational Therapy Practitioners recognise that staying within the “medical model” deprives society of the full benefits of an occupational approach (Miller and Nelson, 2004, p.138).

Being in the community and being given the opportunity to actuality do home visits showed me that there are solutions to put an end to those questions. One of the solutions are community practice in OT. “Community practise exists in the client’s real life and real world” (Slebert, 2003, p.2). I feel like during community practice we get to advocate the learning of living skills and occupations in the place where they are to be practised. In fact, all the aspects that affect health and occupational engagement in the community setting can be observed at first-hand and this makes therapy more applicable and client-centred, and can therefore put an end to doubtful questions regarding the credibility and accountability of the intervention provided.

To conclude, it is evident that community practice has an advantage over simply interviewing the client in an inpatient setting about his or her perceived barriers and accessibility in the home. Although client perceptions are valid and important, a discussion that is conducted in the inpatient setting is removed from the dynamic environment which the person engages daily. “Occupation does not exist in a vacuum” (Siebert, 2014) therefore physically observing the dynamic environment when practicing OT in community settings provides practitioners with a realistic view of the client’s life and promotes better treatment outcomes because recommendations and intervention occur in context. However community practice is not always possible, but skills that practitioners learn during community practice, such as to not always take what service users say during discussions at face value, can ensure that OTs can use their skills to make a real difference if they apply it within inpatient settings as well.

[mylittleotbook-blog]

My eyes are closing - closing blog

It’s only 22:11 pm and my eyes are closing. Here I am, lying in bed with my laptop on my lap, typing each letter slowly..then erasing. I am struggling to stay awake... But I need to stay awake and complete this blog. *Retyping*......*deep breaths*, *deep breaths*. It’s my final blog, I am so close to the end- I cannot give up, I need to persevere!

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Persevere - Written by Aamina Moosa Hoosain (AMH.)

On February 10, 2014, I climbed on a boat, exhilarated by the years’ events. The water was calm, the weather was warm...the air was light and fresh. I felt safe, I felt secure, I really enjoyed being driven by the current. On the boat, I closed my eyes and there I was...at Anantara Dhigu Maldives Resort where the water married the rhythm that synchronized the current with a slow smooth tempo...WOW, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MISCONCEPTION THAT WAS!

My boat was set on a large, natural stream of water and has been dragged by a strong current flowing into a channel to the sea. Today is the 21st of October, 2016, and I cannot breathe... I cannot keep my eyes open...I’ve been sucked underwater...waves are breaking over my head - I am in the middle of an undertow!

I am right at the end of my 3rd year, I have one more year to go... I am so close to the end. I cannot give up. I have completed the psycho-social block of fieldwork but even with this I feel like the current has picked up speed and I cannot get my head over the water again. I tell myself to break out of it and change the scene, or the setting, or do anything to stop thinking about the water crashing over my head...so here I am in my bed, in a different scene, with the same discursive dynamics. I am struggling to stay awake. Despite my efforts to stay awake or to stay above the water I feel like I am succumbed to despair. 

My hours, days, weeks and months of hard work does not seem to be helping or producing any amazing results good results.Between fieldwork and research I feel like I am battered and beat by the end of the day, with nothing to show for it. I tried to start my blog on a pleasant note, just as i began my career in OT, but now I’m not too sure, the boat is rocky...I really hope that at the end of this vicious boat ride in the year 2017, I find myself relaxed and sprawled in a sanctuary of OT.

[mylittleotbook-blog]

My Jar of Life

A conversation between my future self and my present self:

Future self: You’re going to catch a cold from the ice inside your soul.

Present self: What makes you think I am going to have an iced soul?

Future self: Your jar of life.

 It is common to see “Store in a cool dry place” at the back of many jars – my jar of life is literally stored in a cool dry place. Regardless of the contents inside my jar, the cool dry place surrounding my jar freezes the contents inside my jar, it fills the inside of my jar with dry ice and leaves very little room for important contents.

My jar of life:

Majority of my jar is OT – in all honestly OT consumes most of my life. In a 5kg jar, OT fills between 3.75 kg of the contents. Other contents include: ADL’s - 0.25 kg of my contents, social interaction between my family and friends - 0.25 kg of my content and dry ice - 0.75 kg of my contents.

Present self to future self: I see what you mean. I have to change the storage of my jar of life, the content and the arrangement of the contents, or else my glass jar will freeze up in the cool dry and hostile environment I have created and crack.

The hostile environment/cool dry place I am referring to is my constant state of dis-ease and tension that I have created for myself as a result of the pressure I place on myself to be a good student. But being a good student isn’t about dedicating your life to your work. It’s about fitting your academic activities into your life rather than fitting some life ariund academic activities. And I know this so well but I find it so hard to actually do. I live my life in the latter rather than the former…

NO. YOU KNOW WHAT… I ACTUALLY DISAGREE!

SCRAP THAT!

My jar of life:

With all due respect to the Philosophy professor who explained the concept – “The jar of life” and all of its contents, I think the jar of life is a lot more complex than that. Depending on the time of day and the events leading up to the moment an individual chooses to describe his or her life and his/her priorities in their jar of life, the priorities will be different. Earlier in the day when I began writing this post, I had no inspiration to write, to critically evaluate the philosophy or to critically evaluate myself. And I take the opportunity of this change to challenge the philosophy.

I describe the jar of life as a flexible and elastic jar with a large amount of variability between the arrangement of the contents in the jar. Depending on the individuals current affairs, the arrangement between the contents in the jar will be different.

For example, the night before my OT final exam, the golf balls in my jar (which he described to be family and the big things in life) could be something less important like OT, which should actually be my pebbles, and consume a lot of the space in my jar. So much so that the ratio between OT and my family might be 5:0.5. And that’s okay. It’s okay because my family will then reshape itself into something else and raise the pressure in my jar and make my flexible jar stretch in size in order to house both my large golf balls and the love from my family.

What I am trying to say is that the contents in a jar aren’t always the same. Jars are kept for life but during its life span it is shaken, it is emptied, it is refilled, it is batted, deformed, cracked and it might even be re-glued together again. It all just depends on the time of day and what an individual is currently facing that defines the contents in the jar, the arrangements and the ratio between the contents and how it should be prioritised. But this is not a fixed ratio. In my life, the arrangements of my contents and the shape of my flexible jar are constantly changed depending on what my life demands of me at a specific time.

Present self: I have grown too strong to ever fall back into your ice cold arms again. I am soft, I am durable I cannot be broken. My strength lies in my flexibility and even if I place myself in the hostile environment I spoke about, I am plastic and I am freezer friendly. I will survive. So will my contents. I have a feature to prevent dry ice from forming inside the jar. So worry not – the life expectancy of my jar of life is very long and healthy.

[mylittleotbook-blog]

Articles that contributed to my professional experience...

After working with a variety of service users you come to realise that not one single therapeutic approach applies to every service user. The foundation and basis of the therapeutic relationship that you form with one service user does not often work very well when forming the next therapeutic relationship. An article by Degnen (2002) and Law, Baptiste & Mills (1995) provided me with some insight into building therapeutic relationships whilst using a client centred approach.

Degnen (2002) says that a specific type of interpersonal relationship is central to the definition of client-centred occupational therapy. This is supported by what Law et al. (1995) said regarding client-centred therapy. Law et al. (1995) said that “It is an approach to service which embraces a philosophy and respect for and partnership with people receiving services.” According to Degnen (2002) and Law et al. (1995) a therapeutic relationship is based on two general types of relationship bonding being rapport and the working alliance. Rapport is built when the two individuals develop an understanding towards each other that is characterised by genuine states of respect and a liking towards each other whereas the working alliance is characterised by the two individuals setting common goals for intervention and develop a sense of responsibility to share in reaching these goals.

Research indicates that the effectiveness of intervention is based on the critical bonding between the two elements of relationships within the first few sessions of intervention in order for intervention to be client centred and effective.

This article has helped me a great deal over the last two weeks during psychosocial fieldwork.  Due to my service user suffering from depression, a traumatic brain injury and institutionalisation she presents with avolition to engage in any occupations. During the first day of intervention completing assessments was difficult as the service user was reluctant to engage in occupations. This is where buiding rapport came in. This article helped me to identify ways to build a good therapeutic rapport with my service user in order to be able to move to the next step and build a working alliance for effective intervention to take place. I had during the next day of therapy incorporated a pamper/grooming session in order to facilitate my therapeutic relationship with the service user and to make her feel important and worthy of love. This had elicited a positive outcome to my therapeutic relationship with my service user and facilitated the development of genuine respect and a sense of liking between the service user and myself when I had queried about her interests and likes. During future sessions, as a warm up, the service user was drawn into the therapy session by a cup of tea as she likes tea and cookies and had not tasted her own cup of tea in many years. Using the tea both as a means to building a good therapeutic relationship and as an end to was effective in developing the working alliance with this service user.

Once the two elements of building a good therapeutic relationship had been covered successfully, client-centred intervention was no longer difficult with this service user who was unwilling to engage in any occupations initially. 

Tickle-Degnen, L. (2002). Client-Centered Practice, Therapeutic Relationship, and the Use of Research Evidence. American Journal Of Occupational Therapy, 56(4), 470-474. http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ajot.56.4.470

Law M, e. (2016). Client-centred practice: what does it mean and does it make a difference?  - PubMed - NCBI. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 1 October 2016, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10152881

[mylittleotbook-blog]

Research Day

Occupational Therapy is a client-centered health profession concerned with promoting health and well-being through occupation (World Federation of Occupational Therapists, 2012). Occupational therapy also focuses on occupational science which, According to the University of Columbia’s Medical Faculty (2016), it is the study of human participation and occupation. During Research day every team of researchers addressed the above mentioned scope of OT in variable degrees and they exercised variable lengths of creativity while doing this. Multiple principles acronymed to form the word ‘REACH’, principles that govern the performance of the students at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, were used as a recipe to their successful Research.

The manner in which REACH can be used as a model to guide OT and Research is discussed below:

·        R – Reliable: Researchers have to assume a reliable approach to firstly ensure that they complete every assignment necessary on their journey of compiling research, and while doing this they have to ensure that their results are reliable and validated. Similarly, Occupational Therapists have to ensure that they are reliable and assume responsibility within clinical practise with regards to their service users, to themselves and their employing bodies.

 ·        E – Effort: Nothing comes without effort, and this was seen by the comprehensive and extensive research conducted by the researchers. During clinical practice too, I need not to explain how much of effort goes into our assessment and treatment rationale – choosing not to explain how, where and why we put in effort is one of the rare opportunities I got to not to put an effort.

 ·        A – Ask: In Research you have to ask highly relevant research questions. In OT practice, you have to be a researcher to gain information about your service user’s history, his current life and occupations (basically everything you need to know about him as per the case study guidelines and beyond that), as well as develop research questions regarding whether or not your intervention will be a success and if it will answer your research question.

 ·        C – Creativity (I think it was): Researchers have to be creative in the manner in which they go about conducting their research – they have to sell their topic, they have to capture the audience and they have to impress the audience with their findings to a point of no return. Similarly, in OT practice we have to win our service users over and we have to creatively sell our intervention, capture our service users and impress them with the power of OT and appropriate or effective intervention.

·        H – Honesty: Without honesty, in Research and OT practice, everything you do will be pointless and reap no benefits because your content is tainted and “No tree bears fruit from a rotten seed”.

  To conclude, the fact that the final year OT students ave actually reached the end of their Research using REACH was absolutely inspiring – there is actually an end - a beautiful end actually as their efforts were phenomenal. This added brightness to the light at the end of the tunnel of research and OT we are currently in.

[mylittleotbook-blog]

External lecturers left me thinking…

Life is an unpredictable journey. We walk the journey of life knowing this. On this journey we carry a back-pack with the unpredictable stressors of life placed at the very depth of the bag with all of our dreams, hopes, goals and perceptions of how our life will turn out to be at the top. Every well-functioning human being does this unconsciously in hope of easy access to the colourfully printed map of how we want our life to be and to block out any existence of the unpredictable stressors at the bottom of the bag that were sullenly put into the bag after being forced to do so. The external lecturers had a bag of their own too. The threads of their bags unravelled bursting out the unpleasant contents from the bottom of their bags into their very existence. This is unfortunately the reality of many of the people and service users that we meet during the journey of our own lives as therapists.

The first external lecturer, a woman in charge of Compassionate Friends, took us through her painful journey of life where she encountered loss after loss. This woman has lost up to 7 members of her immediate family in a relatively short period of time. Just as she began to pick herself up after one death, she tripped over the next and the next one after the other. With the scars and bruises after all of her falls, all of her hopes, dreams and wishes in life were tainted. According to this wonderful courageous woman, at a very low point in her life thoughts of ending her life occupied her mind and forcing them out of her mind was challenge; however seeing her in front of us with a confident stride in her gait I knew that this courageous woman had successfully accomplished this challenge despite the persistent rocks and logs that she had to encounter on her journey. During her reflection on her life she had also mentioned how the death of one individual not only affects you but it has a disabling effect on a chain of all of the relationships and roles that you had previously assumed too. According to her regaining these roles and repairing these lost relationships is nearly impossible.

The next external lecturer to have her bag unravelled was a survivor of an eating disorder known as Anorexia. According to this admirable woman, she is fighting, with sweat drenched clothes to assume a normal healthy life like any typical individual. Her distorted thinking all began due to, firstly, the unrealistic pressures placed on her from her father to be nothing less than perfect in all aspects of life, being academics, sports, or just as a person and secondly because of being perceived as fat at school for having a well-muscled body reaped as a product of fitness. Expecting individuals to be absolutely perfect or calling an individual fat because of having a lean fit body is a form of distorted thinking in itself. As a result of the vicious circle of distorted thinking leading to distorted thinking, this woman fighting for a typical life treads through her journey of life as if she is on a guilt trip. She feels guilty every day for all of the criticism her actions have inflicted upon her daughters for having a mother with an eating disorder.

The above two external lecturers made me realise that events, words, and actions, even if individual in nature when they present itself, all form a large wave that creates a ripple effect that burdens the individual and everything and everyone they are associated with. As therapists we should add the external lecturers to our own bag that we carry on our journey through life and reach into our bag for their experiences when we interact with any individual or service user. We need to not only assess them at a surface level but understand the roots of their concerns. We need to understand why they behave in a certain manner and what had led to such events rather than to just identify their impairment and focus on intervening for it. We need to understand how the event has changed their life as well as the ripple effect that it had on everything and everyone around them considering that this weight is often added onto their already large burdens.

[mylittleotbook-blog]

What I have I learnt on fieldwork block and about myself so far…

Hold that pose!  Caught in action, on September 10, Occupational therapy student Aamina Hoosain, is shown below with pet therapy cat “Fluffy” – trained by Sparkle Cat Therapy, Inc. 

What have I learnt during fieldwork?

With the continuous interruptions in the field work block I got the opportunity to travel 330 km’s to Dundee where I run Sparkle Cat Therapy (home) during my semester breaks. At Sparkle Cat Therapy, Fluffy is the only cat that provides OT intervention. Being an occupational therapist, with my regular visits home I have seen first-hand how pet therapy makes people feel invincible! Fluffy’s playfulness is so hard to ignore, despite how much fieldwork-work I bring home and how anxious I feel about where I stand with regards to fieldwork. Fluffy rolls up into a fur-ball, somersaults over and tosses any anxiety that I have over with him and it is with such stunts I am forced to play with him. I have therefore realized that I am dependent on the Pet Therapy services he has to offer.

During Fieldwork I have learnt that my personality makes me seem unapproachable. I honestly thought I smile most of the day away, but the way I feel makes me think otherwise. I think I need to develop a more subtle, calmer approach, somewhat like Fluffy, by being jolly and interacting with my Service User’s during sessions; adding a fun and enjoyable element to sessions. This will differ from my usual observational approach during intervention sessions where I observe and guide my sessions rather than actively engage with the Service User. Actually reading my handling techniques out loud and hearing it sounds terribly boring so I can only imagine how that may affect my intervention sessions. If I cannot bring my pet to therapy, I need to bring he’s attitude with me to help alleviate the anxiety of my Service User’s rather than add to it.

Apart from my handling, I feel like I am good with building rapport with my Service Users and I feel like we have a strong therapeutic-interpersonal connection already. Dr, Lindy Parker and Georgia University stated that the presence of a therapy pet facilitates a therapeutic connection and rapport between the client and the therapist (Read more at http://dogtime.com/trending/20665-therapy-dogs-reduce-anxiety-and-loneliness-for-college-students#0JVfT2WySio4SDsj.99). Despite Sparkle Cat Therapy’s assigned cat not being physically present to facilitate the formation of rapport, an accepting, non-judgemental approach of the therapist (qualities that he possesses) facilitated this.

During fieldwork I have learnt to expect to treat your OT education as a full-time job - A job that does not give you an income but rather takes away your income. During a money management session with a really special Service User a little budgeting and compromising was done between money management for hygiene and money management for leisure activities. My service User was ecstatic about participating in a past interest of his being potting and hence opted to budget towards potting costs of R57, completely voluntarily. This came as a therapeutic opportunity as it would have contributed to the achievement of my aims such as assertiveness at the store, constructive use of leisure time and money management – this opportunity could not be missed after being made aware that the Service User has a feasible weekly allowance that gets used on excessive smoking and lavish foods. Anyway, back to reality…. The Service User opted to budget towards the potting so the therapist budgeted towards his haircut. After I had paid for the haircut and multiple aims at the hairdressing salon were met,  and the service user displaying tremendous amounts of gratitude, he had laid a complaint against me regarding asking him to budget towards Potting when he is financially unstable is therefore anxious. Only after querying this event with the manageress at the Service User’s residence I was told not to take it personally as the Service User has a history of manipulative behaviour.  This experience has taught me the importance of patience, understanding and non-judgemental acceptance. I had thoroughly enjoyed the session with the Service User up until this point, but then I looked past it and still held onto the memories that were made during the session as it was not deliberate behaviour but behaviour due to the pathology of the mental health illness that the Service User presents with. 

Being a therapist means having a heart full of compassion and the readiness to teach and help individuals despite how they’re behaviour affects intervention sessions, because it is through this that stronger rapport and trust is built and aims are met. This does not mean letting Service User’s take advantage of you, but rather using every unsatisfactory session as a therapeutic opportunity to address the issues that seep to the surface and with firm handling, and by setting limits; still engage with your service user in a supportive manner that shows acceptance of their uniqueness as an individual. 

i swear that Fluffy has terrible behaviour at times, but as a result of my unconditional love and acceptance for him, I will teach him in every way I know how, how to be the best cat therapy cat there is.

[mylittleotbook-blog]

Casual Day

Ø  Pros:

We did not have to plan treatment sessions for individual clients or our allocated groups, but despite this, we managed to conduct an effective, therapeutic 3 hour- long group treatment session with the entire facility! This pro had pros of its own. We did this with the most casual technique, in casual clothes while causally feeding our sweet cravings while conducting treatment.

 Ø  Cons:

Absolutely no cons!

What is Casual Day actually?

According to Vinassa (2016), Casual Day is a project that raises funds for services for persons with disabilities. To me, Casual Day is more than just a project. It is a day dedicated to people with disabilities to show them just how special they are. It is a day of celebrating their uniqueness by celebrating with them- and with this celebration the awareness of people with disabilities in the world is increased.

Casual Day was an absolutely incredible day. In addition to everyone (the client’s, social workers, and students included) thoroughly enjoying themselves and the awareness of disabilities being raised in the world, many therapeutic aims were met. The aims were met during activities such as:

1)      Ring toss

2)      A ball skills relay

3)      Adapted netball

4)      An egg and spoon race

5)      Tea and Lunch

On Casual day the clients from the entire facility were all actively involved in the preparation of the event – through this, the aim of non-judgemental acceptance and the inhibition of social exclusion was achieved. Every client at the facility contributed to the day being a success by being present and by contributing snacks which elevated everyone’s affect. The aim of improving the participants affect and psychomotor activation was achieved through gross motor movements such as tossing the ring in the ring toss game, dribbling the ball in the ball skills relay, throwing a ball in the adapted netball game and speed walking/running in the egg and spoon race. The aim of improving the client’s attention and concentration and recent memory and recall was achieved as each client had to concentrate on the game, they had to concentrate on turn taking and they had to remember the rules of the game. The aim of improving the client’s social skills was improved as they had to take turns, cheer each other on, and politely show gratification on the receipt of snacks, drinks and medals. The amount of aims met was phenomenal! A few more aims that were met are: improving the client’s frustration tolerance, hand-eye coordination, foot-foot coordination, figure-ground perception….and a whole lot more.

Assertiveness was the most unexpected aim that was met on this day. A number of clients surprised us with beautiful, fluent, heart-warming speeches. They came to the front of the room and captured the attention, and the respect, of the entire crowd by expressing their appreciation of the efforts put in by everyone in making the day a success. No matter how casual this Casual Day was; it is a day I will never forget. Just how people with disabilities are dependent on OT’s to improve their quality of life, I’m sure you all will agree with me by saying that we need our clients, just as much, to improve the quality of our own lives.

[mylittleotbook-blog]

Reflecting on blogging, sharing, thinking and reflection…

Being a blogger was definitely the last ‘Career Path’ I had ever imagined to pursue. A wise women once said “OT is a bag full of surprises (Hoosain, 2016)”. If you haven’t heard that saying before, now you have. To be honest, initially I found the fact that we had to create our own blog spots that we would be graded on to be completely absurd, but fortunately enough, that has changed.

Firstly, I absolutely enjoy blogging because there is no restriction to your level of creativity. You can be who you want to be and carbon print all of your thoughts onto the screen in the exact form that it’s in while it occupies your mind. OT looks at a person holistically, and that includes a person’s personality and with blogging your personality shines through the line spacing created by your words. In saying this, I actually think that blogging could be a great leisure activity for someone of a high level of functioning with a decreased self esteem, reduced self awareness and distorted body image. 

Secondly, the reason I have grown to love blogging has been touched on in the closing sentence of the previous paragraph. When I sit down to blog, I have absolutely no idea about what I am going to say, or reflect on, but once I start writing everything falls into place and my mind and thoughts are challenged. When I type, I hear a voice in my head that speaks truth and brings life to my words. Before the last paragraph I did not consider how blogging could be used as an OT intervention and now I have.

The way in which blogging applies to OT and the relevance that it has to us is clearer now more than ever. In OT, especially within the psycho-social field of OT we place a lot of emphasis on allocating time after an individual or group session for reflection and feedback - and blogging is the definition of reflection and feedback. It creates a safe environment to share your thoughts in a non-judgmental and accepting environment. When I share my thoughts with all of you it actually improves my insight and awareness to my performance as an OT - it allows me to re think/evaluate everything I have done (intervention) or said previously and correct my inadequate thoughts and behaviour.

To conclude, I am going to quote more wise words from Hoosain, 2016, “Blogging with a purpose is not absurd”. 

[mylittleotbook-blog]

OT. Why OT?

Why OT?

OT adds meaning to life. OT improves your quality of life. OT beautifies your DNA footprint with carefully carved papillary ridges. 

How does OT do this?

OT does this by merely teaching you how to be an expert in your life. It allows you to explore life beyond the disabilities that stand as prison fences that cage you in. It allows you to walk on any and every square meter of the earth, carving unique footprints under your feet with each step you take. 

With OT, anything is possible!