This week is OT Week (in Australia).
I love OT Week. I know it’s maybe kind of cheesy or self indulgent but I really do love celebrating this profession I’m part of particularly for me because it feels like more of a vocation than a job and OT as a discipline is something I really believe in.
I love using OT Week to share more about what OTs do and the value we offer our clients. I like to share some of the unique ways we approach our client work and the creative solutions we come up with. I feel historically people haven’t always known what OT is and what we do, so this week is a perfect chance to promote ourselves and our approach, to our colleagues and to the wider community.
I also love OT Week because, as previously mentioned, I really love Occupational Therapy as a health profession and allied health discipline. I think our focus on occupations and the things we as humans do is so important in the health space; we look beyond someone’s impairments or their physical abilities or cognitive abilities, their emotions or sensory experiences. We focus on supporting an individual’s participation in things that are meaningful to them and I have seen how people light up when we talk about the things they do or want to be able to do. And it fills me with such joy at times when I can be a part of something like helping someone get back to driving or living independently in their own home.
And of course, I love OT Week because I love OTs. I love how passionate we are about our clients and our work. If you ask an OT about what they do, you’re not likely to get a simple answer; you’ll get a reflective explanation about their role and the importance of it. I have a wonderful OT friend Brad, who is getting people to share about why they believe in OT… and even posing that question, is such an OT thing! And some of the things people share are so powerful and beautiful.
I love how OTs love to help. I know we’re not the only helping and caring profession but I do love the problem solving, creativity and care and help that OTs give. Even this week, when I had to cancel a mentoring session, the OT I cancelled on offered to bring me chicken soup. Because that caring spirit runs so deeply!
And I love how OTs are so client centred and determined at times, even in the midst of often complex and difficult systems, schemes and processes. One of the OTs in an online group I’m part of shared how she had spent 6 months negotiating, navigating, advocating and pursuing the best outcome for her client- and I love that we do this!
And so OT Week is something I love to celebrate… and I had some grand plans for content and course launching and all sorts of things this week. But if I’m honest, this OT Week I actually feel a bit… um… well rubbish as an OT frankly. I’m the first to admit I’m not perfect overall as a person, employee or OT and there are some mistakes I’ve made that stick with me (a home mod drawing that still haunts me along with a mobile shower commode chair disaster). But really, this week I feel like a rubbish OT because I am sick. So I cant OT in OT Week.
I know it’s not actually my fault that I’m sick (I blame my young children frankly!) but I really hate letting people down. And so when I first got sick a couple of weeks ago, I rescheduled a few things and took a day or half day off whilst apologising constantly. And then I apologised to people for things being late or not replying to emails. And I kept trying to work around illness. And I did start to get better but then my family got sick last week and then this week it has hit me all over again (and then some!) and I’m actually really very unwell. And I hate it. I hate that I’m unwell again. I hate that I do feel like I’m letting people down. I feel like there are things in my work role that only I can do and people are relying on me. I feel responsible and that I need to be there for my clients and that their needs are greater than mine- so I should suck it up somehow and press on.
I also hate the mental load of rescheduling and reorganising and how unprofessional I feel about it all. And I hate that I do somehow feel “weak” for getting sick; as if somehow it is my fault and I should somehow be better than this. Because the flip side of being a caring health professional is that I am the carer… I do the caring… I do the helping… So somehow I should be strong and invincible and not need care or help myself…
[Like we all know health professionals do make rotten patients for this very reason].
It’s very humbling to be in a position, this OT Week, where I have to accept that I cannot actually do my job because I need to take care of myself.
And I know this, I do! I’m passionate about this for mental health reasons and how important it is around preventing and managing burnout. That we have to take care of ourselves and to practice self care and self compassion. I advocate for this in the mentoring and supervision work I do with other OTs all.the.time. It’s that classic things of putting on your own oxygen mask before helping some one else with theirs. I know it’s important. I do.
But of course, it’s always easier I think to give that advice to someone else than to apply it to myself. And it seems weird to me that I get it for mental health, but not for physical health, when usually I think people are probably better at understanding the need to do this for physical health issues!
But in any case, I think my lesson for this OT week, is that my value as an OT isn’t just defined by what I do. It’s not defined just by me delivering OT services this week (when I physically cannot manage this). That I can celebrate being an OT for who it has made me; and that is someone that does know the value of rest, recovery and recharging. Of pacing and gently grading up things I can do as I can do them. Of being creative in how I parent and live my life this week. Of adapting and innovating. That I deserve rest and recovery for myself and I can give permission to myself to do this; as much as my clients also deserve this. For me to do my best OT work and to be the best OT that I can be, this week and beyond. Because we all are more than what we do. We all deserve to rest when we need to and to be as healthy and happy as we can. To do our best work.
So, this OT week, that is my offer to you. To give yourself permission today to do whatever it is that you need to do for you. Whatever that might be. So that you can do your best work now and in the future.
Happy OT Week!
