Here’s an interesting Facebook page: http://bit.ly/bDA6C8. I am always so interested in seeing what environments artists set up in order to be able to create. My own studio, humble as it is, is a place where I feel good, almost without exception, and even when I’m not making beads. I know I am fortunate to have such a place! If you are interested in artists, their occupations and environments, go check out this group.
These women [and men - SCB] with their weekend gardenia plantings [hmm- I've never planted a gardenia - SCB] were fierce in their determination to sweep the corners free of dying where they could. Patients would return to their jobs, their wives, their toilets and bathtubs, their woodworking and law practices, their golf and kitchen chores. They were missionaries of common sense and decent morals. Armed with these they marched into bad situations to see what could be done. My encounter with the occupational therapists plunged me into a world darker than any I had lived in, a world that seasoned therapists traversed easily, full of practical good ideas. The existential and the commonsensical travelled side by side. (Mattingly, 1998, p. 52)
Just ran into one of my favorite former students today, who mentioned that he and some of the other OTs he works with read my blog. I have to say it felt good to hear that. He mentioned too that some of the things I’ve linked to in the past wouldn’t download for him, so I’ll have a look at that if I have time over the upcoming long weekend – wondered if that was a firewall thing, if they were reading from work, or something else …
In any case, this is just a shout out to all my OT colleagues, with one of my favorite quotes from Cheryl Mattingly, an anthropologist who has spent a considerable amount of time exploring OT thinking and practice:
“Initially, I saw therapists as I remembered my mid-west cousins – as extremely normal. Of course, once I got closer these initial impressions were something of an embarrassment; an awkward attempt to sum up a whole profession in tidy little statements… . Later I had to ask myself, if they were so full of common sense, so practical, why was there so much whimsy among them? Bartenders by night, secret landscape painters, former actresses, obsessed rock climbers, classical pianists who also loved botany?” (Mattingly, 1998, p. ix)
“I can’t sing!” I heard several students in a recent short course I teach on creative/expressive media say that. And we sang anyway! An interesting article for anyone thinking of using singing as a therapeutic medium: http://bit.ly/cPtsK7
I don’t know why I remembered this phrase this morning. I used it years ago in the infancy of the web when communicating with other “early adopters” of Web 1.0 in OT. I made nametag stickers with a purple spider web pattern for one of the AOTA conferences so we could find each other more easily, as we’d never met F2F. Then I stopped using the phrase as a colleague claimed she planned to write a column with a very similar name. I don’t know if that came to pass, but I was thinking again this morning of all the ways my life is “caught (up) in the web” now. I think that Twitter and Facebook most epitomize this. I so enjoy sharing what we find interesting/helpful/puzzling/bizarre with people I admire. It helps me to stay caught up. And it often captures me, spending more time than I’d planned and perhaps encouraging my “random abstractness” more than other current media can.
Today was the first 4 of 20 NS-RATIO (Not So Random Acts of Therapeutic Intervention through Occupation) activity group labs the first year OT students plan, run and evaluate this time of year. It was fun to see the variety – 2 sessions focusing on gratitude using different media, progressive muscle relaxation and food and mood. Next week, belly-dance, karate, walking a labyrinth, card-making, journalling, yoga, …
Just read that an OT colleague I truly admire has, with her integrated dance troupe, won an award for their work from an agency that champions peace and human rights – info here: http://bit.ly/5KM3k4
Wonderful news- congratulations Lindsay, Roxanne and all!
Our change planning process is based on Appreciative Inquiry. The focus is on OT practice in Mental Health in Alberta. We’ve Discovered and Dreamed. So, as we moved into the beginning of the Design phase, it seemed like a good idea to use some really creative ways of representing the discussion. One of the 2nd year students at U of A is a fabulous artist and was willing to take on the role of graphic recorder. She worked with 2 groups who met at the same time, so had to jump between two rooms to capture key ideas. I think she did an amazing job.
Here’s what the stigma reduction group talked about, as presented through graphic recording by A. Ochoa:
Had a chance last week to get together with some of my OT colleagues to plan for future of practice in mental health. It was a real treat to spend time with such smart and passionate people. The group I was with was looking at stigma reduction. Ultimately we decided that the real goal was “discrimination elimination”.
Susan Burwash is an occupational therapist, glass artist, university professor and PhD Candidate.