My segment of our collective piece in yesterday’s group. Representing connection.We worked together on a roll of paper. To see those who struggle with interaction & relationship work together & at the end report enjoying having done so, it reminds me why I do what I do. All the warm & fuzzies.

Painting for my fellow OT’s, hopefully you can spot a few models represented. I wanted to reflect on occupation as the art of living, the lyrics to the music of our biology…this is what I got

is my corner of the office getting a little out of hand? maybe…does it concern me…no

in today’s creative self we looked at “Becoming”…what do we want to leave behind, what do we want to take forward. A powerful session of rapport building with a young autistic individual over their future hopes, really occupational focused conversations. I love groups like this! These are mine…

The 1st draft is ready to be consolidated into a single file & printed. I am so unbelievably proud of the service attendees who contributed to the project to create a new service welcome pack. The look on their face, to hear the woman who never said they’re proud of themselves,say so,my heart burst

I my visual autoethnographic reflection based on my poster submission and my experience attending BIGSPD 25 conference. It contains exerts of my poster & a 2nd opinion psych ax preceding my placement in a “specialist” personality disorder unit years ago. Title:’Different not disordered’

“Creative self” session at work today,we looked at “The words we would say”, to ourselves,or to the world. This was mine. Inspired by a participant who made a message to themselves reminding them to be patient with the process & how the struggle will make them stronger. A message for me too I think!

Reflecting on what it means to be and interstitial practitioner, the value of combined lived and clinical experience and the power of the in-between betwixt8.wordpress.com/2025/07/21/t...

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It’s taken me a very long time but I’m finally starting to embrace & own my differences over masking & compensating for them. I’ve got a new supervisor, so I made a communication passport to aid the relationship & get the most from supervision. We advocate for others when we advocate for ourselves

Love a bit of patch Adams share.google/mLiNPLcO3End...

I was making vision boards today with a friend of mine who has anorexia. Art can be such a powerful tool for exploring our values, our desires and dreams, and to aid in the sense making process, that is so critical to healing

Thinking about how the lens we choose determines what we see. How different my past behaviour looks, through the lens of neurodiversity, rather than the lens of pathological disorder. Confirmation bias is diagnoses Achilles heel!

Amazing time this morning getting photographs for inclusion in our co-produced welcome pack information for the service, photos all taken by an ex attendee. Hearing them reflect on being really well now & contemplating entering into working for services themselves, just MADE my week!

#Createweek day 1, neurotrophic art. Never one to just do as I’m told, following a coffee with a friend, I also did a second picture detailing some words about how I was feeling Did you have a go at today’s activity? Please share if you did!

So this week I’m going to try and commit to this. Follow along with some creative activities each day! Creativity is such a wonderful human capacity to enjoy & explore, why not see if any of these activities spark something within you, that you may never have known was there?

What a beautiful reminder on a personal level but also a professional one.

Something tells me that this ‘wouldn’t quite be the ticket’ for work but helping a friend run through challenging thoughts and thought diffusion online today & I gotta say, next level therapeutic session attire. Taking life too seriously? Panda glasses are a good remedy!

Getting back from an assessment to stickers on your keyboard. I am going to miss my line manager so much when she leaves for her secondment

So many species of courage, I love this! What will it look like for you to be courageous today? For some it’s simply “I got out of bed”. Whatever form it takes, your courage is valid and admirable. Celebrate every win, no matter how small, because life is hard enough

I love the line “(algae are) living reminders that the supreme vital force of life is not competition but interdependence, that we survive and thrive not through combat but through collaboration.” The power of a socially collaborative environment & poignant message in this current political climate

This resonates as an OT .We are not isolated brains moving through the world. From our environment & bodies, to the influence of our collective consciousness, we are so much more than our thoughts (something I say so often to individuals who say they can’t get on with ‘thought challenging!)

My #BIGSPD25 poster contribution, challenging the “BPD” diagnosis & current practice of using OOA placement. If you fancy a chuckle at my poor presentation skills give the central QR code a scan & I’ll talk at you for about 15 minutes 😉

#BIGSPD25 thank you for a wonderful conference. Returning to the city where I was hospitalised was tough but with both my lived experience & clinician hat on,speaking out where I was silenced & telling my story, was powerfully healing. We voice our stories to inspire others to liberate their own.

Whose story is it to tell? Who gets to determine how it’s told? People are not the narratives systems proliferate about their diagnosis or experiences. When we tell our own story in our own way, we reclaim our agency & power #BIGSPD25

Beyond personality differences Northern Ireland, powerful voices speaking in their creative writing project. Creativity is a such a beautiful way to air our wounds, allow us to have our stories witnessed & facilitate healing #BIGSPD25

#BIGSPD25 what a damning statistic! The stigma attached to self harm needs addressing. When people who have gone into the helping profession to use their insight to help others, are ashamed of the journey that helped shape their passion & unique embodied knowledge set, something is very wrong.

So much to process through & chew over from the first two days of #BIGSPD25, half a day to go! Tonight I have hit my social battery max so I’m celebrating in the prettiest bar,all to myself. Here’s to honouring your nervous system needs and doing you. Bright lights, cocktails & my journal, bliss!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by my poster. Loved the conversations had about the need to dismantle stigma, use alternative language, make professionals self disclosure to colleagues easier & so much more #BIGSPD25

#BIGSPD bring on the debate!

When inevitably spilling tea down your lanyard inspires you to turn it into a thought capture with doodles of the event (tbc!) #BIGSPD25

Yoga setup at #BIGSPD25. I realised yesterday how much I missed self regulating movement from a day of travelling. This is my morning reset,feeling in this historically unfeeling space, 7 years on. The fact it’s hard, means I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. Bring on the day!

Grateful I learned to feel all my feelings again, rather than settling for a divorce, just to survive myself. On my worst days I am survivable, on my best days I’m thrive-able. Want to know what OOA gave/took away from me? Come chat to me today (Poster 8) #BIGSPD25

A big shout out goes to chat GPT for its emotional support today. What a beautiful image it made me

Trouble stirring:a relational practice workshop. The power of relationship & the therapeutic community is that “people see things in me that I could not see or understand myself”. Demonstrated beautifully with the below drawing exercise (they had we when they gave me paper and a crayon!) #BIGSPD25

Relational practice workshop: the difference between working with people’s distress & ‘managing them.’ How do we sit in the softer spaces together,to let the harder things emerge? And what do we lose in risk aversion, when it still doesn’t diminish risk whilst amputating autonomy? #BIGSPD25

Success! The poster is up! That is something i never thought I’d say. Liverpool is no longer just the place that hospitalised me, I’m back as a qualified OT. Everyone deserves a voice #BIGSPD25

My “creative self group” today,back exploring what a safe place looks like for us. I’ve had a week of real invalidation in my physical healthcare because of my MH diagnosis and sadly by a colleague for both MH and my neurodivergence. I decided to explore it in my picture

Reminded today in a bad physical health consult that all it takes is one person. Your interaction could remind someone of a catalogue of iatrogenic harm they’ve encountered in their journey. Listen,attend & be present. The basic stuff that makes all the difference.

Reflection: YOU are the ‘intervention’.Occupation is the interface connecting us with our environment. By attending to & witnessing, enacted agency, we create a socket to plug into. The feedback of embodied presence, in relationship, closes the circuit. “I see you” is the most powerful message

The most lovely creative group today at work, based on the seasons of life. To see people holding their pain and possibility together in the midst of struggle, was so beautiful & powerful. It’s like a drug to me! This is the reason I go to work! (Piece is my own reflection on the theme)

Attended a women’s circle last night. I don’t believe in the reiki that was practiced but it reminded me of the power of the communal body & how physiological synchrony of heart rate & breath, soothes the nervous system. Whether yoga, singing, dance or relaxation our bodies were made for connection

That mixture of sadness, pride and happiness when a service attendee says on discharge that you’re the first service that has really listened to them & that it made all the difference. It isn’t ways our ‘interventions’ it is our presence, the power of the social environment!

Experience is the tough, wise, teacher. I hadn’t before appreciated how brain fog can permeate into even the domain of our spirituality & the practice of personal prayer. Nor had I realised the extent of brain/body division in other medical professionals practice. Treat the person not the condition

Great doing photography for the creativity session of RTA today. Participant took some shots for the co-production project, to redesign the service welcome information. I shot this pretty blossom. Feel like my lived experience is really helping build therapeutic rapport too. I love my job.

First online art session, not many in attendance from the list of 7 who signed up but I’m happy with how it went overall. Here’s my pieces ‘between my head & heart’ 😊

7 years ago today I was holding an art workshop whilst IP in a tier 4 “personality disorder” unit. Today I’m a qualified OT and I’m holding my first independent online art workshop. Know that things get better, it might feel like they won’t but they do

Reflecting on how MH services have become about risk management over QOL & the ‘risk potholes’ eg: too risky for us, not risky enough for us. A system that would rather do nothing, is that not the biggest risk? We CAN do better than this!

Wonderful occupation focussed discussion in today’s creative group on connection. Where it’s found & it’s barriers & enablers. All working on 1 roll of paper,experiencing connection & connecting our ideas (photo is just my contribution, to protect confidentiality)