Occupational therapists understand the need for a good balance between life activities, but can still struggle with practicing it themselves. Here is a great video from tech insider that helps you analyze if you are getting enough sleep. 

Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) was initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) following the Declaration of Alma-Ata in 1978. It was promoted as a strategy to improve access to rehabilitation services for people with disabilities in low-income and middle-income countries, by making optimum use of local resources. Over the past 30 years through collaboration with other UN organizations, nongovernmental organizations and disabled people’s organizations, CBR has evolved into a multisectoral strategy to address the broader needs of people with disabilities, ensuring their participation and inclusion in society and enhancing their quality of life. The past five years has seen CBR stakeholders work collaboratively to produce these CBR guidelines, which build upon key recommendations made in 2003 at the International Consultation to Review Community-based Rehabilitation in Helsinki, and in 2004 in the International Labour Organization (ILO)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)/WHO joint position paper on CBR. The guidelines promote CBR as a strategy which can contribute to implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and of disability inclusive national legislation, and which can support community-based inclusive development. The guidelines provide CBR managers, among others, with practical suggestions on how to develop or strengthen CBR programmes and ensure that people with disabilities and their family members are able to access the benefits of the health, education, livelihood and social sectors. The guidelines have a strong focus on empowerment through facilitation of the inclusion and participation of disabled people, their family members, and communities in all development and decision-making processes. The guidelines also encourage CBR programmes to be evaluated and further research to be carried out on the effectiveness and efficiency of CBR in diverse contexts.

The International Institute of Therapeutic Intervention and Learning is a great resource for those utilizing brain entrainment and neurofeedback. Their soundscapes specifically target areas where a client may be having trouble. For those unfamiliar with Brain Entrainment, it refers to the capacity of the brain to naturally synchronize its brainwave frequencies with the rhythm of periodic external stimuli, most commonly auditory, visual, or tactile. The external stimuli elicit the brain’s ‘frequency following response’, encouraging the brainwaves to align to the frequency of a given medium. FFR can be useful because brainwaves are very much related to mental state. For example, a 10 Hz brainwave is associated with relaxation, so a 10 Hz sound pattern would help reproduce the relaxed state in your brain. I have successfully used it with varying conditions including; ADHD, ASD, PTSD, Anxiety, and Sensory Integration. However, one does not have to have a diagnosis to utilize brain entrainment. Positive research on brain entrainment continues to grow and expand.

There are many ways we assist the people we work with. Here are some simple and effective ways to do even more. You may even want to try a couple yourself!

Occupational therapy can help people with dystonia with practical everyday tasks, enabling them to live as independently as possible - at home, in employment or in education.  Support provided can include;

• Identifying ways problematic everyday tasks can be done differently, including recommending alterations or adaptations in the home, school or workplace environment.
• Advice on disability equipment and other aids.
• Assessing the needs of patients who may qualify for a Disabled Facilities Grant towards the cost of adapting their home.
• Referral to other services - for example, speech and language therapy, or employment-related advice centres.

 In this study guide you will find:

1. Focal Hand Dystonia Affecting Musicians. Part I: An Overview Of Epidemiology, PathoPhysiology And Medical Treatments
2. Focal Hand Dystonia Affecting Musicians. Part II: An Overview Of Current Rehabilitative Treatment Techniques
3. Focal Hand Dystonia: A Historical Perspective from a Clinician Scholar
4. Hand Dystonia/Writer’s Cramp
5. A practical approach to management of focal hand dystonia
6. Dystonia Arising from Occupations: The Clinical Phenomenology and Therapy

As an Occupational Therapist I have learned;

Time is free, but it’s priceless.
You can’t own it, but you can use it.
You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.

Here are a couple of ways that are universally useful to better your time management.

In occupational therapy, a moment's insight is sometimes worth a career of experience.  Pay attention, listen, absorb, and continue to learn. 

These are simple things that every member of the IEP (individualized education plan) team should strive for.

Is there any more you would add?

Welcome to another OT News Break. This is the OT News you want to know!! In this episode find out about;

1.  Free training course in older driver safety from AARP

2.  Measuring perceptions of caretakers who care for those with dementia

3.  What type of jobs increase cognitive levels, and which do not