Occupied

By Brock CookMedicine Health & Fitness Mental Health

Occupied episodes

December 03, 2020 092 – BEST OF 2020 – Unpacking Colonised Thinking

PLEASE NOTE: This episode discusses topics such as colonisation and racism in multiple forms. The guests would like to make it clear that this episode does not sit as a ‘standalone’ teaching tool. If you are planning to share it with your cohorts of students we encourage you to use it alongside other aspects of the curriculum with cultural responsiveness with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Have you ever considered the impact colonisation might have had on the indigenous peoples of your country? Have you ever considered the ongoing impact these historical events have had in terms of systemic racism and institutional marginalisation of our clients?
Australia has a checkered and often hidden history when it comes to its colonisation by western entities. The impact that this event has had on Australia’s indigenous peoples is something that continues to impact them today. Today’s episode delves into the institutional racism and cultural isolation that continues today due to Australia’s colonisation in 1788.
This conversation with Tirritpa Richie and Jodie Booth was deep, confronting and mindblowing all at the same time. I can’t express enough how important it is to listen to this one with an open mind and a critically self-reflective lens.
Racism in Australia traces both historical and contemporary racist community attitudes, as well as political non-compliance and governmental negligence on United Nations human rights standard and incidents in Australia.[1] Contemporary Australia is the product of Indigenous peoples of Australia combined with multiple waves of immigration, predominantly from the United Kingdom and Ireland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Australia
Personal Reflection
As I reflected on in episode 044 This session had a HUGE impact on me, alerting me to many considerations in my own schema that I was completely naive to. At the Australian National Conference where Tirritpa Ritchie challenged the room to critically challenge their “whiteness” in the context of the service they deliver/teach.
Map of Indigenous Australia – The map is an attempt to represent all the language, tribal or nation groups of the Indigenous peoples of Australia.
A huge thank you to Jodie Booth who brought this conversation together as its something we all wanted to do justice to as it is something that so important to Australian health care but also relevant to many many other western cultures around the world including the USA and Canada.
Keep Occupied
Brock
@brockcookOT
[email protected]
0 min
November 28, 2020 091 – Falls Prevention and OT
Some of you will remember Erin from the Occupied 2020 Guide to Job Interviews….Well she’s back! and this time we are delving into her true passion, falls prevention. This is an area I will openly admit that I didn’t know much about the specifics of it so i absolutely loved this conversation. Erin is very occupation based in her views and practice and very practical in her advice. Give it a listen.
Check her out here:
Keep Occupied
Brock @[email protected]
1 hr 19 min
November 11, 2020 090 – Exploring Graffiti as an Occupation
This episode the lovely Clarissa Sorlie joins me again to shed some light on her interest in the occupation of graffiti. Considering this occupation using the concept of the Dark Side of Occupation we explore the depths of why people engage in it and some of the meaning they often assign to it. If you’re a person that holds the belief that graffiti is something done by “delinquents” or “criminals” than this episode is a absolute must listen.
Keep Occupied
Brock @[email protected]
1 hr 29 min
November 02, 2020 089 – Leading a Mindful Life with Jess Leggatt
Jess is a phenomenal OT and a great friend of mine. She has often explored the road less travelled in this profession and has developed into a clinician with a unique perspective on life, health, wellbeing and OT. In this episode we delve into Jess’s story, her burnout and how she rebuilt herself to be a better, stronger OT. She talks about her use of mindfulness, self-awareness, rest, and yoga among many other things.
I’ve been trying to get Jess on the show for quite some time so I’m super stoked i finally wore her down and helped with her shyness as her story holds within it, so many learning points.
Keep Occupied
Brock @[email protected]
Episode Transcript
089 Leading a Mindful Life with Jess Leggatt
00:00:01 – 00:05:20
Hi, welcome to episode number 89 just a quick thing before we get stuck into this episode is if you roll on over to the occupied podcast Instagram page or our Facebook page, you’ll find a little video explaining that we are currently doing a giveaway. We are giving away a copy of Assessments in occupational therapy mental health version three the textbook for nothing. Well not necessarily for nothing. There is a change something that you have to do for it, but jump along their check out that and enter that if that’s something that you think might be of interest to you this episode not a long-term friend an amazing amazing occupational therapist. Just like it. Let’s kick out the jams off.
Yeah very much. So I I’m kind of of the same Theory OT definitely found me when I was in my younger teenage years. I always wanted to get into like a helping profession of some sort. I went through a phase of wanting to be a nurse at some stage and then I really got Keen that I wanted a doctor and then I found out how long it would take to become a doctor and the study that was involved in that so I decided no that wasn’t for me. But yeah, there’s definitely a period of time for a good probably one or two years when I was serious about becoming a doctor and then I got to my later teenage years and my senior high school study that thought I was talking to my sisters friend who was studying occupational therapy at the time and she was telling me about this wonderful profession and what it included. And I was very holistic and it was very based on, you know, the person and very client-oriented. It was all about helping people get back to what they loved, you know doing things that were meaningful and when she started telling me about this profession and at the time she was interested in Pediatrics OT so she was studying a lot of subjects based on that fact, I was very much interested in working with kids as well. So I thought perfect this is a beautiful match up. I’ll be able to help people but it will also be very holistic and I will be able to work with kids need someone to so from there. I basically thought yep, that’s the profession for me and it wasn’t I think I was in like you’re twelve at the time so luckily I’d taken the rat subjects more science-based kind of subjects and yeah knowing that I wanted to get into sort of some sort of tertiary sciency helping profession and then yet when I found out about that when you’re twelve was like God That sounds like the perfect perfect profession for me. So I went in to actually didn’t get straight into OT. I didn’t get a high enough o p but I ended up going into human movement studies and I did a year in human movements and then I was able to go from Human movement studies into occupational therapy from there. And I was very focused on becoming a pediatric OT. I was just going to like there was just no doubt in my mind. That was it. I was going to be pediatric OT there was just no question marks around that Mom took all my subjects in Peds. I I did my practice at the The Children’s Clinic at ukyou. I did a wonderful job at the Royal children’s Children’s Hospital here in Boise and absolutely fell in love with the profession even more and also it’s like yeah kids kids kids all the way home. And when I graduated I also did my honors project with grade grade one kids at the Morris School here in Brisbane working with young indigenous and irrational Torres Strait Islanders at the most school. And basically after I graduated the first job that I went for was a new grad position at the Children’s Hospital. Okay didn’t get it was absolutely devastated like it was like heartbreaking. I think I was bawling my eyes out after I didn’t get job and I just thought oh my God Almighty felt like all my dreams were like ripped away from me in that one instance, but they explained to me at the other place that they had other new grads applying for it and they had the the OT that got it had been out for a year.
00:05:20 – 00:10:18
So she’d been practicing for 12 months in Pediatrics. So that kind of made me feel a little bit better off. I was still absolutely heartbroken and devastated and I thought gosh, what am I going to do? Like real children’s hospital that was kind of like this dream dream aspiration of mine off. So the very next job I went for was in a cute adult working at a hospital. And this was at gravesites Private Hospital here in Boise, and I went for that job and I got the job. So it would and I got the job based on some of my clinical subjects that I’ve done it uni. I’ve done some study in chronic pain management. So that was something that they looked at as you know favorable favorable and I’d also done some splinting so some Hand Therapy work at the Royal here in Brisbane as well. So they looked at and I said, right you’ll fit this accutrol that we have available and I got thrown into that and I became the Dead. Yes, flinching o t and therapy o t at the hospital and I also worked in the the area of chronic pain. So and I never got to work with kids, you know, God well more recently. I mean, I will probably talk about more more about this as we go along. But yeah, I mean, I’ve had a very eclectic occupational therapy career choice pain. I have dabbled in every single little area that you could probably think of an occupational therapy and have sort of jumped around in the hospital system off in different Wards different departments different areas, but more recently funnily Enough full circle. I’m working with young people. So not with Kitty finally finally finally watching twenty years and it’s within youth mental health. So an absolutely adoring it loving it and have certainly found my Niche that I can bring. Everything together including that that passion of working with young people. So that’s awesome. Because I know when we met your working at Green slopes, do you remember do you remember the story of how we met how you connect with me gosh was that we’ve first days was that we I think it was after it was after I remember when I came across to you passed across many years ago back in kind of Rufus days, which is occupational opportunities for refugees asylum-seekers, which is a volunteer-based group of OTAs that did some wonderful things back in the day but Clarissa, I remember that you had either interviewed her or you had she had a choice you you about something and I saw a little article and I saw your name at the bottom of the article and I really liked what you’d have to say about occupation and using occupation as you know, God As the mains to your therapy basically and I remember ready to add a class in your name and I think somehow I jumped on and we connected in that way but that was way back in the day long. Do you remember you have a telling more about the cuz I remember this clearly cuz it still cracks me up cuz I’ve never heard anyone do it since okay. I got this random email from you. Yes never met we never spoke and we’d never anything and I think the opening line was we need to connect or something to that effect. And the story you told me and you written this off a massive email and it was like the very end of it doesn’t sound like me and I hope that doesn’t scare you off kind of thing. But the basic premise was that I’d popped up three times. Yes, apparently had this rule. Like if something happens three times, then you have to like lean into it. So I got this email saying from this completely random lady, I’d never wage Before sending that I popped into a life three times recently and I’m like, okay. Alrighty, this is shrewd that is totally my go-to in life. If something pops up for me like it might be like a random something on social media. It might be a book. It might be someone kind of mentioning it offhandedly, whatever it might be home. Exactly. Yeah. So I think maybe that first time was that little Crossing and part of me reading that article with your name at the bottom and going off like what this guy’s got to say about occupational therapy and I love his passion and enthusiasm and that you know, there’s this real basis of using occupational therapy and then there must have been two jobs and stuff says I don’t remember what those two other instances Were Somehow you cross.
00:10:18 – 00:15:01
My problem, Probably still got the email. I’m pretty probably find it somewhere in The Volt. From we call that would have been might years ago. That was a long time. Yes. Yes. I think I just moved back here to town. I love that you remember that because it dulls me back into the country as well. It’s three times and you’ve got a lean into it. You’ve got to jump on it and go what’s what’s coming up for me that needs to be kind of explored or that I need to connect all and weirdly. I think it was only a few weeks. After that. I was going down to Brisbane for something was in a conference. You’re going t
1 hr 30 min
October 25, 2020 088 – Starting a New Hobby
In these unprecedented times, many many people are experiencing occupation disruption on a large scale. Many people are starting or looking for new occupations in order to maintain their occupational wellbeing. Today I wanted to explore a small part of my journey into a new occupational engagement.
A new hobby in a crazy world. I took up photography and am aiming to learn as much about it as i possibly can. The more i learn, the more i find i have to learn. But I’m absolutely loving it and immersing myself into this new community and new world. Listen in to my experience of navigating this period of occupational disruption through an occupational lens.
Keep Occupied
Brock @[email protected]
30 min
October 24, 2020088 – Starting a New Hobby
In these unprecedented times, many many people are experiencing occupation disruption on a large scale. Many people are starting or looking for new occupations in order to maintain their occupational wellbeing. Today I wanted to explore a small part of my journey into a new occupational engagement.
A new hobby in a crazy world. I took up photography and am aiming to learn as much about it as i possibly can. The more i learn, the more i find i have to learn. But I’m absolutely loving it and immersing myself into this new community and new world. Listen in to my experience of navigating this period of occupational disruption through an occupational lens.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFvpZxjnZq3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Keep Occupied
Brock
@brockcookOT
[email protected]
30 min
October 18, 2020 087 – Get a Dose of Support with Dr Vanessa Kasper
DURING THIS PODCAST TOPICS SUCH AS MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS AND GUN SHOT WOUNDS ARE DISCUSSED IN GRAPHIC DETAIL. IF THIS IS A TRIGGER OR MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE, LOOK AFTER YOURSELF AND DON’T FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO LISTEN.
Dr Vanessa Kasper is a nurse practitioner that runs the Dose of Support Podcast, a podcast that aims to highlight self-care and support to prevent health practitioners from burning out. We delve into her personal story and everything that’s led her to start her own podcast to try and help others in similar situations. We also highlight somethings health practitioners should be aware of and what they can do to help maintain their own mental wellbeing.
Keep Occupied
Brock
@brockcookOT
[email protected]
0 min
October 11, 2020 086 – The 2020 Occupied Guide to Job Interviews
You asked for it, so here it is! The 2020 Occupied guide to job interviews. With the assistance of the awesome Erin Jeffords we give you the extent of our knowledge and experience to best prepare you for your first or next job interview. If you’re a student, a newgrad or an OT looking to brush up on their job-hunting skills then tune in and learn how you can give yourself the best shot at landing that job!
We explore tips for everything from the preparation right through to what to do post interview.
How to nail down your preparation
How to practice for your interview
What to research prior to your interview
Being self-aware and open to feedback
How to present your 100% authentic self in the best way
Types of interviews
Followup post-interview
Keep Occupied
Brock @[email protected]
Transcript of Episode
086 The 2020 Occupied Guide to Job Interviews
00:00:01 – 00:05:02
I am excited about this one. This is hopefully going to be the start of a brand new thing. We’re going to try and update this like annually so that it’s always the latest information for you guys. You guys told me that you wanted an episode about how to prepare for a job interview how to get ready give yourself the best opportunity to nail down that job. So here it is the 2020 occupied guide to job interviews i
So a little while ago. I threw out a message on the instead of asking what people were wanted to hear about. I got quite a few really amazing topics this being probably the biggest one and that’s how do I interview? How do I get a job? What is this process? And how can I be better at it off? So this is the occupied 20/20 guide to interviewing and trying to get a job. Obviously. I have some experience in that but yep. Definitely not all-encompassing in that experience. I’ve brought along the lovely orange efforts to give me a hand with this episode. So thanks for coming in and helping out with the this you have a myriad of experience throughout your your career and your family apparently with regards to interviewing. So I’m hoping this is this is going to be a bagger and really useful. That’s what we want to do is try and create a really useful resource for not just new grads going for their first interview, but anyone really that’s prepping for a job change on, you know going for a promotion or any way that you’re going to find yourself sitting in interview. So I think one of the first things Is I guess firstly to kind of recognize that yeah interviews stressful. That’s probably one of the first things it’s normal for you to be stressed going into a job interview. It’s normal. It’s it’s usually going to bring about some kind of large change in your life in your career. It may even been precipitated by a change in your life or your career. You may have other things going on that may have led to you applying for this job or going for this change or moving or anything like that. So there’s usually all the stresses that can accompany this additional stress of going for an interview. So, I think the first thing to acknowledge is that yeah, it’s it’s normal what you’re feeling is normal when you’re coming up to this situations, but there are definitely things that you can do to better process and better manage them and we’re going to have a look wage. I guess some of the preparation stuff. So one of the things that Aaron mentioned to me before we recorded this is some of the stuff that you can prepare for with regards to your normal routine or kinds of things can can people do for their normal routine with regards to getting ready for an interview error. I I think personally when I think about like when I have gone interviews in the past or things that I recommend that my students who are just like think about the routine of the day before the interview or the day of the interview, you know, making sure you know, you get enough rest possibly like for me, I’m not a breakfast person but you know, I am a coffee person. So making sure you know, I have some time to have my cup of coffee and you know, making sure that you know, I do whatever I can to manage my stress for the day, you know, just kind of setting I hate to say it sounds kind of cliche but set yourself up for Success. So like doing all those things that you would do in a if you’re going to any important meeting or presentation or or in this case an interview, so making sure you know, you’re getting enough rep rust possibly, you know, whatever you need if you need to eat breakfast or not put any laying out. This is like a I’m treating it. Like I was my my children laying your clothes out the night before, you know, but really knowing what you want to wear for the interview, you know, don’t just wake up and grab the you know shirt out of the laundry basket kind of thing, you know, you need to to actually treat it you need to make sure that you treat it that it is the important event that it is, you know, you are you’re going to place you want to make that great first impression.
00:05:02 – 00:10:14
So what can you do, you know that day or the day before to kind of prepare for that interview so that those are kind of the things that I was talking about the rules of making sure that you’re giving yourself enough time, you know, and not you know rushing to get there and knowing the parking situation as well, you know, just kind of the planning the whole planning of the day is something that I think will really help make you feel more confident when you get there because you’re not going to be worried birth. That your day didn’t start off on the right foot, you know, just making sure you kind of do everything. You can’t now sometimes it’s unavoidable. You know, you you might sleep through your alarm or and there might be an accident on the way to the meeting and I mean the interview and you might be 5 minutes late, you know, so don’t let those things, you know really creeped in as far as like yourself doubt. But if you can do things to avoid those things like setting a second alarm or leaving extra early. So if there is an accident, you know that that’s what I’m talking about. Just trying to implement some extra steps to make that routine as smooth as possible on that day. I think I think times of massive one especially for for me personally am so like you said like getting yourself organized so there’s less things that you have to put mental energy into on the day, but another thing with regards to time is you can give yourself too much time off. A really bad this so for job interviews if I have say an interview in the middle of a workday, it’s not uncommon. I have done it in the past where I’ve taken the day off just so that I can prepare myself and I’m not running around nothing comes up at work that is going to make me late or stressed or anxious or anything like that but in doing that because I’ve got everything prepped the night before. I’m just sitting there all morning just going over things in my head and to me that I can always suck myself out of it. So being self-aware about that and we will get onto self-awareness in a little bit, but knowing how much time you need and then just adding a little bit extra like if you are going to take all morning and you know that you’re not going to have a lot on then maybe you can leave some of that sort of getting a warning these colors and that sort of stuff to the morning as long as you leave plenty of time. So knowing how much time you need adding a little bit extra not going completely overboard. Otherwise, yep. It is a potential there to to stress yourself out and kind of has the opposite effect, unfortunately. What about actually practicing for the interview? How how can we do that? Cuz one of the questions and the one of the reasons actually we’re connected was answered the question. I’m trying to bring this up now because I think it’s one of the funniest. So I just go ahead and on Instagram around the same time as what do you want me to talk about about what interview questions people have had recently found Aaron came back that one of the interview questions. You were given were what was it? What chocolate bar are you? It was what candy bar, you know, we’re shopping. Okay. Yeah, you have to you if you were a candy bar or what candy bar would you be and why and I was so I had probably I have eleven years of experience. Now. This was a few years ago. So I think I had nine years of experience at this point and you know, I was not expecting this interview question at all, you know, and and I I tried to I think I probably did laugh cuz it was just kind of awkward, you know, I didn’t know what to say. And and I told you I responded cuz you you came back and said well, what did you say and I said a crunch Nestle Crunch bar because I think that was honestly I think that was the lack of candy bar I had eaten so that was the first thing that came to my mind and then I had to make it work and I said well, you know, it’s smooth on the outside but it has texture, you know, you don’t know what they’re getting you know, and and and so the girl you know, she kind of laughed and and then I asked her. Well, what what would you what what’s your answer and I can’t even remember what hers was off. But yeah, that was definitely by far the most out-there interview question I’ve ever been asked and it’s I did get some interesting ones in a lot of them typical ones like tell me about a time you had conflict and how you managed it that kind of stuff. But sometimes I I have heard quite regularly questions like that, which is So seemingly weird. When I think a lot
1 hr 11 min
October 05, 2020 085 – Occupational Transition from Professional Sportsperson
You may remember Jesse Parahi from episode 43 when he and his lovely wife, Carlien, came on to talk about their private practice, Sense Rugby.
If you’ve listened to the podcast for a while you will know I have a strong interest in Occupational Transitions. Jesse recently retired from his professional rugby career and it seemed like an opportunity too good to pass up to pick his brain about navigating that transition into civilian life. Obviously everyone’s experience of transitions will be unique but the insights gained from talking with Jesse can be utilised in your work with almost any population.
Check out Jesse at:
www.senserugby.com.au
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFWoEjhB6OM/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Keep Occupied
Brock
@brockcookOT
[email protected]
0 min
September 16, 2020 084 – What I Wish I Knew When I Was A New Grad
I put this out to you guys about what topics you wanted to hear about and many of you requested to know about this! So here it is.
Being a new graduate is hard. You’ve just moved from a lifestyle of structured direction and learning where you’re purpose is often dictated by the next due date. You are now in this world where you might have to “adult” for the first time. You have 100% responsibility for your life. This may be your very first taste of complete independence. On top of this you are starting a job that you’ve been preparing for, for years yet probably feel like you know nothing. Firstly, you are not alone. This is 100% normal. I hope this episode helps you out navigating this exciting occupational transition!
By popular demand (literally), What I wish i knew when I was a new grad.
Keep Occupied
Brock
@brockcookOT
[email protected]
0 min