Hi there, on this weeks’ podcast, KC-Fords speaks to Lesego Mashishi the director at Limitless Occupational Therapy Services which is a company that provides medico-legal assessments, functional capacity evaluations, employee wellness & implementation of employee assistance programs, disability management & audits as well as Occupational Health Risk Solutions. Additionally, Lesego speaks about her role on the OTASA board as the Vice-President & the benefits of being an OTASA member.

Bernike grew up in the Transkei a rural area within the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Having grown up in this environment it enabled her to learn one of the many spoken languages in South Africa-isiXhosa. Bernike & I therefore speak to the barriers language poses for a client to express themselves to a health professional and how this impacts the clients treatment. She further speaks to her experiences of working in the UK as as well in SA and the adaptations one needs to put in place as an OT working in these two- different settings. Finally, Bernike speaks about her role as an Occupational Therapist within a pre-school setting.

Many countries are experiencing an increase in drug/alcohol use particularly amongst the youth. So on this week’s podcast I speak to Linda Carstens an Occupational Therapist working in an alcohol rehabilitation unit in the Western Cape. Linda highlights the criteria as stated within the DSM-5 of the symptoms one would need to look out for pertaining to this disorder. Individuals using drugs/alcohol tend to have limited insight into the damaging effects that the drug/alcohol has in their occupational performance.

On today’s podcast, I am in the hot seat & my friends and I engage around the topic of how the podcast came into inception. We further delve into the challenges I experienced within my studies and university career. I really do hope you enjoy!

On this week’s podcast we have 3-final year Occupational Therapy students speak to us about the importance of an occupational therapist within community development. Bianca Applegreen, Odell Chetty & Sibusiso Khumalo discuss the contribution they made as OT students within the community of Marrianridge. A community which was established within the Apartheid era due to racial segregation. This community & it’s members experience a number of social injustices & inequalities further more the key challenge faced in this community is the continued cycle of poverty.

Robert Smith has been chosen as one of UK’s most influential people living with a disability in the Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 list. This list is an annual publication of the 100 most influential disabled people in the UK. Him and his sister are the directors of The Active Hands Company and have been running this growing company for several years after their mother’s passing. Robert tells all about how the business came into inception and the challenges they’ve experienced as a company.

On this week’s podcast we have the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal’s OT telehealth clinic team on the show. On this episode we discuss the issues faced within our South African context relating to health & how feasible it is to have telehealth services in our South African context. The UKZN team further discuss how they incorporated activities on these online sessions and how this challenged them to think outside of the box. Finally, they discuss how they ensured the sessions were confidential and how they ensured the fundamental rights of clients were respected.

On this weeks podcast we have students from the University of the Western Cape who were published on the OTASA newsletter. We discuss the importance of educating oneself about mental health conditions and the importance of having a routine. We further discuss the impact that volunteers and NPO’s have had during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On this weeks’ podcast we have students from the University of the Western Cape who enlighten us about the research study they conducted during the lockdown period. The study was focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and its influences on occupations and occupational dysfunction. These fourth year students speak about the importance of social participation, the impact COVID-19 had on educators roles and the influence of an animal companion during the lockdown period. Their studies were printed out in the FOCUS official newsletter of OTASA.

In this week’s podcast we have Naseema Shaik who speaks to us about her volunteer work and where she imagined herself to be working before enrolling into Occupational Therapy. She further delves into the inspiration behind her Instagram page @Cee_Us which is aimed at creating awareness for mental health as well as for disabilities. She further expresses the importance of time, a lifelong lesson taught to her by her parents.