There is good evidence for using mindfulness as part of your OT practice. It has been shown to help reduce stress, sleep better, decrease rumination, decrease emotional reactivity, improve focus, improve memory, help us live within our values and manage to live well with pain.
Building a personal practice can increase your own resilience and that of your family and clients. In fact, if one person in a family practices mindfulness, the whole family gets some benefit. As health care providers, we need to take care of our well-being during a pandemic, more than ever. This is an opportunity to build your practice as part of a community of OTs, without leaving home.
Over 8 weeks, this course will give you the opportunity to establish your own mindfulness practice and to learn ways to start to integrate it into your work as an OT right away, along with a group of like-minded OTs.
There will be a mix of online content that you can work through at your own pace and weekly live group calls.
In order to meet different learning styles, there will be movement, reflective exercises, meditations, video content, discussions and written materials. You can focus on the ways that you learn best!
Why learn mindfulness taught by another OT? This course will look at mindfulness through an OT lens, including relating mindfulness to our sensory processing, posture and biomechanics. We'll have discussions to help you bring the information straight to your area of OT practice!
This course is intended for OTs, student OTs and occupational therapy assistants.
This course is only open for registration twice a year.
To get notified about upcoming offerings, click the link below.
What's included?
- 8 weekly calls which you can attend live or listen to when you want
- 8 weeks of self-paced learning material to help you build your own mindfulness practice and relate mindfulness to OT
- Tools to help you build your resilience during this pandemic
- A guided "Day of Mindfulness"
- Downloadable guided meditations
- Therapy activities which you can bring to your clients right away
- Meditation scripts
- A mindfulness booklet
- Interactions with OTs from around the world
- Journal articles and summaries of the evidence for using mindfulness
- Accountability to other OTs while you bring mindfulness into your life
- Opportunities to problem-solve with other OTs and ask questions
- Mindful movement videos
- Tracking sheets
- Links to educational resources you can use with your clients
- Certificate of participation
Course Curriculum
- Introduction to mindful movement (10:09)
- Mindful movement videos to use in your practice (2:42)
- Awareness of breath meditation (Thich Nhat Hanh version)
- Three diaphragm breathing
- 5 Skillful habits
- Week 3 home practice
- Group call: Understanding breath and coaching clients on breathing (64:10)
- Weekly post
- Walking meditation
- Sense and Savour meditations
- Awareness of sensations video and slides (7:14)
- Mindfulness with persistent pain (16:21)
- Week 5 home practice
- Linking Mindfulness and Occupation
- Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and the improvement of long-term mental fatigue among patients with stroke
- Group call: Introducing RAIN practice (57:19)
- Weekly post
- Loving kindness meditation for beginners meditation
- Exploring the evidence for OTs using mindfulness themselves
- Self-compassion break
- Mindful Self-Compassion with Chris Germer
- Group call: Preventing burnout (65:56)
- Week 7 Home Practice
- Extra Material: Podcast on burnout and managing stress
- Weekly post
- Silent meditation
- Sustaining your practice
- Letter to yourself
- Evidence for using mindfulness for our well-being as health care professionals
- Extra material: Using meditation in the ER (from the news)
- Extra material: The Jeneralist podcast episode
- Group call: Establishing your long-term practice (63:55)
- Course feedback
Hi, I’m Sarah
I live and work in Ottawa, Ontario as an occupational therapist and mindfulness teacher. I support occupational therapists from around the world to integrate mindfulness into their personal and professional lives. Closer to home, I support people in Ontario who struggle with chronic pain, mood issues or sleep difficulties to develop coping strategies so they can get back to their work and personal lives.
Both in my personal and professional life, I use nature and mindfulness meditation to bring calm and joy to each day! I often incorporate a walk into treatment sessions or lead a meditation.
I have been working as an occupational therapist for 18 years and have been practicing mindfulness meditation regularly since I became an OT. I am a firm believer in life-long learning and engage in on-going professional development in areas including women's health occupational therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia, motivational interviewing, acceptance and commitment therapy, pain management and trauma. I have completed an intensive training program at the Ottawa Mindfulness Clinic in order to use mindfulness techniques to work with my clients. I also teach a course at the Ottawa Mindfulness Clinic.
I am currently the Topic Editor for the Women's Health column in Occupational Therapy Now (published by the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists). I have presented to other occupational therapists in the areas of mindfulness, pain management, women's health and sleep through the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists.
613-715-3550 | [email protected] | PO BOX 14067 GLEBE RPO, OTTAWA, ON, K1S3T2