OT & Chill

Episode 72 – Get Tottenham Talking With Robert Pike In this episode, I am joined by Robert Pike, a gentleman who experienced a mental health crisis in July 2023. He speaks about the pressures of mental health difficulties and how he feels  Tottenham Talking  saved his life. Robert is now running the Big Half Marathon in London on 7th September 2025 to raise funds for the Tottenham Talking project...

Episode 71 – Speak Even When Your Voice Shakes In this episode, I am joined by Jenny Okolo, an Occupational Therapist, speaker and business owner. We engage in conversation about Jenny overcoming shyness to become a speaker, her upbringing and some of the projects she has been involved in. As October is Black History Month here in the UK, Jenny and I explore how she is reclaiming narratives in ord...

Episode 70 – Standing For RCOT Council Seat For Learning & Development In this episode, I am joined by Dr Musharrat Ahmed-Landeryou to dicuss why she is standing for the RCOT council member seat for Learning & Development. Members of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) in England have the democratic right to select a candidate for the seat of Council Member. With the ballots closin...

Episode 69 – AntiRacist Occupational Therapy, Unsettling The Status Quo In this episode, I am in conversation with Musharrat Ahmed-Landeryou, Sherrille Tayson & Marie-Lyne Grenier discussing the book “AntiRacist Occupational Therapy, Unsettling The Status Quo”. We also hear from Dr Khalilah Johnson & Isla Whittington about being part of the authoring team for this book. Musharrat gathered a wonder...

Episode 68 – Animal Assisted Therapy In this episode, I am in conversation with Dale Preece-Kelly. Dale runs an Animal Assisted Therapy business called Critterish Allsorts which mainly provides interventions to people in prisons and mental health units. We discuss the benefits of animal assisted therapy and why his approach is unique.  You can find out more about Critterish Allsorts on Twitter/ X...

Episode 67 – In Conversation with Sue Parkinson In this episode, I am in conversation with Sue Parkinson. Sue is a retired OT based in the UK. She is well known for her involvement with MOHOST, Occupational Formulation and Recovery Through Activity. We discuss all the above amongst many other topics including language use in the profession. You can follow Sue on Twitter @MOHOspark If you have any...

Episode 66 – Elizabeth Casson Trust In this episode, I am in conversation with Dee Christie & Malabika Ghosh from the Elizabeth Casson Trust. The trust is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year and I wanted to find out more about what they do for the Occupational Therapy profession. Connect with them via their Website, Twitter and also Instagram by simply searching Elizabeth Casson Trust. ...

Episode 65 – Cayman Islands OT Adventure In this episode, I am in conversation with Dionne Nmai. She is an Occupational Therapist based in the UK who decided to make a bold move to the Cayman Islands to go and practice OT. We engage in conversation about why she decided to make the move, her experiences working in a different culture, reasons why she came back to the UK and lastly her work now wit...

Episode 64 – The Hip Hop OT In this episode, I am in conversation with Dr Jian Jones. She is an Occupational Therapist based in the USA exploring Hip Hop culture and all the different occupations and identities associated with it. We engage in conversation about some of the ways she incorporates Hip Hop culture into her teaching, the origin of Hip Hop and how she identifies with the culture. Conne...

Episode 63 – OT & Chill Is Back After a bit of a break, I am finally back and hope to regain consistency with the episodes. I hope to continue bringing great conversation about all things Occupational Therapy. In this episode, I speak about some of the changes I have made to the podcast and also play snippets of some of the episodes coming out If you have any feedback on this episode or you wo...

Episode 62 – OT & South Africa . In this episode, I speak with Aimee Isaacs who is an Occupational Therapist based in South Africa. We talk about what it is like working in South Africa as an Occupational Therapist. Barriers people face in accessing therapy and how she is trying to change this with the Self-Care Studio space on Instagram & YouTube. You can check out Aimee’s work via her social med...

INTERLUDE – The OT Show With Wonderful OTs I attended the OT Show on Wednesday, 23rd November 2022 and captured and some thoughts from those who attended and presented. I spoke briefly as part of the BAMEOTUK presentation. It would be great if you continued to support the wonderful work that the Affinity Groups here in the UK are doing. You can follow them on the social media links below. BAMEOTUK...

Episode 61 – Conversation With Kit Sinclair In this episode, I speak with Kit Sinclair. Kit is an Occupational Therapist based in Hong Kong who has dedicated her life work to the profession. Kit has been involved in the development of the profession in Asia and other parts of the world. She has also been part of the World Federation of Occupational Therapy at different level including Presidency....

Episode 60 – Retire But Share The Knowledge In this episode, I speak with Sue Hilsdon, a retired Occupational Therapist who wants to continue sharing her knowledge and support current Occupational Therapists. Sue recently wrote an article discussing this topic in the OTNews. In this episode, we expand on it with regards to her journey into retirement, the passion she has for the profession and the...

Episode 59 – BAMEOTUK Symposium Intro In this episode, you will hear the introduction I gave at the BAMEOTUK Symposium which happened online on 10th September 2022. It was a fantastic event organised by members of BAMEOTUK. All the presentations from the wonderful speakers on the day were recorded and can now be found on the BAMEOTUK YouTube Channel. You can support BAMEOTUK in putting together an...

Episode 58 – Wheelchair Services In this episode, I speak with Lauren Osborne, an Occupational Therapist specialising in Wheelchair Services. We discuss some of the skills needed for this area, importance of posture management, what a “typical” day looks like and difficulty in recruiting to this specialist area of practice along with many other topics. You can follow Lauren on Twitter: @LaurenOsbo...

Episode 57 – Living With Multiple Sclerosis In this episode, I speak with Alex Deans, a young man living with Multiple Sclerosis. He shares his lived experience of his condition, some of the challenges he faces and how he is using his experience to help others through personal training. You can find out more about Multiple Sclerosis by visiting www.mssociety.org.uk. You can follow Alex on social m...

Episode 56 – Standing For RCOT Chair of Council Odeth Richardson, a UK based Occupational Therapist is a candidate for the Royal College of Occupational Therapy Chair of Council seat. She joins me on this episode to discuss reasons why she is standing for this position and the changes she would like to push through with the assistance of other council members. If you based in the UK and are a memb...

Episode 55 – Unpicking Hidden Occupations Continuing with the Occupation and Occupational Science mini-series, I am joined by Mike Sy who shares his thoughts on Occupational Science. We have a discussion about what this area of work means to him and especially why it is important in his context. We also have a discussion around his research interest areas and some of the work he has done around th...

Episode 54 – Simplifying Occupational Science Continuing with the Occupation and Occupational Science mini-series, I am joined by Ryan Lavalley who shares his thoughts on Occupational Science. We have a discussion about why work in this area is really important, how some of the research can assist therapist in advocating for their patients and also how it could possibly have an impact on policies....

Episode 53 – Values and Occupations Continuing with the Occupation and Occupational Science mini-series, I am joined by Brock Cook to have a discussion about Values and Occupations. Brock shares his understanding of Occupational Science and why it is important for the profession. The episode on Brock’s podcast referred to is “009 – How do values fit with OT practice?” The values research referred...

Episode 52 – Is it Occupational Therapy or Occupational Science? In the first of the Occupation and Occupational Science mini-series, I am joined by Miranda Cunningham to have a discussion about some of the issues surrounding Occupational Science and its application to Occupational Therapy practice. Towards the end of the episode, we also explore an area of interest for Miranda around the Occupati...

As it OT Week in the UK (1st Nov-7th Nov)and the theme being Health Equity, I thought I would re-release Episode 24. Happy OT Week 2021 everyone. Episode 24 - Race & Health Inequalities . The link between race and health has been well documented in research and government reports. This was particularly apparent during the COVID pandemic with those from minority ethnic groups disproportionately pas...

Episode 51 – Student Internship with Rosalind Brooks & Sherri Kapadia In this episode, I am joined by Rosalind and Sherri to have a conversation about their experience of undertaking an internship at the Royal College of Occupational Therapist. We also discuss their student experiences and also their final year research. Both are very passionate about bringing something new into the profession...

Episode 50 – Episode 50 A milestone episode for the OT & Chill podcast. In this episode, I review some of the wonderful episodes and provide the top 5 most listened to episodes. I share some of the plans for the future of the podcast and also share some great feedback received from some listeners. As I said in the podcast, if you have ever listened to just a snippet of any of the episodes, I j...