What I Learned Blogging in April for OT Month

Throughout the entire month of April I intended to blog every day for OT Month. I did this for two reasons. I wanted to continue to raise awareness about the wonderful world of Holistic OT, and to challenge myself to share interesting, relevant, and valuable information with OTs and those seeking Holistic OT services.

The hashtag words #OTMonth were used on social media to easily find posts on Twitter and Facebook to identify who was talking about OT Month. I hashtagged all of my posts on social media and connected with many people this way. I learned that hashtags are an efffective way to connect with whatever group with whom you’re trying to connect.

I learned that there are many people hungry for Holistic – Mind, Body, Spirit Medicine, Prevention and Wellness. At the same time, Holistic OT is happening in the world through meditation, yoga, eating well, and various forms of Holistic Health Care. I believe it is here to stay and will continue to grow.

I learned that I can write every day and the best way for me to do that was not to make a predetermined map of topics, but to wake up every day and listen to what my Intuition said about what would flow the most from me and what I felt people might like to read about. I wrote about topics that I often think about and might share in conversations in one to one sessions, observations I have seen and am noticing, and about efficacy based research that still needs to permeate deeply and widely in to the world of health care.

I wrote about prevention and wellness since I believe it is an under-written and talked about topic. Our health care system is primarily based on “sick care” – while we need this, it would be most beneficial if we can increase the prevention of disease and illness for people to stay well longer and enjoying their lives. Prevention and wellness was what first got me on the road of learning, studying, practicing, and teaching Mind-Body-Spirit Health Care. This is how I primarily practice in my private practice. It is so desperately needed. I plan to write more about prevention and wellness.

Nutrition and diet is a topic I haven’t written about much in the past, but I was able to interview a chef and chiropractor with great tips on eating well. I realized with my combined experience of managing a health and wellness center in the late 90’s and all of my experience with nutrition, continuing ed course, and coaching 100s of people in ways to eat well, that I did have good information to share on nutrition and diet, particularly in regards to mood and emotions.

There were a couple of lovely guest posts from a prospective Holistic OT student who wrote about the importance of gardens for our health, and an OT who is becoming a Holistic OT while she immerses herself in Adaptive Yoga training. I look forward to more Holistic OTs writing guest blog posts and sharing their wisdom, knowledge, and experience with others.

I learned that there are many OTs in the world doing amazing things. One of the standouts for me was Frederick Covington’s “I Am OT” video. In the video there are pictures and videos of OTs all around the world holding up signs saying “I Am OT.” I was happy to see that there were also several holding signs that say “I Am Holistic OT.”

I wrote many other posts – please check them out here. Please comment and share how you like them, if there is any information you would like to add, or if there are any other topics you would like to see addressed.

Thank you for reading and being a part of this growing Holistic OT Community!