The Journal · Ten essays
The ordinary business of a day
Occupational therapy is concerned with everything a person does between waking and sleeping — and with what stands in the way when that becomes difficult.
These ten essays are written for anyone curious about the profession: people who have been referred and are not sure what to expect, families wondering how best to support someone, students deciding on a direction, and colleagues from neighbouring disciplines. They can be read in any order. There is also a companion series on occupational therapy with children.
- 01 The Ordinary Business of a Day Occupational therapy is one of the most misunderstood professions in healthcare — largely because of a single word in its name.
- 02 Play Is the Work of Childhood To an outsider, a paediatric session can look like an hour of messing about. It is one of the most carefully constructed hours in healthcare.
- 03 A Different Sensory World Sensory differences are not a failure of tolerance. Understanding them changes what therapy is for — and who it is supposed to serve.
- 04 Relearning the Ordinary After a stroke, the tasks that vanish first are the ones nobody thinks about. Getting them back is slower and stranger than most people expect.
- 05 The Hand That Holds the Cup A discipline measured in degrees and millimetres, where the window for getting it right is often measured in days.
- 06 Rhythm and Recovery In mental health, occupational therapy asks an unfashionably practical question: what does this person actually do with their day?
- 07 Ageing in Place Almost everyone wants to stay in their own home. Making that possible is less about equipment than about noticing what a house quietly demands.
- 08 The Right Tool Assistive technology has never been better. It is also abandoned at a rate that should embarrass the industry.
- 09 The Long Way Back to Work Here, at last, occupation really does mean employment — and the return is rarely a matter of simply being well enough.
- 10 Spending the Day's Energy Pathological fatigue is not tiredness, and it does not answer to effort. Learning to spend a limited supply well is a genuine skill.