http://creativityandbeyondot.com.au/

Creativity & Beyond - Occupational Therapy, Mackay (2025)

03/11/2025

Yes! I'm still here, and slowly refining my service offerings. Did you know I have availability for telehealth support, especially for parents? Depending on your NDIS goals, and support needs, telehealth OT is very achievable as a parent-focused session. This reduces overwhelm and stress for parents and is delivered from an evidence based lens. This is not your typical parent coaching, but a great way for parents to utilise the services of an OT without the pressure to be adding more tasks into your role as a parent.
I'd love to be able to support families Australia-wide through these offerings.
Email or visit my website for details.

16/06/2025

The NDIS price arrangement has been released and it's utterly disappointing. If you have been seeing content about the NDIS but don't think it affects you, here's why I think you should care. This is not an exhaustive list, just what comes to mind in the day following release of the price guide. The louder we are, the more waves me make, the more likely change will happen. Those less privileged are at the MOST disadvantage. I feel so deeply angry at how this only widens the health disparities of Australians based on their income. I'll be sharing details about how to further contribute, but the best and easiest is to engage with this content and those similar share, and read the comments about those that are truly impacted. No we are not rorting the system. The system is completely cooked right now.

10/04/2025

Ah, a real damned shame there are still personal opinions that take place over clinical expertise. I'm really disappointed. Better understanding of ADHD, and increased diagnosis actually is a GOOD thing. Especially for prevention of long term negative health outcomes. There can be a deep inherent shame associated with ADHD, due to executive function challenges, and to pair that with a health professional, to say to the NATION that it's "fashionable" is really unethical. I'm deeply saddened and disappointed.
Did having a diagnosis change your life for the better?

31/03/2025

Autism awareness/acceptance month starts today. Please note that this post is not a list of diagnosis criteria, but some very important factors when considering the possibility of autism. Too often autism is not included in the conversation of supporting others needs that are sensory related or behaviour related.
Acceptance cannot happen without awareness. Awareness needs to involve more regular discussions about consideration for Autism. It shouldn't be a conversation avoided with parents, if you're a professional working with families, the conversation needs to be explored openly and with compassion. The longer you avoid talking about it for fear of "worrying a parent" or "not knowing enough" the worse the stigma is. If you feel you don't know enough, that's great for acknowledging, and listen and learn from people who are .
I've just been reminded by a post I saw, about a well known OT in aus, that there is still much work to do about awareness.

24/02/2025

🗯️Let's talk about some commonly used labels for a moment, and why I'm having an issue in how they are currently being used. I want to have a constructive conversation about this, and it's not about *overdiagnosis* of autism, it's simply acknowledging it's existence in the context of these labels. If you are a parent and you are finding accounts or businesses that you find you resonate with around these terms, yet they are NOT discussing autism in any context with you or on their platform, I urge extreme caution in the information they are giving or selling you. 🚩

The fact is that more often than not autism needs to be considered in the equation of "highly sensitive people". If you want to read up more about it the incredible has a brilliant journal article I implore you to read and expand your mindset around the term. Link will be pinned in my bio and in my highlight. Also follow Amanda as I have learnt immensely from her also.

I'm all for supporting inclusive language, however the context in which "spirited" "highly sensitive" "spicy" labels are used WITHOUT a single mention of Autism is really unethical, ableist and poorly informed much of the time.🚩

If you are avoiding the idea of autism I want you to unpack that in your own way and in your own time. There are many incredibly informative and experienced professionals whom you can learn from if you don't feel confident whom I will tag some below

This is not about undermining others experience but it is about doing what is ethical and moral and inclusive of the diverse autistic population. ✨

30/01/2025

There are some terms that work better as identity-first language such as "autistic" rather than "person with autism". On the other hand there are many descriptive terms used in society that are commonly attached to a child's behaviour, thus resulting in the overall perception of the child.
When it comes to behaviour, (particularly some more difficult/overt ones) the best guide for any person is to avoid attaching behaviours to personality. I often separate behaviour from who the child actually is for a number of reasons.
1. Every child deserves to be seen with unconditional positive regard
2. Most behaviours are not a conscious choice
3. It actually helps other empathise and understand root causes of behaviour INSTEAD OF seeing it as the "child that needs fixing" or "the parent let them be this way".

It's not about attaching it to who a person is, and allows for more curiousity about behaviour and not feeling constantly frustrated as the parent, or professional supporting the child.

If you think of the definition of 'Personality' it means: the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive character. Do you want to have behaviours shape WHO your child is? We all have bad days and make mistakes ourselves, does that make us bad people? I think not.

Image description: blue background with purple font which reads in large writing "Let's separate" and a clipart of paper tearing in half with behaviour on one side and personality on the other. There are corresponding slides which reflect this caption. Creativity & Beyond OT logo is in bottom left corner.

12/01/2025

Feeling overwhelmed by all the info in the internet? Unfortunately it's only going to get worse with FB and IG not doing fact checking anymore. As if it wasn't already bad enough. These are my recommendations. I make an effort to sign out, have separate accounts so I can mentally switch off from this type of content.
As allied health professionals we study *how* to research and are able to discern what quality research actually is. Unfortunately the internet is FULL of misinformation, and lot of things steeped in personal agenda's and privilege. Take the time you need to look after yourself when your feeling overwhelmed, and always remember that there is an element of bias in almost every element of research and information that exists out there. I encourage scepticism and listening to your values.

10/01/2025

I get referred lots of families who don't even know what OT is. Okay not that uncommon for an OT but still, parents are often recommended to see XYZ health professionals and go do the thing and come back and show me you have done the things. A very much tick the box procedure. Parents are coming to health professionals vulnerable and stressed out and this process makes them feel powerless and guilty (not all, but definitely many).
These are some important reminders about your rights as a parent and consumer when accessing any health service.
Always always be wary of testimonials and reviews, as it's a persuasive technique (whether its in good faith or not) it actually clouds your ability to make an informed choice about your needs. Remove the fluff marketing and see if it's right for you. Also no AHPRA registered professional is legally allowed to do so so you also won't expect to see those anywhere with these services.

What else do you wish you knew sooner? Was any of this new to you?

30/12/2024

2024 is almost over... How can we look into the new year with meaningful "resolutions" as you may want to call them. If we think of the techinical end of a year we think of it as a full REVOLUTION around the sun where we come back to the same place again. What values do you find yourself coming back to time and again? We as OTs especially understand this and understand that life is so much more than WHAT you do, but how it makes you feel, the spiritual alignment, the connection to others, the sensation in the body and mind. It's endless.
I've gone through seasons of burnout every 6 months at one point and really hitting hard at times. Understanding my neurodivergence has been a major aspect of remedying that, treating myself with kindness, and challenging core beliefs of feeling "defective".

I have more stories to share about this, but for now I'll say this; for me, mindfully reducing burnout looks like:
- doing things that bring me a deep sense of joy and laughter
- spending a conscious moment each day if I can, to do something I enjoy, it doesn't have to be a specific hobby, it could be enjoying sunshine, fresh air, a pretty flower, a cuddle with my pets.
- setting boundaries with myself around things I have no control over
- reminding myself in moments of darkness where my brain is excellent at choosing what is not important. I revel in those moments of difficulty and learn deeply from what my body is telling me.

Take care of yourself ✨ each day is yours for the taking.

20/12/2024

It's been quite a year of progress for the neuroaffirming movement. It warms my heart knowing we are moving forward in better understanding neurotypes, lived experiences and how to support one another.
There are things however I hope to see change in the new year, here's just a few.
1. It's my hope that autism is better understood as a neurotype instead of a disorder
2. People stop labelling one person as "high functioning" and the other "low functioning". It's completely unhelpful
3. Stop saying you're neuroaffirming if you can't even adapt to using affirming based language. It's really such an important first step
4. Catch your judgement, before it projects into others. We judge others to understand our own discomforts. It's not about them and what they're doing, learn to understand why you are triggered.
5. Sensory issues with ADHD aren't really a thing aside from an attention/awareness issue. Consider it might be autism and help normalise the co-occurence.
6. Parents, don't ever feel like you should be doing every thing a professional person has told you to do. Yes I know it seems ironic as an OT writing this post, but I'm speaking as a human being here. As an OT I learn with you. I don't tell you what to do.
Be kind to one another. Have a happy and safe festive season 🎉✨

17/12/2024

Hey parents, in case I hadn't told you, or you don't hear it often enough...

YOU'RE AMAZING, INCREDIBLE AND RESILIENT

Thanking you all kindly for allowing me to work alongside you now or in the past ✨ it's a deeply vulnerable process letting a professional into your life to work on challenges and I'm grateful for those I have worked with.

26/11/2024

Let's talk about registration, better explained as "low registration". We are referring to the capacity/awareness of sensory stimuli in large amounts until our body REGISTERS the information. Those with low registration require as much sensory stimuli in areas that a sensory seeker might however strategies are passive rather than active. Winnie Dunn, OT professor has some great information about this.
I experience low registration in lots of ways in my daily life and I use lots of external prompts and cues to be mindful of this! We can use it to our advantage in some cases too, as we can be less bothered/affected by sensory input depending on context and motivation.
Did you learn something? How do you see this relating to someone you know? Drop some examples of share with a friend ✨

Creativity & Beyond - Occupational Therapy

03/11/2025

16/06/2025

10/04/2025

31/03/2025

24/02/2025

30/01/2025

12/01/2025

10/01/2025

30/12/2024

20/12/2024

17/12/2024

26/11/2024

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