Everyday Occupational Therapy

13/11/2025

Fabulous day out! So good to experience. Hope you can get there. I remember their very first event here in NZ.

We’re excited to announce that Surfers Healing Aotearoa will be hosting their first-ever Waipu Cove event on Saturday, 21 February 2026!

Surfers Healing is a free surf camp for children on the autism spectrum, offering tamariki and their whānau an unforgettable day in the ocean. It’s a day of pure joy, giving autistic children the chance to experience the thrill of catching waves in a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment. With the help of our experienced volunteer surfers and caring crew, we create a space that celebrates every child for who they are and brings families together through the magic of the ocean.

This year marks 10 years of Surfers Healing events in Aotearoa, and they are thrilled to be expanding North, making the experience more accessible for families from Auckland through to Northland.

Participation is free! To register, please email: surfershealingnz@gmail.com with the following details:

Participants full name
Which event you wish to register for ( Waipu Cove )

08/11/2025

Meet Warren Dunkley, an occupational therapist at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust who’s spent the past 20 years helping people facing severe and enduring mental illness and found a truly innovative way to support recovery. 💚

Combining his background as a professional boxer with his clinical expertise, Warren began introducing non-contact boxing into therapy sessions on acute mental health wards. The results were remarkable. People who’d struggled to engage with traditional approaches showed renewed motivation, confidence and purpose.

That success led him to found Off The Ropes, a pioneering non-contact boxing and wellbeing charity that now delivers evidence-based programmes across multiple NHS sites. With a new ten-year base granted by Oxleas NHS, the charity will expand to support people living with mental ill health, neurological conditions and learning disabilities.

Warren’s work shows how occupational therapists lead innovation at the intersection of health, activity and inclusion, helping people stay well, find purpose and live well for longer.

💚 This we’re celebrating OTs like Warren who provide the right support at the right time: https://loom.ly/HERfNHQ

07/11/2025

👋 hi everyone - I’m excited to say I am attending this course in Auckland at the end of November. If you are an OT, physio, SLT, teacher or parent interested in ASD, neurobiology, sensory processing and behaviour come along to learn from Kim Barthel. She’s amazing

✨ love for BECOMING A BEHAVIOURAL DETECTIVE!
🕵️
HOW TO TAKE THIS COURSE?
📍Perhaps you are able to join us LIVE IN PERSON - Open to anyone, including a wide range of therapists (OT SP, PT etc.) Psychologists, educators, early-childhood and group home staff, social workers, counsellors and parents/caregivers. See all upcoming live training here: https://loom.ly/stfR8u0

CURRENTLY UPCOMING:
🇳🇿 Auckland, NZ - 🗓️ November 27-29, 2025 - hosted by Mind2Mind Courses
✨MORE INFO HERE https://loom.ly/stfR8u0/2025-babd-auckland
Join Kim Barthel, OTR, for a 3-day deep dive into the science and heart of understanding behaviour. This expanded course will equip you with evidence-based insights and practical strategies to uncover the hidden reasons behind complex and challenging behaviours.

- OR -

The ON-DEMAND, ONLINE version of this course is 9.5 hours of recorded videos available immediately upon registration for repeated access via on-demand streaming for 365 days. Additionally, each registration comes with an invite to join a live online and interactive Zoom Q&A for 60 minutes, and is NOW APPROVED FOR AOTA CEUs.
⭐️
As always, financial support and group discounts are available. Visit ALL UPCOMING EVENTS link in bio or click here where you can: https://loom.ly/stfR8u0/2022/becoming-a-behavioural-detective
⭐️
There is always a reason for the behaviour! Based on Kim’s most prolific and well-attended workshop in her career, this online recorded series will provide a deeper understanding of why people do what they do. The focus will be on complex and challenging behaviour, and using clinical reasoning to look well beyond the surface actions we observe. From developmental disabilities to emotional/relational challenges, and from attachment strategies to the integrated neurobiology of sensory processing and cognitive influences, a holistic and integrated mindset is required.
🕵️

06/11/2025

26/10/2025

26/10/2025

So powerful

25/10/2025

ADHD is not a knowledge problem, it’s a performance problem.

As Dr. Russell Barkley says, ADHD is best conceptualized as a self-regulatory disorder of performance.
These students know what to do… they’re just not able to consistently do it.

Unfortunately, the very professionals trained to support student performance, occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs), are often misunderstood, overlooked, or boxed into outdated stereotypes.

Occupational therapists in schools have the background to:

Identify unseen barriers to classroom participation

Create individualized adaptations and environmental supports

Collaborate with teams to develop practical classroom strategies

Support executive functioning and self-regulation through performance-based interventions

It’s time to stop viewing school OT as “just handwriting or sensory.”
If we want better outcomes for the most prevalent performance disorder impacting children today, ADHD, then including a performance expert in the treatment plan is how we do it.

🔍 Learn more in our full blog: https://www.rfr.bz/f074280

08/10/2025

Awesome conversation

07/10/2025

30/07/2025