038 – Is Occupational Balance BS? ft Alexis Joelle

Podcast: Embed

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Alexis is an OT, an online juggernaut, a clinical mentor and metaphor aficionado. If you’re on Instagram or Facebook then you have more than likely come across some of her posts, stories or live chats. Hard to imagine how she has any balance…. 😉

A few months ago Alexis invited me to do an Insta-live with her. Honestly, I can’t even remember what we originally started talking about but we digressed to occupational balance. We decided then and there that we needed to record a podcast and give the topic the time and space that it deserved.

Occupational Balance is a concept that ALL occupational therapists have heard of and the majority would mention regularly, usually as a potential or ideal outcome. But how many have thought about the concept in detail? How many have considered the process of occupational balance outside of the feeling that we get when we have “achieved” it? What is actually being balanced? 

Definition:

balance /ˈbal(ə)ns/
noun

1. an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady.
“she lost her balance and fell”synonyms:
stability, equilibrium, steadiness, footing”I tripped and lost my balance”

2. a situation in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions.

By definition balance is about offsetting things against other things in the correct proportions. When we look at getting the “just right” perceived amount of engagement in a certain occupation what exactly are we offsetting this against? We explore the merits of considering this phenomenon as Occupational Wellbeing instead. 

We also branch off and consider ditching occupational classifications in favour of classifications of engagement. The paper discussed during the episode is here: 

Hammell, AW. (2009) Self-care, productivity, and leisure, or dimensions of occupational experience Rethinking occupational ‘categories’, Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 76(2): 107-114

During the chat, Alexis also refers to this article on distracted parenting: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/the-dangers-of-distracted-parenting/561752/?utm_source=atlfb_test134_1

Where can you find Alexis?

CreatingconfidenceinOTs.club updates on happenings, resources, e-courses, mentorship program, tools, and shares. 
Hang out with Alexis on Instagram at @8alexisjoelle. If you have any questions you can email her at info@alexisjoelle.com OR tweet her at @8alexisjoelle

Brock
brock.cook@me.com
@brockcookOT