Occupational therapy is about understanding an individual’s abilities and finding the right solutions for their circumstances. Our in-house occupational therapist, Helen, will assess a person’s physical and psychological wellbeing too:
- Educate for prevention and condition management
- Analyse job task demands and suggest reasonable adjustments
- Carry out workstation assessments including the impact on mental health
- Signpost or refer to relevant services
- Collaborate with community teams (drug, alcohol, and social services)
- Make ‘return to work’ plans
- Create a ‘Wellness Action Plan’
- Carry out (where necessary) workshops, from an extensive range, tailored to the company’s needs
Helen understands the impact of mental and physical health conditions on daily life, whether this is at home or work. She considers the whole person, providing individual-centred advice, to enable and empower people to overcome barriers. To be their best self, again both at home and at work.
Our Occupational Therapy services differ based on the needs of the individual, with services including:
Occupational Therapist listening service
Included:
Either by telephone or face to face, an informal approach is used to build trust and rapport. Our occupational therapists will also actively listen and use their emotional intelligence skills to understand an individual’s issues. These issues could be related to relationships at home/ work, financial worry, formal proceedings, problem behaviours such as alcohol misuse, and eating issues. Plus, stress, anxiety, menopause, being a carer, loneliness, chronic pain, or mental health conditions such as depression or bipolar.
Helen can liaise with community mental health services, GPs, and social workers. Follow up 1-1 ½ hour reviews to monitor wellbeing and make further recommendations to problem solve if necessary.
Sometimes a listening ear, or time spent with someone face-to-face, working through a person’s thoughts and feelings, is often most helpful and effective.
All conversations with our Occupational Therapist Helen, are confidential (with the exception of risk), and she can feedback to line managers/ HR with the employee’s consent. This can help build better relationships between the employer and the employee.
Management Workshops (tailored for the business)
2 hours (remote/ in-person)
Workshops available:
- Improving your Mental Health Awareness
- How to – use a Wellness Action Plan (useful for yourself and any employee)
- How to – manage Return to Work Meetings/Plans
- How to – improve your Mental Resilience (or How to – combat stress and anxiety)
- How to – use Mindfulness at Work and Home
- How to – use Reasonable adjustments for mental health
- How to – communicate with care
Included:
- A face-to-face or video presentation (with an informal approach)
- Group activities to reinforce learning and provide the opportunity for meaningful discussions
- Take-away resources links
Employee Workshops
2 hours (remote/ in-person)
Workshops available:
- Recognising negative coping strategies (issues with eating, alcohol, exercise)
- Mental Health Awareness
- Building your Mental Resilience (or Stress Awareness Training)
- How to improve your health and well-being
- Introduction to mindfulness
- Living with Bipolar Disorder
- Living with Eating Disorders
- Living with OCD
- Living with Personality Disorder
- Living with self-harm
- Being a parent and the effect on mental health
- Understanding Depression and Recovery
- Overcoming Sleep Problems
- Talking about suicide
- Understanding and managing worry
- Understanding and managing grief
- Understanding emotions for healthy relationships
- Using creativity to improve mental wellbeing
Included:
- Presentation, virtual or face to face, with an informal and relaxed approach
- Group activities to reinforce learning and provide the opportunity for meaningful discussions
- Take-away resource links
- Opportunity to ask questions in a confidential setting
Person-centred one-to-one support in the workplace
1 ½ hour initial session (remote or face to face)
1 hour follow up session/s (remote or face to face)
Included:
- Confidential setting to explore problems such as substance misuse, relationship issues, financial stress, topics around sexuality, eating disorders, loneliness, worry and anxiety, sleep problems, menopause, chronic pain, being a parent or carer, and many more.
- Problem-solving and education to reduce and manage issues/symptoms
- Liaising with GPs, community services etc. to get the right help
- Ongoing review for check-ins and monitoring effectiveness of OT input
- Feedback/liaise with HR, line managers etc. with consent
Wellness Action Plan (WAP) 1-to-1 training for employees
1 ½ hour (remote or face to face)
Included:
WAPs can be used at any time but are particularly helpful during the return to work process if you have been off work due to a mental health problem. They provide a structure for conversations around what support will help you and what reasonable adjustments might be useful to discuss and consider with your manager.
- How to use the WAP to support and promote your mental health and wellbeing at work
- For anyone, with or without mental health issues
- Opens dialogue with managers and employers to better understand your needs and experiences and ultimately better support your mental health, which in turn leads to greater productivity, better performance, and increased job satisfaction
Contact Us
If you’d like to know more about our Occupational Therapy services, and how Helen can help your employees, please get in touch. Call us on 01260 277797 or email us at website@acornoh.co.uk