150. The Basket Weavers Who Forgot to Weave, Why OTs Burn Out and What Actually Fixes It

Occupational Therapists are the profession built on one idea. Meaningful occupation is medicine. We prescribe it every day. We know the theory works.

So why are we burning out faster than almost anyone?

In this episode of the OT Yourself to Freedom Podcast, Beki Eakins goes after the question most of us avoid. What happens when the profession of meaningful occupation stops doing anything meaningful for itself?

It starts at a leaving do. Another OT walking out of the NHS, this one to open a bakery, icing the cakes for her own goodbye party. That moment is where this entire brand began. Because Beki noticed something. OTs are the profession most likely to OT themselves right out of the door. And the woman leaving to bake was not failing. She was finally applying the model to her own life. The question is why she had to leave to do it.

You will hear:

Why burnout is not really about working too much, and what it is actually about

The bakery leaving do that started OT Yourself to Freedom

Occupational imbalance, occupational deprivation and occupational alignment, applied to you rather than your clients

Why mastery leisure beats rest for recovery, and the research behind it

How to tell whether your daily occupations match who you actually are inside

Why Churchill picked up a paintbrush at forty, and what he understood about rest

How to build a business around your leisure rather than fitting leisure into the gaps