London Ontario Occupational Therapist Offerings
Does navigating daily life as a disabled person feel like an overwhelming barrier?
Is trauma or complex trauma interfering with your daily life?
Has simply existing as a neurodivergent person left you feeling exhausted?
If so, occupational therapist services here at The Witch’s Therapist can help.
At The Witch’s Therapist, we offer holistic mental health services for those seeking support in showing up as their authentic selves.
Curious about occupational therapy, but don’t know where to start? Our registered occupational therapist, Santyna Brar, is also a trained psychotherapist. She offers free 15-minute consultations. Book yours here today.
Or, read on to find out more.
Below, you’ll find more information about the occupational therapist services we offer.
What Is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational therapy (OT) is a type of healthcare that focuses on helping manage the “occupations” of daily life.
When we hear the word “occupation”, many of us think of employment, but there’s much more to it than that. In OT terms, “occupations” are the activities you do that occupy your time. This includes work, yes, but it also includes many other activities.
These include:
Keeping your home clean
Showering
Eating
And more
Parenting
Brushing your teeth
Leisure
Self-care
Sleeping
Spiritual engagement
Occupational therapists look at your nervous system and body, your environments, your culture and spirituality, and the systems around you.
From there, we work to understand the barriers to your ability to accomplish your activities of daily living (ADLs). Together, you and your occupational therapist can develop a plan to help you navigate these barriers.
The goal is to create the support you need to participate in your valued and meaningful activities.
What to Expect During an Occupational Therapy Appointment
Occupational therapy for adults looks different from what you might expect.
At its heart, it’s a conversation.
Your occupational therapist will take the time to listen to you about how you move through your days. They will want to understand your life in its specifics.
This includes your routines, environment, work, relationships, mobility needs, obligations, beliefs, and much more.
As they listen, they’ll look to understand the barriers you face.
What feels hard? What used to feel easier? What have you quietly stopped doing because it costs more than it gives?
This will give your occupational therapist the foundation they need to really understand your needs. From there, you can co-create a plan that fits the actual shape of your days.
Subsequent sessions move at your pace.
In some cases, it may feel more practical. You’ll work to build strategies and routines, adapt your environment, and understand how to navigate your needs.
Sometimes it's subtler than that.
However, the goal is always the same: to help you participate more fully in your life.
Occupational Therapy Services at The Witch’s Therapist
At The Witch’s Therapist, we offer occupational therapy for a wide variety of needs.
Below, you’ll find some of the more common challenges we work with.
If you don’t see yours below, feel free to reach out anyway. If we can’t help you, we can refer you to someone who can.
Occupational Therapy for Chronic Illness and Chronic Pain
Navigating the world while dealing with chronic illness can feel exhausting.
And it’s not just the illness.
It’s the looks of disbelief you get when you mention your symptoms and the barriers you face. The pressure to remain positive and upbeat when you feel anything but. The grief you may feel at the loss of the person you were before your diagnosis.
At The Witch’s Therapist, we understand.
Your occupational therapist recognizes that chronic illness is shaped by more than just your symptoms.
The ableism, the systemic barriers we face, the dismissal we feel from the medical system... it can weigh heavily on our lived experiences as disabled people.
Your occupational therapist can provide a space to explore these experiences and feelings openly and without judgment. From there, they can work to help you navigate your daily life more effectively.
Occupational Therapy for Trauma and Complex Trauma
The mind and the body are intimately connected. What affects one must affect the other. Such is the case with trauma. Trauma-informed and trauma-trained occupational therapy recognizes that trauma lives in the body as much as the mind.
It shows up in the physical reaction you experience in a triggering situation. In the profound exhaustion you feel while facing routines that used to feel simple. In the relationships that now feel more difficult to navigate than they once did.
For those living with PTSD, C-PTSD, BPD, or DPDR (dissociation), trauma can feel like the background radiation of your life. It can impact every interaction, every activity.
Psychotherapy and trauma-trained occupational therapy may help.
The work of trauma-informed and trauma-trained occupational therapy is about building, or rebuilding, a relationship with your own daily life. It happens gently and slowly, at a pace that respects what your nervous system can hold.
Your therapist will work with you to identify where function has been disrupted, what's driving that disruption, and what small, sustainable shifts might begin to restore a sense of safety and agency in your days.
Occupational Therapy for Anxiety
For many people, the coping mechanism for anxiety is to avoid situations that trigger them.
That can be helpful, of course. But it can also make your world smaller. At times, this can happen without you even noticing.
If you feel safe in your home, this can become your refuge from the triggers of the outside world. But this can reinforce your fear in the long run as well.
But while it might seem like you just need to “push through it” to outsiders, your occupational therapist understands that there’s more to it than that. At its root, it’s your nervous system doing what it believes it needs to do to keep you safe.
This can happen for those living with social anxiety, agoraphobia, panic disorder, phobias, and other types of anxiety. It’s what we call an “anxiety-avoidance cycle”.
Your occupational therapist understands. They will meet you where you are, without judgment. They won’t force exposure to triggering situations unless you’re ready for them. Instead, they’ll help ease you back into your life.
Some examples of these strategies include habit stacking, pacing, cueing, anchoring, body doubling, using a prioritization matrix, dopamine breaks, and mental contrasting.
Occupational therapists trained in psychotherapy can simultaneously work with you to reduce feelings of shame when the expectations of society and loved ones can’t be met due to the uniqueness of how your brain works.
At The Witch’s Therapist, we can help.
Occupational therapy for ADHD can help you understand the barriers you face in navigating your daily life.
Occupational Therapy for ADHD
ADHD, contrary to popular belief, is not a childhood thing, and it’s not something you grow out of. Children with ADHD grow up to be adults with ADHD.
Naturally, adults with ADHD act differently from children and have different needs. But because so many ADHD management tools are geared toward children, it can be difficult to find the support you need.
What’s more, many people don’t receive an ADHD diagnosis until adulthood. This is especially true for women, whose ADHD often manifests in subtler ways.
The common traits of ADHD can make navigating adult life difficult. But you’re not alone.
Occupational therapists can offer organizational skills training that may help. It’s geared toward developing and integrating tools to address common challenges with ADHD.
Book your FREE 15-minute intro session with The Witch’s Therapist today.
Not sure if The Witch’s Therapist is right for you? No worries. We offer FREE 15-minute intro sessions to help you decide.
During that session, your occupational therapist will listen to your concerns, answer your questions, and help you understand how a spiritually affirming approach to occupational therapy can help.
Occupational Therapy for Autistic Adults
For many autistic adults, the exhaustion isn't from the autism itself.
It’s from a lifetime of adapting to a world that wasn't designed with you in mind.
Of decoding social interactions that others seem to manage with ease.
Of navigating overwhelming sensory environments.
Of performing like a neurotypical person so you can fit into your surroundings.
All this accumulates over time. It can happen consistently and automatically, to the point where you've lost track of where the performance ends and you begin.
But while autistic adults may benefit from extra supports, autistic therapies of the past have aimed at “fixing” autism.
That’s not our approach.
At The Witch’s Therapist, we take a neurodiversity-affirming approach to occupational therapy. We recognize autism is not a “problem” to be fixed. Instead, it’s just another manifestation of the diversity of our human family.
This simple change in perspective fundamentally changes how we approach autism. Your occupational therapist will work to understand how you experience the world around you.
Using that understanding, we can work to build a daily life that actually fits.
The work might involve sensory strategies, routine building, energy management, or finding ways to structure your days that honor your needs rather than override them. It might involve unpacking the impact of decades of masking, and exploring whether it’s worth setting some of it down.
Because you’re unique, and you deserve support that matches your unique needs.
Occupational Therapy for Depression and Burnout
The burden of navigating life under late-stage capitalism can fall heavily on our shoulders. This is true for most of us. But for those with a marginalized identity – people of colour, LGBTQ2IA+ people, disabled folks, etc. – this weight can feel even heavier.
As a result, is it any wonder so many of us are feeling depression and burnout?
Your occupational therapist understands all too well how heavy this can all feel. They won’t try to “cheer you up”, or minimize your feelings. Instead, they’ll work with you to better understand the obstacles to daily living that these feelings can present.
This can help you build a plan to operate at a reduced level as you manage these feelings. From there, they’ll work with you to better understand and work through them.
Occupational therapy is not a quick fix for depression. However, it may help you learn to work with your depression while we therapeutically address the symptoms impacting your daily functioning and capacity.
How Occupational Therapy at The Witch’s Therapist is Different
At The Witch’s Therapist, we offer an integrative approach to occupational therapy.
Our OT, Santyna Brar, has received training in both occupational therapy and multiple psychotherapy modalities. These include acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), internal family systems therapy (IFS), trauma-focused cognitive-behavioural therapy (TF-CBT), and emotional freedom technique (EFT).
As a result, she brings a unique approach to her clinical practice.
This includes:
Activity Design & Routine-Building
Spoon/energy balancing
Pacing
Values-based scheduling that honours your life, responsibilities, triggers, and flare cycles
Chronic Pain and Illness Support
Flare plans
Gentle activation
Pacing
Sensory modulation
Sleep/rest routines
Systems Navigation
Supporting requests for accommodations and disability funding
Assessment and completing relevant letters or forms
Vocational rehabilitation, where appropriate
Providing options for advocacy alongside you, never over you
Disability Tax Credit (DTC) Support Services
Do you have a chronic illness that presents challenges in managing your activities of daily living? If so, e-mail us to learn more about completing an OT functional assessment.
Our occupational therapist can assess all areas of impairment considered for the DTC, including mental functions necessary for everyday life. This can support your family doctor or NP in completing the T2201 Disability Tax Credit Certificate on your behalf.
We can also independently assess and submit the DTC Certificate for clients who experience impairments with walking (functional mobility), feeding, and dressing.
Services include:
DTC Application Process Consultation
An occupational therapy consultation for people considering applying for the disability tax credit.
During this consultation, you’ll get a better understanding of the application process.
This includes preparing for conversations with your health care provider(s) and learning how to advocate for your needs during the process.
DTC Functional Assessment & Application Completion
Functional assessment and completing the disability tax credit application for impairments with the domains of:
Walking/mobility,
Feeding/eating and preparing meals, and/or
Dressing
Along with the cumulative effects of multiple impairments.
DTC Mental Health Assessment & Advocacy
Assessment and advocacy to support your disability tax credit application for people experiencing self-care and hygiene challenges due to a mental health condition. This includes:
A DTC mental functions-specific functional assessment report that can be submitted with your DTC application as supporting documentation.
A comprehensive mental functions report that you and your family physician (MD) or nurse practitioner (NP) may use to support the information they include in your DTC application.
DTC Training for Canadian Healthcare Providers
Education and training sessions for healthcare professionals (MD, NP, OT, PT, social workers, psychotherapists, psychologists, etc.) on the rules and expectations around the DTC, and how to meaningfully support disabled clients seeking assistance with the DTC application process.
Training includes reviewing DTC eligibility requirements, discussing when it may be appropriate to support someone with applying, reviewing specific examples, practicing how to apply the criteria to functional limitations, answering questions, and ongoing support with DTC advocacy.
Spiritual Integration (Optional)
At The Witch’s Therapist, we understand that chronic illness, neurodivergence, religious, complex and intergenerational trauma can make it difficult to engage in personally meaningful spiritual routines and rituals.
As such, Santyna is happy to support you with co-creating spiritual routines and rituals that feel aligned with your values and beliefs. This may not apply to everyone, and that’s okay. We also welcome atheists, agnostics, or people who aren’t interested in adding ritualistic elements to their therapy journey for whatever reason.
However, if you’ve felt alienated from your spiritual practices, we can help.
Book Your Appointment with The Witch’s Therapist Today
Not sure if The Witch’s Therapist is right for you? No problem. We offer FREE 15-minute intro sessions to help you decide.
During that session, your occupational therapist will listen to your concerns, answer your questions, and help you understand how a spiritually affirming approach to occupational therapy can help.