We work with individuals and groups experiencing all manner of mental health challenges, through the life span to enable them to fully participate in their lives, overcome barriers and feel a sense of meaning and satisfaction. We don’t simply manage symptoms, we help people live fully and thrive.
We support individuals who are experiencing:
Anxiety, Depression, Low Mood, Burnout, Trauma related symptoms, Panic Attacks, Nervous System Dysregulation, Sleep Issues, Exam Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Reduced Coping, Overwhelm, School Refusal, Low Motivation, Dissociation, Concentration Issues, Sensory Challenges, Self Regulation Difficulties.
Programs are tailored for each client based on specific needs and goals. There will be assessment, goal setting and intervention and evaluation. Intervention will include sessions with an OT and development of an individualised treatment program. When appropriate, interprofessional collaboration will be utilised and sessions with an OT and BABCP and BACP accredited psychotherapist will be arranged. This enables a wraparound service addressing psychological needs, lifestyle medicine, physical health and nervous system regulation. We believe that “the spaces between” sessions to be the most important, therefore they will also form a powerful part of the therapeutic process.
EXAMPLE: Individual experiencing anxiety. Reporting multiple panic attacks, difficulty with sleep, digestion issues, ruminating thoughts, overwhelming emotions, disengagement from social activities and often experiences overwhelm.
Evolve Occupational Therapy will work in partnership with the client to assess areas of difficulty, areas of interest and identify priorities and goals. If psychotherapeutic input is required, this will be arranged. Work with the client will be at a pace and intensity that suits them to try and achieve these goals.
Depending on client strengths, goals and interests, this could be through a bespoke intervention of:
Educate: With knowledge, comes power
Clients will gain a deep understanding of individual symptoms, their origins and why specific interventions are successful. This supports better outcomes and enables greater autonomy for the individual. This knowledge can also alter mindset and take the mystery away from symptoms, making them less overwhelming and enabling the individual to address symptoms when they arise.
Engage: Get out of the head, and into the body
This individual is experiencing nervous system dysregulation, this can affect every system in the body and as such can case difficulty sleeping, regulating emotion, digestive issues and even skin issues. We will support and guide the individual to engage in various scientifically supported activities that are of interest to them. Embodied experience and engagement in activities with the correct approach and focus will support nervous system regulation. These will all have a purpose and will illicit positive change in some way. Depending on the individual, this could be breathwork, meditation, yoga, art, somatic healing (engaging the body as a medium for the healing process- feel to heal.), mobilising, group work, football, coffee with friends, walking or nature based therapies. There will be a focus on building and engaging these activities routine. Lifestyle changes will enhance wellbeing, healing, growth and nervous system regulation.
Enable: Become an active participant in your life
Enabling the individual better participate in areas of their lives they may have disengaged from that are important to them. We address barriers holding the individual back from engagement, enabling them to fully participate. For example, somatic therapies, CBT strategies and compassionate enquiry may be used to enable individuals to safely experience emotions, which can be a route to healing old wounds that may be the root cause of anxiety. Or, if an individual is not sleeping they may be too tired to focus at work, here the use of sleep strategies would be implemented. Enabling reengagement through a graded approach, at a pace that suits the client. For example, to support reengagement in school/work a phased approach may be needed.
Empower: We want our clients not to need us anymore
Our aim is to empower them with the tools, skills, knowledge and confidence they need to become an expert in their own wellbeing. We will support them to fully integrate the changes, activities and learning to a point where they become independent.
Initial meetings are an informal chat before any commitments to ensure an aligned partnership between Evolve Occupational Therapy and the client. This meeting allows space for both the client and therapist to determine if they are the correct fit for each other in terms of expectations, therapeutic mediums and goals. In this meeting, we will discuss expectations, outline an initial client pathway and the therapist will answer any questions. We work in integrity and honesty at Evolve OT and will signpost you to the relevant professions if we feel you can be better served elsewhere.
Within initial assessment strengths and areas of dysfunction will be identified and goals will be formed. To achieve this a blend of informal interview and goal setting is used. To ensure we get all the details we need we use world renowned assessments which have been scientifically shown to identify areas of dysfunction, set goals and reliably measure progress. It is important to measure progress to ensure interventions are effective in supporting clients towards their goals.
Typically you will meet with your OT once every one to two weeks for 60-90 minutes. The setup and structure of these sessions will vary depending on the client. They could consist of actively engaging in activities/embodiment practices, psychoeducation, lifestyle optimisation, reflecting on intervention progress, targeted therapeutic discussions or exploring and overcoming barriers. Typically in sessions the client will be given “homework”. This will consist of agreed upon, sustainable and easily integrated lifestyle optimisation strategies and activities for “the spaces between” sessions.
This will include revisiting assessments to ensure progression and goal achievement.