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Co-author: MaryBeth Gallagher PhD, OTR/L BCMH
'This paper offers targeted strategies you can use to address the impact of occupational disruption in your own setting.'
Introduction
Occupational disruption has been defined as a transient or temporary condition of restriction from participation in necessary or meaningful occupations. This interruption often, but not always, resolves itself as the human adapts (Whiteford, 2010). The arrival of the COVID-19 virus and the subsequent pandemic has had a tremendous impact on our daily habits and routines. It has meant that people have become socially distanced, unemployed and ‘repurposed.’ This is certainly true in the healthcare organization in which we are employed, where employee wellness has the potential to be eroded by these additional stressors. If as occupational therapists, the situation described here is something you recognize within yourself and your work environment, this paper offers targeted strategies you can use to address the impact of occupational disruption in your own setting. This article presents the response of a small team of occupational therapists to the challenges posed to employee wellness in the face of unmitigated occupational disruption from the COVID-19 virus. The article also describes the processes and practices that were developed to support our colleagues. It concludes with recommendations to replicate and or adapt our approach to nurturing employee wellness.