The BRAVE OT Podcast | Real Conversations with Occupational Therapy Trailblazers

In this solo episode, I'm getting deeply personal about turning 50 and everything that milestone is teaching me about values-based occupational therapy practice, sustainable work, and letting go of the structures we've inherited without examining them. If you're an OT who's ever felt like the practice you built for a previous version of yourself is now running you, or if you're navigating your own season of role transition, professional identity, and the ache to do things differently, this episode was made for you. I share the concept of the crone archetype, my experience teaching entrepreneurial thinking at the University of Alberta, and how ACTivate Vitality is helping OTs deinstitutionalize their thinking and build practices that actually fit their lives.
In This Episode, I Talk About:
What it means to embrace the "crone era" and why our culture gets it so wrong
The crone as threshold, not ending: moving from people-pleasing into authentic purpose
Why so many OTs become victims of their own success and how to build a practice that serves you again
Deinstitutionalizing OT thinking: the beginner's mindset as an entrepreneurial superpower
What I've been teaching in my entrepreneurship module at the University of Alberta and how it applies to your OT practice
How I use ACT in ACTivate Vitality to help OTs sort through what's next
How ACT helps us discern: am I saying yes from values alignment, or from fear?
Navigating ADHD, perimenopause, and role transitions all at once 
My upcoming Entrepreneurial Thinking Workshop and how you can join
Resources & Links
🌀 Gillian White - the local facilitator whose crone-themed words are shared in this episode
📋 My Workshop - sign up here: Ingniting OT Innovation Through Entrepreneurial Thinking
💬 Book a Clarity Call for ACTivate Vitality
🎙️ The BRAVE OT Podcast on YouTube
Learn More About ACTivate Vitality
ACTivate Vitality is my coaching community for occupational therapy practice owners who are ready to build sustainable, values-aligned businesses without the hustle. If you've built something successful and now it's running you instead of serving you, this is the space to sort through what needs to change.
We have group coaching calls, an online community, an ACT-based framework to build entrepreneurial and psychological flexibility, and 1:1 support. It's not about hustling harder, it's about getting clear on what matters and building a practice that fits your actual life.
👉 Book a Clarity Call: https://tidycal.com/carlyn/clarity-call

The OT Who Showed Up at TED: Bill Wong on Visibility, Neurodivergence & Making Bold Career Moves
What does it look like when an occupational therapist refuses to stay inside the OT bubble? In this episode of The BRAVE OT Podcast, I sit down with Bill Wong, the first OT student or practitioner to deliver multiple TEDx talks, publish those talks on TED's platform, and attend many TED conferenendces. Bill is a home health OT, a neurodivergent individual, a TEDx event organizer, and one of the most intentional networkers in our profession. Our conversation weaves through career resilience, neurodivergent-affirming mentorship, and a provocative challenge to the OT community: instead of waiting to be given a fish, why don't we learn to fish for ourselves? If you've ever felt like OT is healthcare's best-kept secret, or wondered what it would look like if we stopped waiting for an invitation and started creating our own opportunities, this conversation is for you.
IN THIS EPISODE, WE DISCUSS:
•       The "teach OT to fish" principle: why Bill believes our profession needs to stop waiting to be invited and start creating our own stages
•       Resilience, risk-taking, and the "Hall of Fame vs. Hall of Very Good" framework Bill has used to drive his career forward
•       Neurodivergent-affirming mentorship: what it means to meet mentees where they are while still holding them to their own stated goals
           •       How Bill became the first OT to deliver multiple TEDx talks and what he learned from his early "failed" attempts at                 organizing TEDx events
•       What it's actually like inside a TED conference as a paying attendee and why Bill thinks more OTs should be in those rooms
•       The barriers that keep OTs from showing up in non-OT spaces and how to start breaking them down one brave move at a time
•       Bill's OT lens on autism, advocacy, and building connections with people completely outside the healthcare world
ABOUT BILL WONG, OTD, OTR/L
Bill Wong is an occupational therapist based in the United States, currently practicing in home health. He is the first OT student or practitioner to deliver multiple TEDx talks, the first to have his TEDx talks published on TED's platform, and the first to pay his own way to attend TED conferences as a full attendee. Bill is a TEDx event organizer (TEDxAlmansorPark), one of two co-facilitators for AOTA's Autism Community of Practice, and a member of Occupational Therapists for Environmental Action. He is also an autistic individual who brings a neurodivergent perspective to everything from clinical practice to professional advocacy.
 
Connect with Bill on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-wong-24492a18/
Read Bill Wong's LinkedIn article, What Is It Like Inside a TED Conference? Why Should More OT Students and Practitioners Attending In Spite of the Cost & Seemingly Exclusivity?
WORK WITH CARLYN — JOIN ACTIVIATE VITALITY
If today's conversation sparked something in you, that pull toward building a bolder, more sustainable OT practice and career, the ACTivate Vitality Program might be exactly what you're looking for. It's a community of occupational therapy practice owners who support each other through group coaching, an online community, and an ACT-based framework for building real entrepreneurial and psychological flexibility.
 
It's not about hustling harder. It's about getting clear on what matters to you and building something that serves your life.
•       ACTivate Vitality Program: balanceworks.online/avprogram
•       Book a Clarity Call: https://tidycal.com/carlyn/clarity-call

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in OT Practice through Jen's Personal and Professional Experience
What happens when an occupational therapist who supports others with mental health challenges experiences their own mental health crisis? In this episode, Jen Anderson-Frost shares their journey through perinatal OCD and how Acceptance and Commitment Therapy transformed both their recovery and their practice.
If you're an occupational therapist curious about ACT, working with clients experiencing intrusive thoughts, or supporting parents with perinatal mental health challenges, this conversation offers practical insights alongside vulnerable, lived experience. Jen talks openly about the difference between traditional CBT approaches and ACT, why understanding that ego-dystonic thoughts are part of OCD mattered, and how creating space for difficult experiences, rather than fighting them, opens up new possibilities for recovery.
This episode is particularly valuable for OTs interested in trauma-informed, neurodivergent-affirming approaches to mental health support.
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IN THIS EPISODE, WE DISCUSS:
- What perinatal OCD looks like and why it's often misunderstood
- The concept of ego-dystonic thoughts and why this reframe matters
- How traditional CBT exposure therapy can be traumatizing without nervous system consideration
- The difference between CBT thought-challenging and ACT's approach to difficult thoughts
- Why Acceptance and Commitment Therapy was more effective in Jen's recovery
- How ACT fits naturally into occupational therapy practice across all settings
- Using ACT with clients who appear "stuck" or "non-compliant"
- Inference-based CBT (ICBT) as a neurodivergent-affirming approach to OCD treatment
- Why professionals often hold themselves to impossible standards during their own struggles
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ABOUT JEN ANDERSON-FROST
Jen Anderson-Frost (she/they) is an occupational therapist and intuitive living coach based in the UK. Drawing on both professional training and lived experience as a queer, neurodivergent parent and perinatal OCD survivor, Jen supports queer and neurodivergent parents with perinatal mental health challenges and burnout. Jen also works as a pediatric OT supporting neurodivergent children and families, and hosts the Intuitive Living with OT Intuition Podcast focused on perinatal mental health.
Connect with Jen: LINK TO LINKTREE  
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RESOURCES MENTIONED
Books:
- Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts by Sally Winston and Martin Seif
- Break Free From OCD by Dr. Fiona Challacombe
Podcasts:
- Your Anxiety Toolkit with Kimberly Quinlan
- OCD Stories podcast
Additional Resources:
- Inference-based CBT (ICBT) for OCD treatment
- Research on intrusive thoughts in university students
- OCD Action (UK support organization)
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LEARN MORE ABOUT PRACTICAL ACT FOR OTS COURSE
Registration is open NOW for the February 2026 cohort!
The Practical ACT for OTs course gives occupational therapists practical tools and confidence to integrate Acceptance and Commitment Therapy into practice, regardless of your setting or specialty.
What you get:
- 4.5 hours of recorded learning modules (lifetime access)
- Comprehensive resource library with handouts, worksheets, and references
- 4 months of support including live Q&A calls
- Online community forum for ongoing discussion
- No certification required—ACT is designed to be accessible
Enroll now: https://www.balanceworks.online/act-for-ots
Registration closes soon for the February 1, 2026 start date.
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ABOUT THE BRAVE OT PODCAST
The BRAVE OT Podcast features occupational therapists doing innovative work and navigating the challenges of building sustainable, meaningful practices. Host Carlyn Neek, BA, BScOT, provides coaching, mentorship, and community support for OT practice owners and clinicians who want to thrive without the hustle.
Connect with Carlyn:
- Website: https://www.balanceworks.online/contact-links
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ACT for Occupational Therapists: Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Any OT Setting
Have you ever worked with clients who seem stuck? The ones who don't follow through on goals they set themselves, the ones often labeled with judgy terms like "non-compliant" or "unmotivated"? As occupational therapists, we're often called in when all else has failed. But when psychosocial barriers keep people from engaging in meaningful occupations, we need tools that work with the internal experiences creating those obstacles.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) offers occupational therapists a powerful, trauma-informed framework for helping clients unhook from difficult thoughts, feelings, and sensations so they can move toward the occupations that matter to them. Whether you practice in physical rehab, pediatrics, mental health, persistent pain, or community settings, ACT can integrate into your OT approach.
In This Episode, I Discuss:
- The experience of clients being "hooked" and moving away from meaningful occupations despite having goals they care about
- The ACT choice point model: toward moves versus away moves and what that means for occupational engagement
- How the six core processes of ACT break down into mindfulness-based tools and values-based action (aka meaningful occupation)
- The four ACT processes that help clients be more flexibly responsive to difficult internal experiences
- Why ACT feels aligned with trauma-informed, humanistic, collaborative approaches to occupational therapy practice
- How "open up, be present, do what matters" translates to occupational therapy 
- Practical ways ACT fits into OT sessions across different practice settings
About My Practical ACT for OTs Course
The Practical ACT for OTs Course is clinical education designed specifically for occupational therapists who want to integrate Acceptance and Commitment Therapy into their practice. It is a psychosocial skill for any area of practice.
The course includes:
Eight asynchronous video modules (approximately 4.5 hours of content with limitless access)
Optional live group calls twice a month to discuss clinical applications and nuance
Online community of OT peers learning and applying ACT
Resource library with tools you can use immediately in practice
Support for applying ACT across all OT settings 
More than 150 occupational therapists have taken this course, and it's designed to help you add ACT tools to your clinical toolkit without feeling overwhelmed.
Learn more and register today for our February 1, 2026 cohort: www.balanceworks.online/act-for-ots
If you're listening at a later time, please check the website to see if we're actively accepting registrations for an upcoming cohort.
Connect With Carlyn
All my links
About The BRAVE OT Podcast
The BRAVE OT Podcast features occupational therapists doing innovative work and navigating the challenges of building meaningful careers in OT. Host Carlyn Neek is an occupational therapist, educator, and coach who works with OTs through clinical education, business coaching, and community support.

Deinstitutionalizing OT: Field Research, Folk Wisdom & Creating Your Own Path with Dr. Josie Jarvis
What does it mean to deinstitutionalize yourself as an occupational therapist? In this wide-ranging conversation, Dr. Josie Jarvis and I explore everything from the historical roots of healthcare systems to why OTs need to reclaim field research and folk wisdom. If you've ever felt stuck in traditional practice settings or wondered how to apply occupational science to your own life, this episode offers both validation and a path forward. We discuss burnout recovery for occupational therapists, the power of community-based folk arts, and why being brave sometimes means daring to ask the "dumb" question. This conversation is for OTs who are ready to experiment, create their own paths, and remember that innovation doesn't require permission.
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IN THIS EPISODE, WE DISCUSS:
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- Why deinstitutionalization matters for practitioners, not just clients
- How occupational science can help OTs recover from moral injury and burnout
- The historical context of healthcare systems and women's contributions through folk wisdom
- Understanding twice-exceptionality (gifted + learning differences) and how it shows up in OT practice
- Why field research and observation are more valuable than we've been taught
- The problems with the traditional evidence-based practice pyramid and the Tomlin & Borgetto alternative
- How grades and academic metrics aren't real and why that matters
- Building community through folk arts and crafts as a vehicle for policy change
- The Being, Becoming, Belonging quilt project and its impact on systemic change
- What it means to be brave: daring to be vulnerable, asking questions, and showing up in your fullness
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ABOUT DR. JOSIE JARVIS
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Dr. Josie Jarvis is a twice-exceptional (ADHD/NVLD/Gifted) occupational therapist, critical implementation scientist, and host of the Evolved Living Podcast. She brings over a decade of clinical experience across home health, acute care, memory care, pediatrics, and K–12 education together with her neurodivergent lived experience to explore how systems shape human occupation, creativity, and identity.
After collaborating with Carlyn Neek in the ACTivate Vitality program, Josie deepened her commitment to reviving a contemporary folk arts/crafts and critical implementation science movement that supports collective occupational wellbeing and recovery from systemic harm across borders and practice settings. Her work blends OT/OS scholarship, accessible education, and creative praxis to help practitioners and communities reclaim meaningful occupation and systemic integrity.
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RESOURCES MENTIONED
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Josie's OT and OS Work can all be found at https://engage.evolvedlivingnetwork.com/ Including:
- OT/OS Substack & Evolved Living Podcast: https://josiejarvisot.substack.com
- Professional Website: https://josiejarvis.com
- OS 101 Course – Foundations of Occupational Science for U.S.-Based OT Practitioners 
- OS 101 Guide
Josie's Creative & Intuitive Work can be found at https://josephinepatricia.substack.com including:
- Josephine Patricia Creative Substack
- Various products and courses related to rewilding, arts, circles and more
Books & Resources:
- Witches, Midwives & Nurses Book Club
- Article on Witches, Midwives & Nurses 
- Beyond the Hierarchy (Tomlin & Borgetto Research Pyramid)
Previous Episodes of the BRAVE OT Podcast Referenced:
- Episode 13: With references to Dąbrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration  
- Episode 43: Overcoming Entrepreneurial Perfectionism with the Scientific Method 
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WORK WITH CARLYN
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If today's conversation about deinstitutionalizing yourself and finding hope beyond burnout resonated with you, the ACTivate Vitality Program offers a community of OT practice owners who are navigating these same challenges.
We focus on building sustainable, values-aligned practices through group coaching, ACT-based frameworks, and genuine support not hustle culture.
Book a Clarity Call
Learn more about ACTivate Vitality