The Barefoot OT
The Barefoot OT Journey
The Background
My journey into mental health has been rooted in nature and its power to calm, and a desire to share this to help others, influenced by witnessing childhood friends struggle and facing my own challenges with dyslexia before it was officially recognised.
Recognising my draw to nature and the calm it offered, I travelled to Uganda for a gap year, where I taught and lived in a rural village, which transformed my perspective on the world. I was then introduced to Reiki in India, where I met my spiritual teacher, Baba Jay, who continues to guide me on my spiritual path and with my connection to Shiva Shakti energies. Over the years, I have explored these energies and how best to work with them, and I now offer energy alignments in my studio, remotely, and at events and festivals.
Throughout my professional career, I have worked as an Occupational Therapist in forensic hospital settings, expanding my knowledge of mental health and the interventions that assist individuals to become the best version of themselves. I have always recognised the power of nature engagement and its importance in mental health recovery.
Today, after experiencing my own burnout and struggles with neurodiversity and late diagnoses, I have created a unique offering blending years of clinical occupational therapy experience with my Shiva Shakti Energy work and nature engagement. The Barefoot OT sessions offer personalised, meaningful work that not only helps but also prevents the struggles I faced, and may others face, from not seeking support before Burnout or Crisis. Nature has always held deep significance for me; it brings joy and calm.
I learned that engaging with nature with intention hugely increases my wellbeing and selfesteem and reduces anxiety. When I reached out to traditional services for help, I often felt like an outsider, facing long waiting lists and rigid categorisation. This realisation sparked the creation of my own healing program 👣
Today, alongside my extensive experience in mental health and my deep connection to energy work, I am also studying Druidry to explore nature's benefits and its connection to the spiritual realm.
How I Work
As someone with inattentive ADHD, I also know firsthand that nature offers the kind of restorative balance no clinic room can. My dissertation explored countries like Japan, Korea and Scandinavia that have long known that time in green spaces settles the nervous system, restores attention, and rebuilds wellbeing.
My approach follows the Person Environment Occupation Performance (PEOP) Model — Looking at you as a whole, rather than as a diagnosis.
Alongside this, I draw on the Kawa Model, an occupational therapy framework that pictures life as a metaphor of a flowing river.
The PEOP Model has four considerations that all weave together:
Person (Everything you bring):
Your strengths, struggles, history, values, and how your mind works.
This helps me understand who you are, not your diagnosis; then together we can build something that works for you as an individual.
Environment (The world you live in):
Your home, work, relationships, community and the natural spaces you engage with (or have stopped engaging with).
Sometimes your environment hinders your progress, and you need support to make changes to thrive again.
Occupation (The activities that fill your days):
The ones you have to do (ADLs), the ones you want to do, and the ones that give your life meaning.
When these feel out of reach, our motivation to engage in all aspects of life decreases. Working together helps you reconnect with your Occupations.
Performance (How you function and engage):
How you're actually living, functioning and in the world. This is how we measure your progress; you define what progress looks like. No rigid programmes, no tick-box goals — just a guided journey to the best version of yourself
The Kawa Model Uses The River Metaphor
River Flow / Water (The overall flow of the individual's life):
What you do, what matters to you, and how freely your life flows right now.
Riverbanks (Your physical and Social Environment):
Your relationships, your social engagement, and the people in your life.
Rocks (The Obstacles and Factors That Hinder Our Life Flow):
Your current difficulties, your stressors, and worries or anxieties, whether medical, social, circumstantial, or emotional.
Driftwood (Personal Resources and Assets):
Your capabilities such as knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, qualifications, attitudes and other factors that flow along your river and influence the flow. They may help or hinder depending on where they come to rest.
Spaces (The Gaps Between The Elements Where The Water Flows):
Your existing or potential opportunities for occupational therapy intervention to enhance your river flow and, in turn, life.
Rather than trying to remove every rock, we work together to widen the channels and let your flow return. It's a metaphor I guide you to feel rather than have to learn.
