Jill Loftus, MS, OTR/L, is a practicing pediatric occupational therapist, parenting coach, educator, and author focused on enabling and empowering children and families for the past 17 years. She received her bachelors degree from Boston University in 2001 and her masters from San Jose State University in 2015. Her experience ranges from working in schools, homes, clinics and in the community in New York, San Diego and currently in Denver. After owning her own pediatric clinic in New York City from 2009-2013, Jill started a private practice called Honest Occupational Therapy through which she seeks to motivate children, families and educators and to facilitate them in developing the skills needed to perform everyday tasks and be successful.
 
Jill lives in Denver Colorado with her husband and 2 dogs. She enjoys the outdoors, live music concerts and hanging out with friends and family.

Alexis Joelle, MS, OTR/L, is an occupational therapy practitioner, a supervisor, and a consultant for OT practitioners who has served over 8500 clients in a variety of settings, including at sites and facilities while working in travel therapy during her first three years of practice. Alexis works as an OT practitioner and supervisor in an acute care setting during the typical work week hours. Outside of that, she serves OTs from all over the world (her “OT tribe”) over various social media platforms. She is a pioneer in live video broadcasting which she started using over two years ago to mentor OT students and practitioners in the field. Alexis is now creating virtual courses to help OT practitioners best learn to break down barriers in their own lives so that they can be fulfilled through meaningful work in OT practice.

On this episode, Alexis tells us about her work as an OT in acute care and in travel therapy, her experience in taking (and in re-taking) the NBCOT certification exam, working with OT students and practitioners to help them address challenges and break down barriers in their own lives, using videochat and other online tools to mentor and connect with other OT practitioners, and motivational interviewing.

Resources and recommendations from this episode:

• Motivational interviewing worksheet - a list of resources provided for listeners by Alexis
• OT board video mindset series (available for purchase)
• Document on Changes in Healthcare Professions' Scope of Practice: Legislative Considerations ("The consensus agreement")
• Tikkun Olam Makers (TOM) and Assistive Technology - http://tomglobal.org/