What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational Therapy/ Whakaora Ngangahau is a registered health profession.
The core aim of Occupational Therapy is to support people and whānau to have the life they value through enabling occupation and community inclusion.
Occupation - doing - is used therapeutically to improve health and wellbeing and to promote health.
My work at Space For Change is firmly grounded in occupational science and evidence-based behavioural health interventions as well as the view point that rather than merely the absence of disease symptoms, health is the presence of vitality, the capacity for living a meaningful and purposeful life.
Some of the evidence-based practice models and intervention approaches I apply are:
- Canadian Model of Occupational Performance and Engagement
- Motivational Interviewing
- Task and environment analysis
- Occupational Performance Coaching
- Lifestyle Redesign® (Chan Division, University of Southern California)
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- DNA-V (ACT approach for adolescents)
- Interactive Drawing Therapy (IDT)
- Play Therapy
ABOUT ME
Kia Ora,
My name is Grit Craig.
I was born and raised in Germany, in the city of Chemnitz in Saxony, and spent a number of years living in London in the UK. In 2014, I moved to Hawkes Bay with my Kiwi husband to start a new adventure and be closer to family.
I love connecting with people. In my over 20 years of practice as an Occupational Therapist, I have worked with hundreds of amazing individuals and their families from many diverse backgrounds and parts of the world. I feel privileged to have walked some of their journey with them and witnessed them overcome barriers and flourish. Across my career, I have specialised in paediatrics, neurodiversity and neuro-rehabilitation, behavioural interventions and pain management.
I am neurodiverse and have been living with a chronic health condition for many years. This has helped me to really understand the complex nature of trying to get better, the personal struggles, the feelings of frustration and hopelessness when no-one seems to be able to make it go away and how having a purpose that lights you up is so important on the journey to living your best life.
I generate energy from continued learning about new and innovative ways to support my clients with reaching their goals. That is also how I started to take an interest in coaching in Occupational Therapy, as a way of truly enabling my clients to be the agents and drivers of the changes they want to make.
Outside of work, I love baking and being creative. I proudly volunteer with Hawkes Bay Jammers, which provides music, dance and adaptive movement for young people with disabilities, and Growing Through Grief, which supports our community through change, loss and grief. Together with my husband I enjoy diving into the worlds of music, art, movies and good food, going for walks and discovering new places. I practice yoga and mindfulness to help me slow down.
Core values
Our core values define what is important to us. They are the driving force that gives meaning and vitality to our lives and guides our choices about how to move forward. Engaging with your core values is central to your journey at Space For Change.
Compassion
Everyone has a unique story that deserves to be listened to humbly and without judgement
Positive Potential
Opportunities for positive change can start with a tiny seed that grows when it is nurtured
Creativity
Creating something new can give energy and vitality and make insurmountable barriers smaller
Gratitude
Gratitude helps us be in the moment, notice and appreciate the things that carry and uplift us
Resilience
We can use our skills and strengths to help us adapt and recover from life's challenges
Empowerment
Supporting people to have more in control over factors that influence their quality of life is what gets me out of bed in the morning
