Episode 31: Occupational Therapist Lisa Westhorpe
Occupational Therapists are quite literally the best. Today I get the chance to chat with the amazing Lisa Westhrope. She's the fabulous woman behind Nurture Occupational Therapy and I basically fell in love with her over the brief time I’ve known her and over the course of this interview! If you’re not positive you know exactly what an occupational therapist is, no worries, she explains it to us!
A bit about Lisa! She is a masters-level qualified occupational therapist and mama of two who has a passion for supporting women during their motherhood journey. Lisa became interested in women's health after her own experiences of pregnancy and early motherhood. She has a particular interest in supporting birth choices, educating parents-to-be on the fourth trimester, suggesting ergonomic modifications for everyday parenting tasks and promoting a safe return to exercise.
After speaking to so many mothers who expressed an interest in receiving support, she founded Nurture Occupational Therapy to help meet this significant unmet need.
Lisa and I discuss prenatal strengthening from a holistic stand point, diastasis during pregnancy and if that should be a concern. Lisa teaches me the best new word, matresence. She also get’s super practical and covers some awesome tips to give to newly postpartum mamas for pain management and physical support.
In today's episode we covered:
- Building prenatal strength and the why behind it
- Diastasis during pregnancy - should we be concerned
- The role of prehab in the prenatal stage
- Matresence
- The 6 weeks 'your cleared to do anything and everything' recommendation
- Practical tips you give your mamas who are navigating the 4th trimester
- How the core and pelvic floor are impacted post birth and steps for healing
- Posture and alignment for back pain
- Lisa's favorite resources for new mamas
She’s so calming and smart! Such a gift to her community and now us! If you want to dive a bit deeper into understanding an occupational Therapists perspective, In episode 5 I had the opportunity to interview the awesome Lindsay Vestal, which if you love this conversation you should jump back and listen to that episode as well, where we dive really deep into understanding the pelvic floor and how an occupational therapist approached PFPT, and Lindsay is also amazing and soothing to listen to. This seems to be a theme among occupational therapists!
If during this time you’re feeling extra stress or tension in your physical body, I encourage you to access to few movement classes I’ve created for this very reason. Physical movement helps us feel, it helps us feel our boundaries, notice the signals our body is sending, notice our strength, notice where we can develop more strength, or balance or awareness. And all of these physical tools quickly translate over into supporting the rest of our whole selves, emotionally physiologically and spiritually. These classes are a wonderful place to start this process and to support your beautiful body with some mindful movement and intension.
If case no ones has told you this lately, you matter. Your service to this community is powerful and I’m grateful for you.
