DOING, BEING AND BECOMING…

by Rachael Ward (the newest member of the South Tees Wellbeing Network support team)

I am new to the network, so thanks for having me!

I thought I would take the opportunity to contribute in the form of a blog…

I will begin with a little bit about me. My background work wise is working as an Occupational Therapist. I have worked in both physical and mental health settings, in the Social care sector, charity sector and private sector – yes I have been around!

During this journey of work I have added new skills and personally become more passionate about alternative avenues of wellness. And what can keep us all as individuals personally well, especially at our times of need.

I got my place to study Occupational Therapy after college but I went away travelling and missed the start date, Australia was a better option at the time and I am so glad for all that my travels gave me.  After landing back home and working several temporary jobs, I followed a love for the arts for a while, studying and moving to the Northeast. However, I soon realised unless I was massively fortunate, and someone bought a piece of my work for a lot of money, I could not survive on thin air or the dreams that lived in said thin air.  At this point I could have done with a lottery win or a long lost distant relative turning up with a suitcase of cash, but alas neither of those things happened.

It was then I thought, let’s try going back to Occupational Therapy (OT). OT was the perfect blend of mixing creativity with my love of working with and helping people. And to draw a long story to a close, I have now ended up here with a job in health development. It is new, but is exciting and varied and I am passionate about contributing to change in my local area and of course to continue to use all the knowledge and skills I have gathered along the way.

DOING

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BEING

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BECOMING

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DOING . BEING . BECOMING .

“During my work and study one of the key concepts which stood out for me was Doing, Being, Becoming a framework developed by Ann Wilcock.”

In a nutshell or an OT shell as it were, Ann drew light on the concept of:

Doing: How we go about engaging in an activity.

Being suggests the need to be yourself or perhaps the need for time to reflect.

Becoming by rethinking priorities or perhaps learning a new skill or preparing for a new role.

All three aspects align with the thought of self-actualisation and growing as a person. This framework also very much lends itself on the thinking that we are all individuals, we all do ‘being’ and ‘become’ in different ways and no way is necessarily right or wrong. I have often gone back to this way of thinking when working with others and there are lots of publications written about this model if you would like more information, a good starting point is here Framework of Doing-Being-Becoming | OT Theory

Wellness is a bit of a concept really isn’t it, a little difficult to capture in a few words. Psychology today gives a much better explanation than I possibly could here : How to Improve Your Wellness | Psychology Today.

So with that in mind, and recognising what makes us all individually feel well and and able to tend to our own wellness., tis is how I found my love for Aromatherapy.

I studied at Redcar College for two years alongside OT, learning all about Complimentary Therapies. My main love was always the smelly stuff. I love how smells are highly linked to our emotional memories, some smells can really help to make a memory that little bit clearer to recount.

Smells are handled by the olfactory bulb, the structure in the front of the brain that sends information to the other areas of the body’s central command for further processing.

Odors take a direct route to the limbic system, including the amygdala and the hippocampus, the regions related to emotion and memory. There’s loads of stuff to watch and read around this if you fancy some more science. Here is a good start How Smells Trigger Memories - YouTube (All of this stuff blows my tiny brain, the human body is so amazing!)

My love for smelly stuff continued. And as I learnt more, I became more aware of the benefits of Aromatherapy and essential oils and my own likes and dislikes, and I loved the fact that these oils have been used for thousands of years.

Essential oils are a product obtained from vegetable raw material, either by distillation with water or steam, or from the epicarp (the outer most layer) of citrus fruits by a mechanical process, or by dry distillation. Essential oils can benefit from uplifting us or chilling us out, they can be inhaled or applied topically (but they always need a carrier oil too, they should never be applied directly to the skin without the carrier oil so be careful out there!). You can buy pre-blended ones which are brilliant (just check they are natural and not synthetic as the smell is completely different as is their therapeutic value!)

Some of my personal favourites and their benefits…

Rosemary Oil: amazing for concentration! boost memory (I am so forgetful, so I use this a lot!!) and support the circulatory and nervous systems.

Lemon oil: great uplifting smell! Amazing for a mood boost!

Geranium: relaxing, great if you feel a bit stressed!

Bergamot : really balancing, all round good egg I often bob this in my blends!

… I could go on about blending oils, but that would be a whole other blog! In short, some of the therapeutic value can be elevated if we blend the oils with others, how cool is that? Or do I need to get out more? Probably, but at least I will smell good!

So, there you have it, a small sample of where I have been, where I am now and what I love. My very own Doing, Being and Becoming.

Thanks for reading, speak soon

Rachael 😊