All Episodes
Episodes
Episode 18: Social Media, Rehabilitation Science, and the New Authority Crisis
Episode 18: Social Media, Rehabilitation Science, and the New Authority Crisis
Episode Overview
Social media has fundamentally changed how rehabilitation professionals access, consume, and disseminate information....
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Episode 17: The Future is Ours to Build (2026 and beyond)
Episode 17 Occupation Under Pressure
Part 9 (Final): The Future Is Ours to Build
Episode Description
Nine episodes. Over two hundred years. From asylum reforms in the 1790s to the federal loan crisis of 2026....
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Episode 16: The Occupation Paradox (2010 to Present)
Episode 16 Occupation Under Pressure
Part 8: The Occupation Paradox (2010–Present)
Episode Description
Imagine spending one hundred years trying to answer a single question: what is occupational therapy?
By the early...
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Episode 15: The Cost of Being Taken Seriously (2000-2010)
Episode 15 Occupation Under Pressure
Part 7: The Cost of Being Taken Seriously (2000–2010)
Episode Description
Be careful what you wish for.
By the year 2000, occupational therapy had accomplished things earlier...
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Episode 14: Building Our Own House (1990-1999)
Episode 14 Occupation Under Pressure
Part 6: Building Our Own House (1990–1999)
Episode Description
Who gets to decide what occupational therapy is?
For most of the profession's history, the honest answer was: not...
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Episode 13: When Occupational Therapy Got a Seat at the Table (1970s and 1980s)
Episode 13 Occupation Under Pressure
Part 5: When Occupational Therapy Got a Seat at the Table (1970s–1980s)
Episode Description
Picture occupational therapy in 1970. Not the profession — the room. A small hospital...
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Episode 12: OT Does Not have to Choose Between Science and Occupation (1940-1969)
Part 4: OT Does Not Have to Choose Between Science and Occupation (1940–1969)
Episode Description
World War II. Polio epidemics. The birth of rehabilitation medicine. The discovery of neuroplasticity. And some of...
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Episode 11: The Fight That Never Ended, OT's First Identity Crisis (1920-1939)
The Fight That Never Ended: OT's First Identity Crisis (1920–1939)
Episode Description
Have you ever sat through a faculty meeting, a conference presentation, or a social media debate about whether OT is too medical...
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Episode 10: Occupation Under pressure: The Birth of a Profession (1900-1919)
Episode Description
The early 1900s were not a quiet time to be building a new profession. America was industrializing, medicine was becoming increasingly scientific and measurable, and two completely opposing...
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Episode 9: Meaning vs. Medicine: OT’s First Fight (1790-1899)
Occupation Under Pressure, Part 1: Meaning vs. Medicine, OT's First Fight (1790–1899)
Description
Most occupational therapists were taught that their profession began in 1917. A founding meeting. Six people. A new...
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Episode 8: HR1 Exposed Us: The Financial Crisis OT Should’ve Seen Coming
Episode 8 HR1 Exposed Us: The Financial Crisis OT Should've Seen Coming
Episode Description
This one runs long. It has to.
When the One Big Beautiful Bill Act dropped and Grad PLUS loans disappeared overnight, the...
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Episode 7: The Petition that Predicted the Pipeline Crisis
In this episode of Outspoken OT, host Michelle Eliason, MS, OTR/L unpacks the data behind the 2023 OT Petition and National Survey — a grassroots effort that captured thousands of voices from across the profession....
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