A little bit about me

Hi there! Thank you for clicking on that little link and coming into this new world for me. I never thought that I would be the person to start a blog… but then again I never thought I would be doing many of the things I do today. I’m starting this blog in the midst of a pandemic – both the global health pandemic of COVID-19 (coronavirus) as well as the global uprising. In the past few weeks the veil has been lifted on the reality of racism and police brutality against the Black community in the United States and Canada. While many people are getting back to “regular life”, I am a new grad Occupational therapist who worked with children and young adults in their homes, which means virtual therapy is very difficult.. which means I am not working. But I am reading, attending webinars, watching educational videos, having big conversations, lobbying for change in our communities and institutions, and watching what is going on. And now I have words of my own to share.

Who am I?

But first who am I? My name is Kristina, my pronouns are she/her, and I am living in Canada. I am a white, Italian, queer female, engaged to my beautiful girlfriend and live very happily with our two cats and our roommate. I love singing, dancing, learning guitar and ukulele, and being outside in nature. Before Covid changed the world I volunteered at the children’s hospital and a camp for kids with childhood cancer. I am a yoga instructor with a passion to make movement accessible to as many people as I can. I did my yoga teacher training 4 years ago after discovering yoga as a calming movement to help quiet down my anxious brain. I have taught in a studio during my Masters degree, but also taught in less traditional spaces such as schools, community centres, therapy programs, and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind in Kingston. Right now I am teaching virtually, but before Covid changed our world I was teaching at a youth homeless shelter and at an LGBTQ2+ community centre, providing the youth that came to the centres with a safe space to exist and try a new activity.

I am also an Occupational Therapist, newly graduated last year from Queens University in Kingston. I am currently a therapist with Willow OT, which is a pediatric private practice that provides services to children and young adults. I have presented my research about children using augmentative and alternative communication at the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists conference in 2020, and worked as a research assistant on a project looking at the role of psychotherapy within the Occupational therapy profession. I have yet to find my niche in the OT world, but I am very passionate about incorporating mental health work into whatever I do. I approach both my yoga and OT work through a trauma informed lens, acknowledging my biases and privileges, and acknowledging each of my clients and students as the expert of their own lives. I am here to listen, to humbly learn, and to try to better myself every single day so that I can support people in being who they truly want to be. In a DREAM world (and please reach out to me if you can help me find this dream), I would start my own Life coaching business, which incorporates my training as an Occupational therapist and mental health education, my passion for helping people reach their potential, and my coaching training…. and then with the income from that business I would be able to provide low cost/no cost mental health services for people who can’t afford to access therapy.

So why a public blog instead of a personal journal?

I feel that a lot of the topics that I am passionate about, are important or interesting to share. As an Occupational therapist, I am always learning and growing, and I feel that the information I gain in this journey is helpful not just for my professional self, but also is helpful as tips for myself and others to live our best lives.

This blog will be a mix of educational things I have learned, occupational therapy related works, passion projects, and reflections. My hopes is that I can start to connect with other people who share my values and passions, create connections and potentially some cool stuff together, and begin to post interviews with different people so that we can all come together to share knowledge.

I look forward to sharing my experiences and research, and connecting with people through this blog and seeing where this journey will take me! Feel free to contact me to connect, ask questions, leave feedback, or follow me on social media to continue the conversation!