Identity and Roles: How Occupational Stories Shape Practice, Meaning and Participation

Date: 22nd of April

Time: 9am-12pm

Where: Google Meet

Exploring how occupational stories shape identity, roles, and participation over time.

We are shaped by the occupations we have been able to do, and also by those that were interrupted, lost, imposed, or never truly made space for. Over time, these experiences settle into stories about who we are, what we are capable of, where we belong, and what feels possible.

This training explores identity and roles through an occupational lens, with a focus on how occupational stories develop over time and how they influence participation, confidence, and meaning in everyday life. It invites a closer look at the quieter, often unseen ways that doing, not doing, and being with others shape identity, both for the people we work with and for us as practitioners.

Together, we will examine how roles are formed, maintained, stretched, and sometimes outgrown, and how occupational therapy can support people to revisit and reshape stories that no longer fit or have become restrictive. The session brings together narrative thinking, occupational science, and clinical reasoning to help you notice patterns, tensions, and openings within occupational lives.

This is not about fixing identity or pushing change before someone is ready. It is about understanding how meaning is built gradually, and how carefully held occupational conversations and interventions can support participation that feels authentic, respectful, and sustainable.

This training is particularly relevant for occupational therapists working in mental health, neurodivergence, long-term conditions, life transitions, and complex systems where identity and role expectations are under strain.



When occupational stories are understood, new ways of participating can begin to take shape.