A Call to Arms for Professional Sustainability and Practitioner’s Mental Health

Abstract

Despite professional commitment to wellness, supporting and addressing clinician mental health and professional sustainability has not been historically prioritized or well-understood within the occupational therapy profession. This paper discusses how to build a mentally strong, resilient, sustainable current and future occupational therapy workforce at the personal and systemwide levels to prioritize practitioner mental health. Specific barriers to and support for practitioner occupational balance and mental health as well as systemwide professional sustainability are discussed highlighting a Model of the Interplay of Occupational Balance and Professional Sustainability.

Keywords:

• Healthcare workers
• mindful self-compassion
• occupational balance
• practitioner mental health
• professional sustainability

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper.

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Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.