Potion Occupational Therapy

One of our business values is CONNECTION and I hope our therapeutic relationship means as much to you as it does me. I am so thankful for the families I interact with each day 🌸 From 0 families to 47 in six months, makes me feel so appreciative.

Thank you for an awesome 2022. Our office is now closed and I will be back operating as usual from January 9th 2023. Stay safe and see you then!!!

👨‍👧‍👧Supporting social skills is such an important role in a therapy space, particularly for children who experience Autism as they can experience low social emotional awareness and this area is often a broad goal.

But why? And why as therapists do we choose to do the approaches we do within sessions?

As human beings or social beings we interact with others in order to survive. Our primitive brain seeks social connection..

Our brain has three feel good hormones that counteract our stress hormone cortisol:
• Dopamine (released when we have a sense of achievement) 🥇
• Serotonin (released when someone feels valued) 💕
• OXYTOCIN (released with a sense of belonging/connection) 👨‍👧‍👧

Upon research, it showed people with ASD have much less Oxytocin release than in people who do not. Natural ways to improve Oxytocin may involve the activities below and you may have had this included in therapy:
1. Yoga
2. Music
3. Petting animals/dogs in particular
4. Cuddling (with caregiver)
5. Praise
6. Other providing empathetic listening skills or eye contact
7. Supporting spending time with others

In order to do # 7 we can intervene with our normal approaches in sessions to enhance participation in this activity and promote oxytocin production, particularly in children with ASD. For example we may teach: Development of eye contact, joint play, sharing and reading social cues/gestures, understanding empathy and/or emotional regulation.

If you are interested in a good discussion on this – you can listen to Ben Crowe and Genevieve Hawkins speak on Instagram ( ) Mojospresso Episode 5. I loved learning more about these hormones 💡