Sasha Wray Occupational Therapist

23/10/2026

I love being an Occupational Therapist!
This years theme for OT week is Participation Matters.

Participation is vital for health!
Participation is challenging at the best of times but throw in pain, injury, disability and stress and it can get complicated.

Life participation is often approached by looking at what the challenges or problems a person has and rarely considers the environment, the context, previous life experiences or motivation that interplay to shape your day.

Participation is about 'being the person' and 'doing the things' you need, want or are expected to do in life. It also encompasses belonging and becoming.

This vimeo talks about participation and how OT's help you have a good life. It focuses on children but relates to everyone!

It's 25 min long but if you're time poor the first 10-15 mins are gold!
Thanks Occupational Therapy Australia

This is "OT Week conversation with Professor Christine Imms" by Occupational Therapy Australia on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

19/10/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1F7k8mkDi6/

10/10/2026

Introducing Sasha today for World Mental Health Day.

Sasha is our Principal Occupational Therapist at Next Wave Therapy.
Sasha is also a naturopath and Acupressure Practitioner . With over 30 years experience she has extensive experience treating persistent pain, chronic fatigue and mental health concerns.

Sasha can be seen via a Mental Health Care plan under the Medicare Better Access to Mental Health (BAMH) initiative.

Some of the modalities she uses are
~ Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
~ Myo-Fascial Trigger Point Therapy
~ Embodied Sensory Modulation
~ Trauma Informed Care
~ Nutritional and Herbal Medicine
~ Contemporary Pain Science
~ Acupressure

Sasha says
“My super power is turning complexity into meaningful living, naturally!”

06/10/2026

Creating breathing space is great for managing pain and building energy.
We can do this by connecting to the external.

When we attune to nature we experience inter-being.
And an immense feeling of peace naturally unfolds.

01/10/2026

The connections we make and experience in life build a sense of belonging.

Belonging is essential for living with good health and wellness.

Belonging is born from the people you interact with and the places you meet.

This photo taken from inside Perth Museum is a reminder of our deep connection to nature and history.

Being human means being Social where we can experience empathy, support and meaningfulness which is essential for survival.

So what happens when you can’t “be social“ ??

Isolation, boredom and lack of meaning in life are known contributing factors to many chronic diseases and mental illness.

Chronic Pain and fatigue needs social support.

As an occupational therapist this is one of the fundamental things we address.

Reach out if you want help connecting.
Sasha

28/09/2026

How do you know if your fatigue is in the category of chronic?
Have you been told you have chronic fatigue but not sure what that means and how to manage it?

There are many causes of fatigue such as Long COVID, ME/CFS, exhaustion, trauma, chronic pain, thyroid disorder, nutritional deficiency to name a few. So it is important that fatigue is assessed correctly.

Post Exertional Malaise (PEM) is a typ reof fatiogue that is unique to ME/CFS an dlong COVID. So using the FUNCAP assessment is a great way of finding out what th econsequence of 'doing' an activity has on energy. Sometimes people are asked "can you do this?" but not asked "what is the consequence of doing it?"

This is taken from the FUNCAP website and is a great pictorial of how doing effects fatigue in those with ME/CFS or long COVID.

26/09/2026

"Nothing can cure the Soul but the senses". Oscar Wilde

When we can pause for a moment and come into our sense of self - there is an incredible stillness that is full of love, peace and vitality.

Therapy that helps you to tap into this unlimited inner resource is gold!

One way we can do this is via accessing extraception (sense of the exrenal world) and interoception (our inner sense). This present moment experience helps nervous system regulation, stress reduction and pain management.

24/09/2026

Pain is simple and complex!
At a basic level it informs us that something is not right in the body. However, the alarm (pain) intensity does not always match the level of urgency or contributing factor.

For example, there may be a low pain level in response to a high stress.
Or a high pain level in response to a relatively low stressor.

This is where the complexity comes in because the pain experience depends on so many things!!!

This image shows many of the factors (colored circles) needed to be considered in pain care. The researchers specifically looked at low back pain, disability, quality of life, and other outcomes (white circles) and their interactions (colored lines). Cholewicki et al., 2019) J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2019;49(6):425–436.

What is so great about occupatonal therapy is that we consider these things BUT we focus on helping people to live their life.

Pain recovery happens through meaningful living - not after the pain has been treated.

This is a really important because so many people fall into the trap of
waiting till..... the pain is gone.. there is some relief .. given the go ahead .. sleep better.. feel less stressed.. add your own to the list

If you want to find out more - feel free to reach out.

Sasha

09/09/2026

This week is Women's health week!

We hope you get a chance to pause and reflect in yoru health needs this week.

Did you now we have physio and OT programs which have reocgnise the unique needs of women?

* Perform; For Her
* Chronic Pelvic Pain
* Fibromylagia
* Hormonal Health

Check out our website for details
www.nextwavetherapy.com.au

Or book a discovery call with Sasha to find out what help you may need.

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06/09/2026

The biggest fibromyalgia genetics study yet zeroed in on 26 genetic risk factors for the pain disorder, including one in the Huntington's disease gene.