Name: Matt Brandenburg, OTD/S
Location: St. Louis, MO
Practice Area: OTD Student
Favorite Occupation: Podcasting
How often do you engage in your favorite occupation?
“Almost everyday I engage in some form of podcasting. Whether it’s working on my personal projects (How to OT), looking for inspiration, or listening to shows during my leisure. Working on my own podcast projects is what I dedicate the most of my time engaging in this occupation to. A lot of people don’t think of all the behind the scenes work that goes into developing a podcast. Recording a show could take as little as an hour, but planning a shows intent and purpose, finding guests to feature, preparing interviews, building rapport, editing sound, overlaying tracks, adding music, and publishing an episode takes time and effort. It can take days, weeks, or months to get an episode ready to go from start to finish so I’d say podcasting is a demanding occupation, but one I am happy to dedicate time and effort to.”
What do you get out of it?
“I like to say that if you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong. Learning how to podcast has been so fun for me! As a part of How to OT, I’ve had the opportunity to meet and interview some of the most well-known and well-respected OT researchers in the country. It’s been amazing to sit down with them, hear how they see the world, and ask them about some of the most influential moments in their OT careers and what they would recommend to other practitioners. Podcasting has allowed me to gain new practical and technical skills while doing what I love – interacting with other people.”
What does it mean to your lyfe?
“There are podcasts out there about every topic you could imagine. To me, podcasting means a lot because I believe it can help us all to be better occupational therapy practitioners. It takes 17 years for research to be translated into practice. Most people would agree that 17 years is far too long and if that gap is shortened clients could have better outcomes. However, after a full day of working with patients, busy OT providers don’t want to spend their time searching scientific journals for the latest evidence. To me, podcasting is a way to find the latest evidence and incorporate it into practice while still maintaining time for self-care, leisure, and other important occupations. Podcasting is a way that I can find my flow and express myself through a medium that I consider to be both an art and a science.”
I absolutely love podcasts and podcasting (#podcastjunkie right here) and, like Matt, I also love chatting with other OT practitioners. Are there any OTPs that would you like to hear on a podcast one day?
