Summary
In this CareLab podcast episode, hosts Emilia Bourland and Brandy Archie speak with Amanda Glassburner, a certified occupational therapy assistant and founder of Therapy Busy Box. Amanda shares how her grandmother’s stroke inspired her to pursue a career in occupational therapy and discusses the importance of empowering both patients and caregivers. The conversation highlights the delicate balance between helping and allowing independence in rehabilitation, the creation of Therapy Busy Box as a practical tool for at-home therapy, and the critical role of meaningful activities in maintaining progress and caregiver connection.
Key Questions Answered
-
Why is it important for caregivers not to "over-help" during recovery?
When caregivers do tasks for their loved ones, they may unintentionally hinder recovery by limiting the patient’s opportunities to rebuild skills. Amanda explains that stepping back allows patients to regain independence and confidence in their abilities. -
How does Therapy Busy Box support both patients and caregivers?
Therapy Busy Box includes simple, familiar tools and over 50 guided activities that promote fine motor, cognitive, and bilateral coordination skills. It helps caregivers continue therapeutic activities at home without feeling overwhelmed or uncertain. -
What role does cognition play in recovery, and how is it addressed in therapy?
Cognitive functions like sequencing, color recognition, and memory are often affected by stroke or aging. Therapy Busy Box includes exercises and sorting tasks that stimulate cognitive skills while also supporting physical rehabilitation. -
How can caregivers and patients maintain motivation after formal therapy ends?
Amanda encourages caregivers and patients to co-create a manageable daily schedule that mimics therapy routines. She recommends using tools like alarms and written agreements to maintain structure and momentum post-discharge. -
What message does Amanda have for family caregivers?
Amanda reminds caregivers they’re doing an amazing job, even when it feels thankless. She emphasizes the value of small, consistent actions like encouraging movement and engagement, which contribute meaningfully to both recovery and emotional connection.
Transcript
Emilia Bourland
Do you ever feel like you're just watching things happen to the person you care for? You're powerless to help, you're not sure how to connect, and really left wondering if you can actually make a difference. You're not alone. And in this episode, we're going to explore a powerful shift in how caregivers can move from feeling like they're uninvolved to becoming confident, hands-on partners in care. Discover how accessible therapeutic activities can create meaningful moments, spark progress, and deepen connection.
right there for you in your own home.
Brandy Archie
And we're so excited to be doing this together with Amanda Glassburner. She's a certified occupational therapy assistant, award-winning entrepreneur, and founder of Therapy Busy Box. It's a creative resource that helps individuals really of all ages develop their fine motor and cognitive skills. With a passion for functional therapy, Amanda blends her clinical expertise with creative problem solving to support families, educators, and therapists. She is also a marathon runner,
Amanda Glassburner
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Amanda Glassburner
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Brandy Archie
an RV traveler, which I think she just got back from a trip, and an advocate for making therapy accessible, effective, and fun. Amanda, we're so glad to have you. Thank you for being on CareLab.
Amanda Glassburner
Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here.
Emilia Bourland
Yeah, thank you so much for being on with us today. We're really excited to talk to you. If anyone, if you're a regular listener to the show, then you know that Brandy and I are huge proponents of occupational therapy and using occupational therapists and, and COTAs and all those people in the profession in order to help really support caregivers and both care partners in the relationship. I wonder if you would start by telling us, Amanda, a little bit about, your own
your own like kind of journey to be an OT practitioner and you know kind of how you got here.
Amanda Glassburner
So this podcast is perfect for my story actually because at the time that I learned about occupational therapy my grandmother had a stroke.
and I at the time didn't have a job. So I was the one that was in charge of taking her to and from her therapy sessions. She was a left side stroke, so right side affected. It was her dominant side and she was really frustrated with not being able to do for herself. And so I would jump in there and help her get dressed in the mornings and take her places and help feed her. And I started to take her to these therapy sessions and they said, stop.
sit on your hands, stop doing what you're doing, you're not actually helping. And so I got to sit back and watch her really fall in love with her therapist. And I watched this, the one therapist had her pick up pennies on a table and put them into coffee cans. And my grandmother absolutely loved her. And I thought, I can do that. I can do that. So I researched occupational therapy. And at the time there were only two schools in the state of Texas that were OTA schools.
So I applied and got in and immediately went to school and got my degree.
Brandy Archie
Wow, that's cool. I did not know that. Okay, so did you get a chance when you were in school, were you using your grandma as like a test subject? Like were you like taking the stuff you were learning and helping your grandma or how was she doing? Was she getting better?
Emilia Bourland
Wow. Wow.
Amanda Glassburner
Yes and no. So her speech was severely affected. You know, she was sophasic that we kind of learned her language and I would come home on the weekends. So again, at the time there were only two schools in the state of Texas. So I had to move away from home. So I would come home on the weekends and you know every now and then I could still go with her to a therapy session or so. I mean,
Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Amanda Glassburner
My grandmother had this china cabinet that she went and picked something out of the china cabinet to take to her therapist as a gift at the end of it because she was so appreciative. I know, I know it was amazing. you know, I think that the hardest thing that I learned was to like they said, sit on my hands. You're not actually helping by jumping in and doing for them. And that was it was a paradigm shift in my head.
And that's what really started the journey of occupational therapy for me and being able to see the difference that that made in my own grandmother's life. It was really, really neat.
Emilia Bourland
That is so, that's such like a great origin story for like an OT practitioner, I think. Like it really, this grew out of your own experience being a caregiver, first of all, for your grandmother, and then seeing like firsthand the connection that she had with her therapist and the improvement and the progress that she could make through therapy. like, although I would say like,
Amanda Glassburner
Right.
Emilia Bourland
I think it's really rare in my experience having treated, you know, untold number of stroke survivors and worked with their families and caregivers and things like that. It's pretty rare for someone to actually go like, okay, I'm gonna go be a therapist from this. like, that's just, that's so incredible. Do you think that that has informed your practice over the years as well?
Amanda Glassburner
you
Brandy Archie
Mm.
Amanda Glassburner
absolutely. Absolutely. You know, I think that so many of those of us that are in the healthcare field, we join because we want to make an impact. We want to help change a life. I mean, truly, that's the base of what it is. And so for me to have that personal connection,
Every patient that I worked with was somebody's mom or somebody's sister or somebody's grandfather. So that made it so much easier for me. And I used to tell people all the time when I worked on the floor, I was made for that job. I am naturally a little hyperactive, a little annoying. And so, you know, going into patients rooms, I worked for 18 years in inpatient rehab. And you're working with people every day that are sometimes at the very lowest of their life. You know, so so to be able to go in there.
Brandy Archie
Yeah.
Amanda Glassburner
and walk in with a cup of coffee and you know exactly how they like it because once you learn that they're gonna get up for you and start moving. Once I started to do that I told people you know I can I'm going to be either your biggest cheerleader or your biggest nag so I'm coming either way but that that personality that I was born with really helped me I think succeed and and treat my patients with dignity and respect because of that personal connection that I always had.
with them.
Brandy Archie
So you mentioned how like you were really motivated to help your grandmother and you thought you were doing all the right things to help her. But the therapist was like, yo, you got to chill. And I think we as therapists know that because we've said that to people before, right? But can you talk a little bit about why it was important, why the therapist felt it was important for you to not do so much?
Amanda Glassburner
Yeah
Amanda Glassburner
you know when you see somebody that you love struggling to do something you want to make it easier for them. You know especially with stroke survivors I think that they when you're a caregiver and you're with them all the time you see them it's a constant struggle. It's not just that hour-long session or the hour and a half that it takes to get showered and get changed and get into the car to go to the therapy session and when you see somebody that you care about struggle so much
then you want to make it a little bit easier for them because they do get fatigued, they do get frustrated. So learning to sit back and maybe, you know, I think one of the things that OTA school helped me do was to learn when to sit on my hands and when to step in. I've had patients over the years, I had one specifically, he was so mad at me because he was struggling to put on his shirt and he had poor trunk support, but he could do it. And he was just so used to his wife doing it for him.
And so, you know, I kind of sat back and was letting him do it. But I would always look like I was doing something else, you know, try to try to work on something else. So he doesn't think I'm just sitting there watching him. And he was so frustrated. He said, did they teach you in school just to sit there and look at people? And I said, well, kind of. I mean, it just depends. You know, I mean, it's it's not as easy as that, but sometimes it is as easy as that. You know, if I step in and do this for you, you know, you're
Brandy Archie
Good.
Amanda Glassburner
I'm taking that ability away from you. There will be a day that you can't do this, but that day is not today. So we're gonna, I'm let you finish, you know, and then I'm step around the corner or step around the curtain and let me know when you get finished. You know, just trying to empower them rather than doing it for them because a lot of times it is easier for caregivers to just step in and get it done because sometimes we're in a hurry, you know, to get to doctor's appointments or to get to...
finishing lunch and sometimes it can be frustrating to have to just sit and wait because it does take a little bit longer. But the best thing is to let them do it as long as they can.
Emilia Bourland
Amanda, I feel like you and I might be each other's spirit animals in a clinic. And I think that we would have had so much fun working together, actually, like clinically treating patients. we, I mean, all OTs, this is actually how all OTs are thinking about things. But I think we would have had a lot of fun together. I think also, like, one of the things, it is very empowering for the
Brandy Archie
Yeah
Brandy Archie
Yeah.
Emilia Bourland
the stroke survivor or the cancer survivor, whoever it is that we might be working with, whatever the situation, to see that they can do things for themselves and just have the opportunity to do things for themselves. It has also, though, been in my experience, and I'm so curious to hear what yours has been as well, that that is also empowering for the caregiver. The moment that the caregiver learns, I don't have to do this for that person.
Amanda Glassburner
Right.
Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Emilia Bourland
This is one, like, I don't have to put on this person's shoes. I don't have to put on their shirt. I don't have to brush their teeth for them. my goodness. Like, this whole world opens up and you kind of see it happen in real time. The first time everyone witnesses that. What was your experience with that too?
Amanda Glassburner
And.
Amanda Glassburner
You know, obviously different with different patients. There were some patients that caregivers would come in and the patient would just kind of all fall to pieces and get a whole case of the, can't, you know, that would be something where, you know, kind of going in and showing them what they can do helps that caregiver take a step back and go, my gosh.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Amanda Glassburner
But also, you know, I always told people, let me be the bad guy. There's a power in the scrubs. There's a power in the white coat when it comes to the health care profession. And, you know, if I go in as their therapist and I tell them, you know, hey, we need to do X, Y, Z, and then they get it done and show the family member or the caregiver that they can do that. I think that that empowers the caregiver to now say, you know, I know you can do it.
Brandy Archie
Yeah.
Amanda Glassburner
I know it's going to be better for you if I don't help out in this case, you know, so I'm going to sit back and I'm going to let you do it. I think that caregivers run into more often the frustration that the patient or their loved one can have because they just want to get it done. They don't want it to be therapeutic all the time, right? Like, especially if it's a real struggle.
Brandy Archie
Yeah, I think like it's both empowering and also maddening. Like it is a skill. We had to learn a skill to be like, I'm going to busy myself over here, act like I'm doing something, but really I'm going let you take the whole five minutes it takes you to put that sock on. Because the repetition is really important and we want to make it therapeutic, but we also want people to feel super frustrated. And so the caregiver understanding that and letting us be the bad guy, I've said that so many times. I was like, just say, Brandi said you need to do da da da da.
Don't be mad at me. Brandi said you need to do it. That's fine. I don't live there. It's okay. They could be mad at me and then we could deal with the therapy. It's fine. You know, and so, but, but if you actually do take that to heart as a family caregiver, can also help a lot with their burnout, you know, and it's hard. We're doing therapy for an hour, maybe at a time, right? And then while we might do that all day, that's still not 24 hours. It's still, you know, an eight hour, 10 hour work day. And so for somebody else to be doing that.
literally all day, all the time, it's really kind of impossible to be able to keep that level of engagement and up. So them doing it for themselves is better for them, but it's also better for you as a family caregiver, as hard as it might feel to let somebody struggle a little bit.
Amanda Glassburner
Right. one of the things, if I can interject, one of the things that I always try to do is to sit down with the caregiver and the patient and let's write out an agreement. So if you have therapy with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays, then on Monday and Friday, you're going to work on this and we're going to give you Wednesday off. know, so and then we would all sign it so that the caregiver has that power. Once they go home, they can go to the refrigerator where we put it up and go, OK, look, this is what you agreed to.
Brandy Archie
Mmm.
Amanda Glassburner
I'm just trying to help you meet your goals that you agreed to, you know, so that it's not, it's not every single day, you know, therapy is exhausting. It is exhausting. And, you know, I tell people all the time, your new full-time job is getting well, you know, and, it's not a nine to five, it is 24 seven. And so, you know,
Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Amanda Glassburner
Also giving that patient the power to say, I'm exhausted, I can't do it today. And the caregiver recognizing that enough in the patient to go, hey, like today's not the day to push. That's not the hill to die on. You know, I'm not going to fight that battle today. But also not letting that take over every single day because it is hard. It's depressing. It's exhausting.
Brandy Archie
That is like so well said. I couldn't even say that no better myself. Like that is totally, I mean, it's so nuanced, I think. I think it's important that we say that here on the podcast so that all the caregivers who are listening can like give yourself a little bit of grace. Like, cause we just said both things out the side of our neck, right? We said like, let them do it, but also like maybe not all the time. And there are times you're just going with this balance. And so that means it's not always going to be a hundred percent right. But as long as you're sensitive to the facts and like know that we need both things.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Brandy Archie
that's real and you're working towards it then that's really what the win is. So like, it's okay, everything's okay. I really wanna know like, as a, I guess maybe it will be helpful if you can explain like what happens with the relationship between an occupational therapy assistant and an occupational therapist and like how that maybe led you to creating the therapy busy bot.
Amanda Glassburner
So, you know, I'm of the day where I graduated in 2005. And so there wasn't a whole lot of difference, especially in inpatient rehab world. There wasn't a whole lot of difference between the OT and myself there. I wasn't allowed to do the evaluations, obviously, but I did everything else. And so I worked with some phenomenal OTs that are still my very best friends to this day. We're actually planning a trip to Sedona.
very soon. I mean, like we are so tightly connected and they gave me the freedom to come up with my own treatment ideas. You know, they set those goals and it was me charging forward. So I was given the freedom to kind of figure things out with those patients with very little micromanaging, you know, just what was required, you know, and direct supervision. We're in the same gym all the time, you know.
Brandy Archie
Nice!
Amanda Glassburner
And therapy busy box was one of those things that, you know, they just, have, they always were and they have been my biggest cheerleaders. You know, my stroke patients working in inpatient rehab, we have a lot of neuro patients that come through and I'm in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. So we have a lot, especially, you know, people that live in the outskirts, they come into the Metroplex for care when they have something profound like that happen. And I would,
Brandy Archie
huh.
Amanda Glassburner
leave these little homework kits with handwritten index cards on what to do because specifically with my stroke patients that neuroplasticity, need to be working more than three hours a day. Three hours a day is exhausting, their body needs time, but then there's all this time when the therapists are not there and they're just sitting there and family members would say, know, well, what do we do? So.
you know, being able to leave a deck of cards and tell them, you know, for the caregivers, hey, you guys pull this out after dinner tonight. And before you go to bed, let's work on separating the deck of cards into red and black. And then if we're good with that, then let's go up from the lowest number to the highest number in the deck of cards. So getting that caregiver involved and kind of teaching them to be therapists, because ultimately the caregivers, they could have a PhD in therapy.
you know, by the time they are finished with their, by the time, cause you know, their patient, their loved one is constantly healing. So it's not just a, we're done, you know, two months later or six months later, sometimes it's years. you know, kind of getting on that ground floor with them and teaching them how to think like we do. The OTs were always so wonderful with me and just helping me to figure out some things to leave for my patients if I was ever,
Brandy Archie
Yeah.
Brandy Archie
huh.
Amanda Glassburner
up against somebody that was a little bit more difficult. So I mean, I've always had just wonderful, wonderful OTs.
Emilia Bourland
think this is a really nice segue. And so we've talked about the value of sitting on your hands, which I think that must be, I don't know if that's in the accreditation standards for occupational therapy schools, but we all universally learn that phrase. And I guarantee you there are caregivers listening to this all over the country who are like, my therapist told, my loved one's therapist told me to sit on my hands. What is up with that? It must be part of the curriculum standards.
Brandy Archie
Yeah.
Emilia Bourland
But so we've talked about the importance of that and kind of figuring out that balance between letting the people that we're caring for struggle and be frustrated sometimes. And then also sometimes that it's okay to step in and help too, right? But then there's this other area where, like you said, after therapy ends, whether that's just for the day or they've been discharged, for a lot of diagnoses, recovery continues for a long time. And there's all this
time where then the caregiver is sort of left like, okay, well, how do I move this forward? How do I have something to do with my loved one when maybe I can't communicate the way that I used to? How do I make this meaningful? And I think, so would you talk a little bit about sort of that other area? And of course, you know, again, how sort of the therapy busy box works to help with that.
Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Amanda Glassburner
I was always very, I would always stress to patients and caregivers, we would all sit down so that that patient and that caregiver heard me say from my mouth, this is what I want after you leave. Because again, there is power in the scrubs and the white coat for whatever reason when it comes to patients at home. So, you know, I would say, okay, when you guys leave, because what we see is this continuation, right? It's this loop of get sick,
go to the hospital, come to rehab, home health, stop working, get sick, go to the hospital. So it was this constant loop. And I said, we can reduce that loop or we can prolong it from happening again if you are proactive and continuing. Because it's really easy for you to participate in therapy when I'm coming into your rooms with my cup of coffee saying it's time to go, right? Or if somebody's knocking on the door saying, Mr. Jones, it's time for your therapy session. And a lot of times it's harder to do.
because that rocking chair, that recliner gets really comfortable once patients are discharged from us. So I would really empower both the patient and the caregiver. We would sit down and write out a schedule and it would be something close to what we were doing in inpatient rehab. you know, if you're gonna, if you're a late riser, okay, let's get up and we're gonna have breakfast by 10 o'clock. You're gonna get dressed, you know, 11 o'clock. And I would encourage them to set alarms. So.
Again, that caregiver's not the bad guy. It's the alarm clock going off that we agreed to, right? So at one o'clock after lunch, you're going to do 30 minutes of arm exercises, whether it's your home exercise program or something that we do online, you know, so that it changes up. Because I think a lot of times, caregivers, I'm sorry, patients, they don't want to work because it's boring. It's the same thing over and over again, you know? So maybe changing things up like that and getting different resources. So I would try to kind of have that.
Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Brandy Archie
Definitely.
Emilia Bourland
Absolutely.
Amanda Glassburner
prepared before they would leave and then you know just setting those blocks of times and hearing that audible alarm so that everybody knows okay now it's time because once you stop it's just like with any of us going to the gym once you stop it's really hard to get back into it and when you stop you know I want to part of the curriculum that was also unspoken is if you don't use it you lose it right so those patients I mean I told them I guarantee you.
Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Amanda Glassburner
you will be back if you do not continue to exercise. You know, I had patients all the time, they would come in and they said, I'm not here for my arms. I don't need arm exercises. I said, okay, look, if you can stand up without using your arms, I will back off. There is you won't get another complaint from me. And they rock and they rock and they rock. Okay, well, then let's work on some arm exercises. You know, they don't know why it's beneficial until they see why it's beneficial. You know, so
Brandy Archie
You
Brandy Archie
Yeah.
Amanda Glassburner
I think that Therapy Busy Box gives them something to do and it is something that can be a little bit different. The items that are in Therapy Busy Box are just, they're everyday items that we use in the clinic and that a lot of people have around their homes. I just put it all in one container and made it very organized and then gave a whole slew of exercises and activities.
as ideas of what to do. So it can change up a little bit every day. Nothing is profound. Nothing is like, my gosh, what a great idea. These are very basic, but it is something to help get people from point A to point B. It gives them a guided tool to be able to use. And this is the thing that we pull off the refrigerator at 11 o'clock every day to work on fine motor.
or to work on bilateral hand coordination or to work on cognition because when we work on things in therapy, you learn when you're addressing one thing, you're also addressing five adjacent issues as well. So Therapy Busy Box gives both the patient and the caregiver something in hand to work on that continues to work towards their goals. And also like, you know it's something
that is therapeutic. It's not just, well, I don't know, they told me to squeeze this ball 15 times at the gym. And so that's what I'm going to do here. You know, we have over 50 activities and exercises in that instruction manual that will help guide the caregivers through. And, you know, if the patient gets tired of working with the therapy, okay, let's work on some, some beating, let's work on some clothespin activities. You know, it just, gives them a tool to be able to use. I think that
There are so many times that you are, you feel like you're just guessing, you know, of what to do. And Therapy Busy Box takes that guess out.
Brandy Archie
So what I hear you saying is that you created something that decreases barriers, right? Like barriers to be able to incorporate movement and things that might make you think into your everyday life. And that's like the biggest, that's the biggest thing, right? Especially cause you're coming from, I know many people can use it and you've worked with all kinds of diagnoses, but when we're dealing with.
Amanda Glassburner
absolutely.
Brandy Archie
neurological disease especially is the repetitions matter and you can't get the repetitions if you're only like doing it when you go to therapy or doing it for this little bit of time of day. It's making it so that we can put this as part of our lifestyle so that we can increase our repetitions over the course of the day without feeling like stressed out about it or having reasons that stop us from doing it. And so I love that because I mean one that's what occupational therapy is about right? Like making sure
Amanda Glassburner
Right.
Brandy Archie
helping all of us make life changes so that our lives overall are better, and about decreasing barriers. And even though I think one of the things that we do as OTs is that we do things in such a simple way that people are like, you even said it. You said you were at therapy with your grandma and you were like, I can do this. And you're like, I can do this. Let me just go to school and get my credential so I can just do this. And we're trying to make things accessible.
Emilia Bourland
Yeah, I can do this.
Amanda Glassburner
Yes, yes.
Brandy Archie
And I think that's part of the point is that it doesn't have to be hard. Everything doesn't have to be such a big challenge, even though you've got a big challenge that you're working on. So tell us a little bit about what goals you have towards, or I guess we see the beautiful colors behind you and that you got all the colorful things and tools there. Can you talk to us a little bit about how it's not just for fine motor, but it's also
Why is cognition a part of it? I guess is what I'm saying.
Amanda Glassburner
But you know when you're
When you're having to recognize colors, when you are putting numbers in order from smallest to largest, from largest to smallest, when you are identifying a sequence or a pattern, all of those things are cognitive aspects that a lot of times, like in our world, people don't understand how much they lose or how much is needed to do something until they lose the ability to do that. And so, you know, even
Brandy Archie
Yeah.
Amanda Glassburner
as frustrating as it can be looking at the color red and calling it blue that that's incredibly frustrating and so one of the things that I tied into the box was there are nine jars that house many of the objects but then I've put a colored sticker on each one of the jars so that you're able to sort by color or you could sort by size.
that bringing that cognitive aspect because in all honesty, it's not just a neuro, it's just, you know, general aging. Once you stop the everyday of seeking out new information, that processing, I think, becomes a little bit slower for people. So getting, putting little roadblocks like that in there, whether it is trying to identify a pattern or sorting things by size or by color,
There's an actual cognitive add-on that I have where there's a whole separate slew of exercises that include a puzzle that has either numbers or colors that you have to put the correct number of dots with the correct number. Just identifying those things sometimes becomes difficult for patients. So the cognitive aspect is important because
You know, it's not just, what am I thinking? When you're working with somebody, you're working with the whole person. And sometimes patients can really cloak disabilities, especially if they feel like their memory's involved. And so doing things like this can kind of help you see things that maybe you don't see on the day to day, because I've had patients over the time.
Brandy Archie
Yeah.
Amanda Glassburner
over the years that they seem like they totally understand everything I'm saying and then I put down two different objects in front of them and ask them to pick the key from those two objects and they have no idea what I'm talking about or you know asking them to draw a two o'clock on the clock you know and and unable to do that but they can answer all of my what is the date what is the time what is the year who is the president you know all of those things so
The cognitive aspect is one of those things that I think that a lot of times we don't think of because it doesn't seem as pronounced, but it is just as important to get in there and make sure that we're kind of addressing also if there's something that needs to be addressed.
Emilia Bourland
So I think we've done a really good job discussing the benefits of continued involvement in therapeutic activities and the long-term benefits for both recovery but also for maintenance and things like that. I want to talk a little bit about the opportunities for caregiver connection that we want to try to facilitate here too, right? Because
So often, if you're caring for someone, it feels like you just have a new job. You've got all these jobs. Maybe therapy is another new job that you've got. And at the same time, one of the things that we talk about all the time as OTs is loss of roles, loss of relationships. So your entire relationship with this person may have changed. Whereas before this was your spouse, this was your partner, you were planning to go
Amanda Glassburner
Hmm.
Amanda Glassburner
you
Emilia Bourland
you know, on trips together and what were you going to do for dinner that night and who was going to and, you know, planning to go see the grandkids and things like that. Now, all of a sudden, the roles in that relationship really change and it can be. It can be really difficult for people, right? You are grieving for that relationship. You don't know how to get it back. So. I also want to talk about a little bit with you and your perspective on like opportunities to foster connection.
Amanda Glassburner
Mm-hmm.
Emilia Bourland
through activity as well.
Amanda Glassburner
Well, you know, this does hit home for me. I have a girlfriend who is at 47, had a stroke, and her husband, you know, the I went to go visit to kind of help transition home and he was broken. You know, this was this was not what he was expecting at such a young age. They have all the money in the world to go do anything that they want and they can't. They can't.
They can't anything for a while, you know, so and just being able to get outside of the house and be away from all of what's happening, you know, you're spending time with somebody who's feeling that loss of independence daily. And now you're stepping in as a caregiver to, in your opinion, help them. But they see it as you're telling them what to do. Right. So.
So then there's that friction that starts to happen between your loved one and the caregiver, especially if that's a family member. you I think that there are, I mean, you must get out with your friends if there are stroke survivor groups or just any kind of cars and coffee in anything. I think the difficult part for caregivers is finding someone else that can step in.
in their absence, you know, and I don't know the answer for that because a lot of times it can become very expensive because if they don't have somebody that's that can step in for them, then they are typically hiring that out and gosh that it gets expensive very quickly. You know, I don't know the answer for that. I do know that it is absolutely necessary for their peace of mind for continued mental health for both parties. You know, I think
Her name's Emma Willis, Bruce Willis' wife, talks about it all the time. And she has really been able to shine a light for caregivers because of who he is and so much public interest. I don't know that caregivers would have as much attention on their need. I think Bradley Cooper even has recently come out with a, maybe it's a Netflix special because...
Amanda Glassburner
caregiving for his father, Ryan Reynolds' dad had Parkinson's. You all of these people who have a fantastic platform are starting to talk about it, how difficult it is for caregivers, but they also have resources that are unlimited, you know, compared to so many other people. So I wish I knew better and I wish there was something better.
you know, out there for caregivers. I don't know the answer to that.
Emilia Bourland
I just want to take this moment to, again, this is going to be your second invitation, Bradley Cooper. I cannot believe that you have not responded to the first. To join us here on Care Lab to talk about your documentary. I'm just like, what? What? You haven't come on.
Brandy Archie
Come on.
Brandy Archie
But I do think that like, you brought up a good point that a lot of times in the caregiver role, even if you don't feel like it, the person receiving the care might feel like you're telling them what to do all the time. And one of the things I think is really cool about having something to do together is that it could be therapeutic without feeling like therapy, without you feeling like you're cracking the whip, right? And so it's like you put something in front of,
Amanda Glassburner
Mmm.
Amanda Glassburner
absolutely.
Brandy Archie
the two of you to be able to do something like sorting or organizing or pinching and pulling or playing cards or any kind of activity that is within their wheelhouse to be able to complete even with some level of adaptation, you get the repetition that we've been talking about as far as movement and thinking, but you get it in a chocolate covered pill, right? Like you get it in a way that feels fun and feels engaging.
because we know so much about how important socialization is and that motivation for participating together, that's just like separate from even like the relationship the two of you have, whoever it is, right? And so being able to tool people with a set of things that makes that easy to do, I think is a real benefit to helping people think through ways to connect and not just crack the whip and try so hard to like...
do this full-time job of rehabilitation. there anything that, any, you have worked with lots of patients over time and you get to talk to a family caregiver individually. If you were able to say something to all the family caregivers that are out here today at this moment, what would you really wanna impress upon people that you feel like doesn't, that gets missed all the time?
Amanda Glassburner
Right.
Amanda Glassburner
You know, you're doing a fantastic job. You really, really are. It is such a... It feels like such a thankless job very, very often. But I tell you, the second you guys walk into a therapy session or to a hospital, like your therapist know, they can see that care. They can see all that you are doing with that patient. You know, I don't know that thank you is ever.
ever going to be enough. And of course you would, right? As a caregiver, you love that person enough that you want them to get better. Of course you would, whatever the task is. But thank you. You are doing a fantastic job. The repetition that we've been talking about, the consistency is key. And if you are able to have your loved one participate in therapeutic exercises, and by that I just mean to get them moving, it doesn't have to be the home exercise program that was
printed out for you at discharge. If you can just get them to get up and walk to the mailbox or you know ask them to hand you to stand up and hand you the newspaper. gosh does anybody watch read a newspaper anymore? You know just anything to get them moving. They don't even have to know what it is that you're trying to get them to do. That movement is going to help them because again there will come a day that
Brandy Archie
you
Amanda Glassburner
that your loved one won't be able to do all the things that you're asking them to do, but it's not today. So the more you can get them moving and shaken and whatever it is, the better they're going to get and the happier the two of you are going to be together.
Emilia Bourland
Well, Amanda, thank you so much for being on today. If you would share really quickly, where can people connect with you if they'd like to and where can people find the therapy busy box?
Amanda Glassburner
Yeah, so I am at Therapy Busy Box on all of the socials. I have a website. It's www.therapybusybox.com and you can email me any questions at amanda at therapybusybox.com. But I've got Facebook, Instagram, TikTok a little bit. Not so much.
Brandy Archie
you
Emilia Bourland
The talk tick is tough. The talk tick is tough, y'all. I don't get it. I try. Yeah, 100%.
Brandy Archie
Ha ha ha!
Brandy Archie
I think we're sharing our age, y'all.
Amanda Glassburner
I know, I know, I know as soon as you hit record, it's like, I totally don't know what I was gonna say. yeah, at therapy busy box and everything. And you know, when I take these boxes to conferences and things, I want feedback, you know, from anybody and everybody. So if there's ever somebody that purchases one and says, hey, I don't understand this activity or this would be really good. I encourage that like reach out to me. I would love.
any feedback or any ideas that people may have. know, entrepreneurship is a very lonely world. yeah, reach out and let me know if things are working out for you or if there's anything I can do to help make it better.
Brandy Archie
Yeah, and we're so glad to also be able to offer a therapy busy box at sammy.com so you can find it there too. And thank you so much for joining us today.
Amanda Glassburner
Thank you. I really appreciate you guys having me.
Emilia Bourland
Well, dear listener, if you made it to the end of the episode, then please make sure to like, subscribe, follow. Please consider leaving a comment or a review. Those are the best ways to help other people find the great content that we're trying to put out for you here on CareLab. Until next time, we'll see you right back here on CareLab. Bye.
Brandy Archie
Bye, everybody.
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