Latest in Lifestyle Redesign®
March 2026
LR IRL — Lifestyle Redesign in Real Life
Redesigning Retirement
As a 63 year-old with a complex medical history, Gerardo was spending his retirement learning how to manage his health to optimize his quality of life. He traded his leisurely bicycle rides around the community for long bus/train rides to attend his medical appointments. After receiving a referral for Lifestyle Redesign® occupational therapy (OT) to address his obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia, Gerardo added another recurring appointment to his schedule. His OT, Dr. Marilyn Thompson came to understand that Gerardo’s sleep was impacted by the anxiety he experienced in anticipation of his long commutes (up to 3 hours one-way), along with the growing presence of immigration enforcement in his community.
Throughout their 19 sessions together, Marilyn nurtured Gerardo’s health literacy, tailoring her approach to his individual needs, including conducting all of their sessions and providing all resources in Spanish, his preferred language. This client-centered approach led to co-creation of a reliable sleep wind-down routine that incorporated relaxation techniques, and increased Gerardo’s tolerance for wearing his CPAP (from 2-3 hours to 5-6 hours, 3-4x/week). Marilyn’s strategic use of education paired with self-analysis also supported Gerardo in embedding diabetes basics into his daily routines, such as packing snacks for his commutes to reduce episodes of hypoglycemia. Despite the progress he had made thus far, the imminent stressor of immigration enforcement had begun to have a significant impact on Gerardo’s sense of safety, preventing him from leaving his home.
After witnessing immigration raids within his apartment building, Gerardo mentioned his concerns to Marilyn. She validated his unease and utilized motivational interviewing to understand how his fear was impacting his daily routines, including his mobility, and access to food, medication, and healthcare. She educated Gerardo on how OT can support him in navigating these challenges, emphasizing that safety is a prerequisite to well-being. With his approval, Marilyn tactfully incorporated safety planning into Gerardo’s plan of care, emphasizing the relevance to health management and promotion, while using protective language to document these sessions. In this context, protective language refers to including only what is minimally necessary and using objective patient-centered language without including irrelevant personal identifiers that could be used against the patient. They began with developing a home safety checklist to support him in identifying supports and risks in his home environment that would impact his ability to respond to incidents happening in his building. This was followed by a risk assessment of when and where immigration enforcement was likely to occur, which informed the timing of Gerardo’s activities outside of the home, including scheduling medical appointments. In an effort to reduce the stress and time demands of commuting for OT sessions, Marilyn provided training for accessing telehealth appointments and transitioned their sessions online.
This shift gave Gerardo the peace of mind to take actionable steps in real-time as he continued to safety-plan with Marilyn’s support. Utilizing reputable resources, such as We Have Rights and Immigrant Legal Resource Center, to guide her in educating Gerardo, Marilyn equipped him with the tools to create an emergency plan he and his family could rely on. This included practical steps, such as gathering copies of important documents, phone numbers, and other recommended paperwork, along with reviewing educational videos outlining the steps they should take in the event that immigration enforcement knocked on their door. When initially reviewing these scenarios, Gerardo’s default response was to be “justice-oriented” and protect his family. Marilyn used this as an opportunity to engage Gerardo in self-analysis around how this heightened response would impact his health (i.e. cardiovascular system, pacemaker, and blood sugar) and role-played with him to identify other ways to respond that would help him feel more regulated and optimize safety.
Shortly thereafter, this was all put into practice, when immigration enforcement knocked on his door. Gerardo was able to recall his training, remain composed, and kept his household safe for the time being. This was a bitter-sweet moment; their plan was successful, but it may not be the last time Gerardo would need to use it. Despite this looming unknown, Gerardo felt confident that he and his family would know what to do.
Gerardo’s time with Marilyn equipped him with a newfound understanding of how personal and environmental factors impact his well-being and, most critically, the tools to improve his quality of life. Marilyn reflects on her experience with Gerardo and shares:
“Your clients’ environment plays such a huge role in their ability to change and access resources needed to implement the recommendations we make. It’s our responsibility to assess risks in their environment and acknowledge the challenges it might pose for our clients, because they may not know that we [as OTs] can address these. At times, it can be challenging to figure out how to even begin treatment planning for this, but it’s our ethical responsibility to do our research and find resources that could be integrated into our sessions. [OT] is not one-size-fits-all, and if we do that extra bit of treatment planning, research, and preparation, then it would make a difference in the lives of the people that we serve.”
— Marilyn Thompson, OTD, OTR/L, LRC
Research Spotlight
Feel the Burn, Heal the Burn: Job Crafting and Burnout Among Occupational Therapy Professionals (2025)
Healthcare provider burnout is known to create a ripple effect that not only impacts the individual’s well-being, but also their work performance, and, in turn, the patient experience. Studies aimed at understanding burnout among occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs) have shed light on its prevalence across various practice areas and age groups. This cross-sectional study aimed to understand which specific aspects of OT jobs related to burnout and explore job crafting as a tool to reduce burnout.
Researchers surveyed four hundred US-based OTPs and found that excessive workload was the most prominent indicator of burnout and highlighted the practice areas most impacted. OTPs who engaged in job crafting, by “redefining their tasks, relationships, or perceptions to better align with their motives, strengths, and passions”, reported less burnout. Those in supervisory roles tended to report greater engagement in job crafting, likely due to increased autonomy, as compared to OTPs whose positions would require collaboration with supervisors to support job crafting efforts.
This study emphasizes the importance of OTPs proactively engaging in efforts to create the “just-right challenge” for themselves, just as they do with their patients, in order to mitigate work-related burnout and optimize retention in the field. As such, OT leadership (e.g. supervisors, managers) plays a crucial role in their employees’ ability to take said actions, by facilitating access to and acquisition of job resources that benefit the workplace well-being of the OT workforce.
Linking Social Prescribing and Lifestyle Redesign®: A Step Toward Health and Equity? (2025)
Social prescribing is an approach intended to address certain social determinants of health and entails a healthcare professional referring a patient to a “navigator”, who then connects them to non-clinical, community-based activities. Researchers from the University of Sherbrooke explored the compatibilities and differences in social prescribing and Lifestyle Redesign with the intent of understanding how the interventions, collectively, can equip occupational therapists to address social determinants of health.
This article distinguishes the two intervention approaches, recognizing the differences in their usage within healthcare systems internationally, referral streams, and appropriateness for patients with complex health management needs. Furthermore, the authors offer three distinct ideas for how social prescribing and Lifestyle Redesign can be utilized in tandem.
Primary author, Marie-Hélène Lévesque emphasizes:
“By bringing Lifestyle Redesign® into dialogue with social prescribing, the article highlights the unique contribution and added value of occupational therapy. It invites occupational therapists to recognize the protective role of social connection in health, to strengthen their expertise in health promotion and social connection–focused interventions, and to integrate innovative responses at the intersection of established and emerging approaches. In the context of the growing epidemic of loneliness and social isolation, and global calls to strengthen social connection, this positioning situates occupational therapists as key actors in shaping more equitable and preventive health systems.”
Upcoming Opportunities
Living in Rhythm: Addressing Insomnia and Sleep Routines through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia Integrated in the Lifestyle Redesign® Framework
Free Webinar | Monday, April 27, 2026
Free Webinar | Monday, April 27, 2026
Date: Monday, April 27, 2026
Time: 12–1pm Pacific Time
Location: Zoom
Audience: This is an introductory level activity designed for OT practitioners, however, all levels of experience and disciplines are welcome.
Cost*: This webinar is free to attend; registration is required to join. Learn about the process of integrating Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) within a Lifestyle Redesign® framework, including theoretical overview, program development, patient case studies, and outcomes. This webinar will demonstrate how the combined approach of Lifestyle Redesign and CBT-I effectively addresses and improves sleep disturbances.
AOTA Mental Health Fellowship: Pathway for Lifestyle Redesign Certification
The USC Occupational Therapy Faculty Practice (OTFP) offers an AOTA-accredited fellowship program to provide Lifestyle Redesign training opportunities to licensed occupational therapy practitioners. The purpose of the USC OTFP Fellowship program is to foster the development of expertise in delivering the Lifestyle Redesign intervention to individuals living with chronic physical and mental health conditions.
The fellowship expedites the process of meeting requirements for certification in Lifestyle Redesign, as fellows will complete the didactic content and clinical hours needed to apply. For additional information, please contact the Fellowship Coordinator, Lindsey Shomer, at lindsey.shomer@med.usc.edu or visit the fellowship website.
Presenting at AOTA? Help us spread the word!
If you are presenting at AOTA (or any upcoming conference) on Lifestyle Redesign, lifestyle management, chronic condition management, or other related topic, we would like to highlight your presentation, so that other members of this community can learn from you!
Take 2 minutes to answer a few questions about your presentation and we will be sure to spread the word on your behalf:
Long-Covid AOTA CoP
Interested in learning about how Lifestyle Redesign is being applied to the long-covid population? Join this AOTA community of practice (CoP) on Wed. April 15, 2026 @ 5pm Pacific Time for a presentation focused on this topic.
You must be an AOTA member to join this CoP.
Empowering Change: A Training for Occupational Therapy Practitioners in Motivational Interviewing
Interactive, Online Course | May 8, 9, & 16, 2026
Strengthen your therapeutic communication with motivational interviewing (MI)! Join this interactive, online training to learn and practice MI principles. While this course is designed to be applied to OT practice, the content covered can be applicable to any population- all disciplines are welcome.
This is a 12-hour course held across 3 days (4 hours per day). Participants are expected to fully participate for the entire course.
Dates/Times (Pacific Time):
- Friday, May 8, 2026, 1–5pm
- Saturday, May 9, 2026, 8am–12pm
- Saturday, May 16, 2026, 8am–12pm
Location: Zoom
Cost: US$250
AOTA Members and USC Chan Alumni: $225
CEUs: 12 contact hours (1.2 CEU)
Note: This course satisfies the 12-hour MI training requirement for Certification in Lifestyle Redesign.
Course Series Corner
Register for the Mentored Practicum
Online, Synchronous CE Course
The Mentored Practicum in Lifestyle Redesign is the gateway to begin accruing practice hours for certification in Lifestyle Redesign. Earn continuing education (CE) credit while you apply the intervention framework to your clinical practice, and receive mentorship along the way from a Lifestyle Redesign Certified instructor. A payment plan option is now available!
Compressed Timeline: May 18 - Aug. 14, 2026
Weekly synchronous class times (14 total). Choose between:
- Mondays, 8-10am Pacific Time
- Wednesdays, 4-6pm Pacific Time
(New) Extended Timeline*: Sept. 14, 2026 - Mar. 8, 2027
Biweekly synchronous class times (14 total), scheduled for Mondays, 5-7pm Pacific Time.
*This course offering is subject to minimum enrollment requirements.
Take Courses at Your Own Pace
Ready for a change? Check out our on-demand Lifestyle Redesign continuing education (CE) courses, and build confidence in implementing lifestyle interventions in your clinical practice!
The online, asynchronous (3) Core Courses and (5) Special Topics can now be completed at a pace that works for YOUR schedule.
Certification Section
Upcoming Certification Exam Offering
If you have completed the required Lifestyle Redesign coursework and accrued your practice hours (or will do so soon), consider applying to take the fully online Lifestyle Redesign Certification Exam between April 1st - May 15th 2026!
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