Orla Mckennon discusses several aspects that are important to her occupational identity, including travel, sewing, family, field hockey, makeup, cooking, occupational therapy, cleaning, jade and bone carving, art, and references several pictures related to these topics. She describes how travel, sewing and occupational therapy have influenced her career choice, and values spending time with family. Several hobbies such as field hockey, makeup, cooking and art are also passions of hers. Cleaning, carving and her occupational therapy degree round out the key parts of her identity.

1. My Occupational Identity
Orla Mckennon

2. Travel
• Travel is an occupation that I really enjoy.
• I believe that it is an important part of my
occupational identity as it is something that often
influences the decisions I make in life.
• Choosing Occupational Therapy as a career was
partly influenced by my love of travel as I know it is
a great job to travel with as there are often job
opportunities available overseas.
• The following picture is of me in Belfast, Ireland at
the ship dock where the Titanic was built.

4. Sewing
• Sewing is a skill I learned from a young age
and it has become very useful throughout my
life.
• To many they see me as a sewer and
frequently are sewing friends and families
clothes, it has become a useful skill for me
and my friends and family.
• The following picture is of my sewing kit, I
have had it since I was seven and it has
growen significantly.

6. Family
• Family is extremely important to me, I
value my family a lot and believe that this
is an important aspect of my occupational
identity.
• The following picture is of me, my older
sister Kate, my younger brother Andre and
our youngest sibling Dakota.

8. Field Hockey
• I have played field hockey since I have
been eleven starting at intermediate and
continuing on into high school.
• The following picture is of a team mate at
the game we won the regional
championship in 2009.

10. Makeup
• Makeup is a real passion of mine and for a
long time I considered pursuing a career in
makeup artistry.
• I am lucky enough now that I can pursue a
career in Occupational Therapy and still do
some free lance makeup work on friends and
family on the side.
• The following picture is of some of my overly
large makeup collection.

12. Cooking
• Cooking is a big thing in my family and I have
grown up eating quite different food to the
norm in New Zealand as my mum is Irish and
dad South African/Indian so I ate some great
food
• I learnt to cook from a young age and always
to cook from scratch using fresh spices and
herbs.
• The following picture is of my favourite
traditional Indian sweet rasmalai.

14. Bachelor of Occupational Therapy
• My mother is an Occupational Therapist so from quite
a age I understood what the job is and involves and by
the age of thirteen I was sure that it was what I wanted
to as a career
• Occupational Therapy as a job involves a lot of the
beliefs and values I also hold important to myself and
involves a lot of creative, practical and problem
solving, work which I enjoy.
• Studying to gain my Bachelor in Occupational Therapy
has been very enjoyable and cemented that this is
what I want to do as a career.
• The following picture illustrates how Occupational
Therapists can help people.

16. Cleaning
• Some people find it strange that I really enjoy
cleaning, I find it relaxing and I feel very
accomplished when I'm finished.
• I have had many cleaning jobs in motels and
so far they are the jobs I enjoy the most,
second to Occupational Therapy.
• The following picture is of the motel I worked
at in Nelson.

18. Jade and Bone Carving
• I began carving in 2009 when I did my first
bone carving in Nelson, I completed my first
jade carving in Hokitika in 2011.
• I thoroughly enjoy carving and continue to
pursue it now, I plan on getting my own bone
carving set up at home so I can do it myself
and hopefully sell them a local markets.
• The following picture is of my first jade
carving done for my mum.

20. Art
• I studied art history, art design and
painting at high school.
• I really enjoy knowing the history and
technique behind artists and their
paintings.
• The following picture is of a favourtie
painting of mine by Masaccio an Italian
renaissance painter called The Tribute
Money.

22. References
• Barnes, E. (2008). Tasman claims early honor’s
[Online image]. Retrieved from
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-
mail/sport/380728/Tasman-claims-early-honours
• Rasmalai [Online image]. Retrieved from
http://www.kingpitaandrice.com/food/rasmalai-
indian-cheesecake/#sthash.pFpgwzhf.dpbs
• Masaccio. [Online image]. Retrieved from
http://www.paradoxplace.com/Perspectives/Italian
%20Images/Montages/Firenze/Brancacci%20Cha
pel.htm