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123. Why Good OTs Leave: The Hidden Cost of Compromised Values

Have you ever wondered why so many passionate occupational therapists quietly walk away from the profession, even when they still care deeply about their clients?

In this powerful episode of the OT Yourself to Freedom Podcast, Beki Eakins explores the real reason behind OT burnout. It is not just workload, staffing shortages, or long days.

It is compromised values.

If you are an occupational therapist feeling emotionally drained, disconnected from your work, or silently questioning whether you can keep going, this episode will help you understand what is really happening beneath the surface, and what your body has been trying to tell you all along.

 

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

In this conversation, Beki dives deep into:

  • Why many OTs experience moral exhaustion rather than simple burnout

  • What a values ladder is, and how it influences your energy, motivation, and wellbeing

  • How healthcare systems can force clinicians to sacrifice their highest values just to survive

  • Why autonomy, integrity, and human connection matter more than productivity targets

  • How constant documentation and tick-box assessments erode therapeutic relationships

  • The physical cost of misaligned work (pain, fatigue, headaches, nervous system shutdown)

  • Why “burnout” is often actually value grief

  • How losing control over your diary and clinical judgement impacts creativity and fulfilment

  • What changes when you build work around your values instead of the system’s

  • A powerful reflection question to help you identify which value is being violated right now

This episode is especially relevant if you have been searching for answers around:

  • occupational therapist burnout

  • leaving occupational therapy

  • lack of autonomy in healthcare

  • emotional exhaustion in OTs

  • creating meaningful work as an OT

Key Takeaway for Occupational Therapists

You did not train to become an OT to stare at screens, rush human connection, or work against your clinical judgement.

You trained because you care.

And when your ability to practise with integrity, presence, and purpose is stripped away, your nervous system responds. Often through heaviness, resistance, fatigue, or disengagement.

As Beki explains, this is not a mindset problem.

It is a values violation.

 

A Question to Reflect On

If you are currently feeling controlled, resentful, or trapped in your OT role, Beki invites you to ask:

Which value on your ladder is being sacrificed right now, and who benefits from that sacrifice?

Then ask your body:

How long am I willing to pay this price?

 

Considering a Different Way Forward?

Beki also shares how occupational therapists can reclaim autonomy by creating aligned, freedom-based online businesses, where you:

  • Control your diary

  • Decide how long you spend with clients

  • Create offers that reflect your highest values

  • Rediscover creativity, energy, and fulfilment

If you have:

  • 3 to 10 hours per week: OT Yourself to Freedom Membership

  • 10+ hours per week: OT Freedom Collective (6-month intensive support programme)

Both are designed to help OTs build meaningful income without sacrificing their health, family, or values.

Links to Beki’s free mindset meditation and programme details can be found in the episode resources.

 

Connect with Beki

Are you ready to leave the whinger mindset behind and embrace your inner go-getter? Beki helps OTs worldwide design, launch, and scale their online business

Free Resource: Download Beki’s free overnight mindset meditation for free to help you build confidence, overcome money mindset challenges, and develop self-belief.

Join OT Yourself To Freedom Membership:

Discover the only membership designed specifically for OTs to create freedom-based businesses by leveraging the skills you already have. Learn to design and sell  offers, market effectively, and align your work with your purpose.

nesses. Learn how to tap into your purpose and create an offer that sells with ease..

 

Follow Beki:

Book an Inspiration Call: Click here

 

About the Host

Beki Eakins is a business mindset and lifestyle coach for occupational therapists. After leaving traditional OT practice, she has helped hundreds of OTs worldwide design aligned online businesses that support freedom, income, and purpose, without burning out.