OT Praxis Toolkit

An interactive process for recognizing and responding to inequity

The Praxis Toolkit supports practitioners to collaboratively examine complex practice situations, make visible structural inequities, and explore possibilities for equity-oriented action. Currently comprised of a guidebook & word/shape magnets for use on a surface like a whiteboard or refrigerator, the toolkit helps practitioners: 

  • Reconceptualize practice conditions 

  • Recognize the variety of forces impacting them and the individuals and communities they work with 

  • Surface underling causes of inequities 

  • Generate strategies for intervening in inequity Mobilize values towards health justice through drawing on different knowledges and practices

What do we mean by ‘Praxis’?

Praxis is the relationship between theory (how we conceptualize things) and practice (what we do). This relationship between theory and practice is continuous and iterative. Said another way, how we think about things informs and gets modified by our actions, practices, and vice versa.

Some assumptions that anchor the Praxis Toolkit

  • Our individual and collective values, assumptions, principles, and knowledge are always in process

  • We are consciously and unconsciously informed by these values, assumptions, principles, and knowledge

  • We use these values, assumptions, principles, and knowledge differently in different contexts, depending on the situations we encounter

  • Dominant social, economic, and political systems (such as capitalism, racism, colonialism, cis- heteropatriarchy, etc.) are harmful and produce and shape social and health inequities

Whiteboard with handwritten notes, diagrams, and color-coded labels about client priorities and experiences related to substance use, including categories like safety, responsibilities, and values, with a person's hand pointing at the board.
Five diverse people sitting at a table in a conference room, engaging in a discussion around a whiteboard with colorful sticky notes and diagrams.

Who made this toolkit?

This toolkit was collaboratively developed by a group of eight occupational therapists, three occupational therapy researchers, and two interdisciplinary researchers in amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) in Treaty 6 territory. Co-creators, listed in reverse alphabetical order: Diana van der Stoel, Erin Tichenor, Jennifer Sadowski, Amanda Mah, Monica Hoang, Sarah Hamill, Gayla Grinde, Frankie Chan, Eduan Breedt, Tim Barlott, and Rebecca Alley.

Many thanks to Action Lab for their design support and helping us bring our scrappy little prototype into the world!

The Praxis Toolkit was developed with funding support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Primary Investigator: Tim Barlott; Co-Investigators: Gayla Grinde, Pier-Luc Turcotte, & David McConnell.

A group of people gathered around a large conference table in a meeting room, engaged in a workshop or collaborative activity, with various supplies, papers, and snacks on the table.

Can I use, share, or adapt the Praxis Toolkit?

YES!!! The Praxis Toolkit is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. This means others may use, share, print, adapt, or translate the toolkit provided that: 1) credit is given to Minor Praxis Lab and Praxis Toolkit Co-Creators; 2) the toolkit is not used for commercial purposes; and 3) any adaptations are shared under the same license.

We encourage others to adapt the toolkit and to share with us how they are using or adapting it in their own work. Although the Creative Commons license prohibits commercial use without permission, we may grant permission for the toolkit or adaptations to be sold in certain circumstances (e.g., for cost recovery).

Download the Toolkit Guidebook (PDF)
Download an Adaptable Toolkit Guidebook (PPTX)
Close-up of a printed document titled 'Praxis Toolkit' with a heading in red 'Hello!' and text supporting social equity and health justice, laid on a dark surface. Partially visible paper on the left has the word 'Canada'.
Close-up of a printed page titled 'List of Prompts' with numbered prompts on a dark surface.
Close-up of a printed sheet titled 'What Are the Conditions (AI Micro, Meso, and Macro Levels) That We Are Responding To?'. The sheet contains instructions and a list of constraining conditions with bold orange and white labels, including 'CONSTRAINING CONDITIONS', 'Colonialism', and 'Funding'. The sheet is placed on a dark surface with another similar page partly visible.

Want to learn more? Partner with us?

If you are interested in workin with us in our ongoing research about socio-political praxis and this toolkit, or just want to connect, please email us at otpraxis@ualberta.ca.