Two months too late!

I can't believe its been two whole months since my last post; but what a busy time it's been!

University has been hard going at times, but in December I finally managed to get my extended research proposal out of the way, and I was really pleased with it.

My question was:

'What would an excellent community occupational therapy service consist of according to parents of autistic children? A Delphi study'.

Creating this piece of writing was challenging at times, especially in the literature review stage (trying to remain objective despite personal opinion can be difficult) but it really showed me how undervalued carers opinions can be; when in my opinion, they are the expert.

Now, I am moving onto my independent study, an opportunity to get out into the world and explore where occupational therapy could exist. I am working with a group of young carers. For me this is really interesting, and I find it hard to believe there isn't more literature around this group of clients and occupational therapists when it feels like such a natural match.

Occupational therapists in my opinion could play a huge role in these young peoples lives, whether it be teaching them safe manual handling techniques, health promotion (especially for those who have to cook for the whole family), budgeting, relaxation, coping strategies, transition from school to college or work, advising on benefits/how to use the job centre (vocational rehabilitation), even creating a safe space for group activities where the children can be children for an hour or two. The list is endless.

For this module, we are being asked to write a business plan for how occupational therapy could exist in this area, and its definitely something I will be revisiting when I have more experience in the field purely because the  more I write about it the more passionately I feel!

I think this pretty much brings me up to date on my whereabouts for the last two months, I'll be making sure not to leave it as long next time!

My use of social media in CPD: Keeping reflections.

When I was younger, I always wanted to be a journalist, to write about the world and all the weird and wonderful things in it, to explore from one region to another, meet new people and have new experiences.
The thing is, I haven't really ever been much of a writer (which is kind of a key part!).


When I first started university, we were told to constantly reflect on our experiences, and to make goals for the future based on our past; this is something I felt pretty uncomfortable with, mainly because the way I type is how I speak, and to put my experience into professional type and structure it for an assignment felt alien to me. This is when I began to explore different ways of keeping track of my career; trying to find how I was going to fill gaps in my knowledge and consolidate any learning at the same time.


I came across Twitter when my friends began to use it (and admittedly Lady Gaga was my first follow!), but then I began to find all these people who may be able to help me in ways that other reflective models or databases couldn't. These are people who live and breathe their professions, and feel the need to share it with others who can benefit. Sure you don't always think about how many people are reading your every word, but it's true. In the last 6 months those people on Twitter who have wrote what they may think of as a mindless comment or retweeted an article have made the cogs turn in my head and helped me develop professionally.


The use of a blog then kind of came naturally after that, the use of social media is something so current and that I feel so comfortable using, I thought why not? Why can't I turn something that is so simple into how I keep track of my professional outlook on what I feel to be significant moments in my learning?


And that is how I came across blog writing. A simple way of getting my thoughts down in a neat way (my handwriting is a scrawl!), share it with lots of people who are like minded, but at the same time can have a different opinion or perspective to offer (which once again informs my thinking, its never ending!)


My blog is sometimes neglected, but it will now and forever be my little piece in space and time where I can explore the world and what people have to offer, write about weird and wonderful things, explore one region to another and meet new people to share experiences. In my own words.

World Occupational Therapy Day 2011

This year for World Occupational Therapy day, the theme is ‘celebrating our global identity’ and lately I have been thinking a lot about the position of our identity as occupational therapists in the United Kingdom.

We are cosmic and distinctive, we are universal and unique and we should be saying this to more people, more often. If you open a paper or make a job search, how many posts do you see that entail all the skills of an Occupational Therapist but without the title?

So, what about marketing? What do people really know about occupational therapists and what we have to offer? If we are to make something more of ourselves and gain the kind of respect for our skills that you might get in other parts of the world we need to start making the news more often, and grabbing people’s attention outside of our own cohort.

I once heard someone say-

‘Those who haven’t experienced occupational therapy don’t have clue what it is, but those that have will be touched by it forever’

This is why we need to celebrate our global identity and get talking in any way we can to start creating more of a ‘buzz’ around our profession. There are thousands of people out there waiting for one of us to make their lives more fulfilled and purposeful. 

Ideas for creating a more prominent identity could be open days, with fun activities around your area of interest to endorse day centres, outpatient and inpatient services, private care and all aspects of your work; giving parent and student talks in schools to help educate people is another great opportunity.


You could write a blog, create a website, send a newsletter or e-letter to local charities and groups who you might want to work with at some point. Posters in GP surgeries and dentists, places of work where occupational performance can be addressed; the possibility for promotion is endless.

Blog Carnival for World Occupational Therapy Day 2011 (created by www.lindasdailylivingskills.com ) is a prime example to show a step taken to spread good word of Occupational Therapy across the world; it enables a network between professionals, promoting an international relationship.

If anything, I hope this post has got you thinking about what small step you could take to promote your identity as a (possibly student) Occupational Therapist and how this could impact on our global identity.

 Happy OT Day!

Make some noise!

Well it has been a while since my last post, but I have been a busy little bee!

Lately at university we have been focusing on how and where we might decide to get a job when we qualify; this includes everything from finding the job, to applying, creating a positive impression and most importantly to selling our skills and shouting out about our profession as much and as loudly as possible!

So, what about marketing? What do people really know about occupational therapists and what we have to offer? If we are to make something more of ourselves and gain the kind of respect for our skills that you might get in other parts of the world we need to start making the news more often, and grabbing peoples attention outside of our own cohort.

I searched 'Occupational Therapist' on the BBC news website and the last story with an OT hit was from March 2011. That's tens of day's, hundreds of hours and thousands of minutes that Occupational Therapists in the UK are working and not being fully recognised as powerful allied health professionals in the news.

We need a voice. With the economy and job situation as it stands at the moment we need to start learning some skills to step up and adventure into new areas and make work for ourselves as well as proving we are valuable where we already exist.

I did find this article on www.guardian.co.uk

http://www.guardian.co.uk/housing-network/2011/oct/12/adapted-housing-eight-things-need-to-know?INTCMP=SRCH

A small article of 8 things you need to know when adapting property for tenants. If you read this, just think how naturally it might come to an OT to think of these things, it seems so simple right? But for someone who doesn't know who we are until they read it this small piece could make a world of difference to them.

Small articles like these could be a starting point for showing the expanse of our skills slowly but surely.

This blog may only be small, but I think its the little steps that count :)

Safeguarding..a reflection.

This is just a small reflection on some of my thoughts which came out of a seminar session yesterday about adult safeguarding.

Also this is a topic which I consider to be quite scary; I also find it very interesting. I find it strange and quite sad that it can take an event which raises safeguarding issues for a team to start working more collaboratively, with multi agencies and to really think about a service user holistically to assess their needs.

We worked on a case study in our session about a man and wife in a complex situation, which only reminded me that in practice you may not be able to satisfy everybody's wants; to give one person what they need may leave the other behind or lead to separation of a family. This is why professionals from multi agencies need to start learning to communicate more effectively earlier on in a service users rehabilitation, so that therapies and other help can compliment each other and run more smoothly.

I never really considered the idea of Occupational Therapy in adult safeguarding (yes I realised that you could always have a role to play) but whilst filling out a CAF form (hypothetically for the case study) the questions upon the sheet reminded me much of an initial assessment.

What are the persons needs?
What environment do they live in?
What are their aspirations?

Is this another area where Occupational Therapists could be assisting with their skills to help provide a more comfortable or smooth safeguarding experience for the service users and their familes?

If I took anything away from that session it is that you must always remember you are not alone; especially as a student in a placement. If in doubt, talk to your supervisor over a coffee. Explain your concerns. To be able to provide the best care possible we have a responsibility to be able to work more effectively inter professionally, and this simply cant happen if people become lazy and pass the burden to someone else.

The start of the end.

Well this is all very new to me!

I am about to embark on my 3rd and final year of a BSc course in Occupational Therapy and thought what better way to document my movement through this year than to share it with other people!

I have never been a natural reflector; but I'm hoping though use of this blog I'll be able to generate my thoughts and create conversation and debate with other like minded people.

A little more about myself, I love to travel and meet new people. I like to listen to other peoples stories and ask questions, to dig a little deeper! I'm an eternal optimist, and like to find the good in everything. Professionally, I have a special interest in paediatrics and in this final year of degree level study will be exploring the different options available to me in this field.

Here goes!