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!