Transitioning from being a student to a qualified occupational therapist is a demanding time at the start of your professional career and can sometimes be quite challenging: received knowledge crashes headlong into a barrage of real-world exceptions. The identity and lifestyle of a student ceases as the world of work replaces it.
Sound familiar to you now or perhaps it rekindles past memories?
In March 2020 The Elizabeth Casson Trust commissioned an exciting project with Dr Lynne Goodacre, an occupational therapist, researcher and personal coach and Rob Young, an artist and writer who helps NHS Leaders to communicate. The purpose of the project, called Year 1: Thriving not Surviving, was to create resources to support the wellbeing of newly qualified occupational therapists in their first year of practice.
Ten first year occupational therapists answered a call to work with Lynne and Rob. Over the course of six months they engaged with the wider occupational therapy community to co-produce a series of freely available self-coaching resources. Their commitment, energy and time has ensured that the resources are embedded in the real-life experiences of this community.
If you are in your first year of practice, download and take a look at the guides. They are not meant to be worked through in one go but are designed to help you pause, reflect and work on aspects of your life which may be challenging. Dip into whichever best meets your needs and, as the group themselves said, ‘I need to remember to OT myself’.
As announced in the COTEC’s March 2020 Newsletter, COTEC has attended a very interesting symposium organised by the European Knowledge Tree Group for eHealth.
If you would like to know more about the group’s work you can read more in their latest newsletter – https://mailchi.mp/c84ca4a4f55d/ektg-newsletter-5-first-draft-2678129?e=e52947e543
You can also find information on how to join their upcoming webinars.
COVID-19 is causing widespread disruption to daily life for people across the world. While supporting social distancing restrictions to keep our communities safe, we also need to be mindful of how these current changes can impact on other aspects of health: including our mental health, fitness and occupational health. This guide discusses aspects of daily life — things that you probably always took for granted and now are having to re-think. An occupational therapy framework is used to consider how productivity, leisure, self-care, your space, routine and roles may be impacted and to present suggestions and examples of how to adapt and manage the disruptions. This has been designed to help everyday people adapt to the changes. A poster is also available for use in clinics or other public spaces. The links and/or pdf guide and poster may be shared freely.
Poster: https://bit.ly/2xVuUEu
We also remind you to keep updated with the latest information and suggestion issued by WHO Europe – http://www.euro.who.int/en/home
