At the 1st National Congress of Occupational Therapists in Naples, Italy, which took place in December 2024, Yara Peterko, COTEC Vice President, represented the Council of Occupational Therapists for the European Countries (COTEC) in a high-level round table discussion. The congress, titled “Combining International Health Policy with the Italian Reality: Focus on Occupational Therapy”, brought together national and international representatives, including WFOT, WHO, and Italian health authorities, to discuss how occupational therapy (OT) can grow within healthcare systems.

In her contribution, Yara Peterko addressed the need for a strong and well-supported occupational therapy workforce across Europe, guided by COTEC’s values of Connection, Empowerment, Influence, and Inspiration. She emphasized that connection—across countries, professions, and communities—is essential for sharing knowledge and strengthening advocacy for the profession.

She also highlighted key challenges faced in many European countries, including workforce shortages, uneven regulation and education, and limited professional recognition. She called for investment in education, supportive regulation, and professional leadership pathways to empower occupational therapists to address these gaps.

Yara Peterko also shared COTEC’s ongoing work in collecting workforce data from member organizations through the annual “Summary of the Profession”, a valuable resource for national planning and aligning with international developments.

Her participation in the congress reinforced the importance of international collaboration in advancing the occupational therapy profession and confirmed COTEC’s ongoing commitment to supporting national associations like Italy in their development efforts.