On Thursday and Friday, pairs of SHOUT members attended the
ENOTHE conference in York. We were delighted that our work - a new poster
demonstrating how membership of SHOUT helps to develop citizenship qualities - was
accepted to the conference. We enjoyed the opportunity to share what we do and the skills we acquire through SHOUT with European delegates.
This year’s theme, “Citizenship”, infused every aspect of
the event and one word could be heard over and over again in lectures, asked in
questions, discussed in workshops, murmured over coffee….
Participation
Speaking about the occupational therapy (OT) viewpoint on
citizenship, Jytte Rotbol began Day Two of the conference with her keynote
address, highlighting participation for people with mental health problems.
Recovery is more than recovering from illness, she said, but recovering work
roles, social roles, finding belonging in society through participation.
Activity is one of the prerequisites for a “good life”, she explained, an
essential component of a good society. But she cautioned that what one person
thinks is a good life, may not be for another – this unpredictability of
activity is a human condition , she said.
Although this unpredictability sounds challenging, I
feel this is part of the beauty of OT – we cannot predict or prescribe activity
as one-size-fits-all. We have to work
with each person on an individual basis to get to know what matters to them,
what makes them tick, what unique activities / occupations are the key to their
health, wellbeing and participation in society. This takes time and might even
feel emotionally “risky” - we can’t find safety in a tried and tested medicine,
instead we have to take the risk of getting to know someone, giving something
of ourselves to them in order to help them share something of themselves with
us. This two-way conversation, a partnership, finds a way forward based on
activities identified by each person as having true meaning, enabling participation in their own lives and in society as citizens. As Jytte said, "action creates relationships".
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| #ENOTHEyork conference tweet |
Hetty Fransen presented joint work on OT’s contribution to citizenship.
The team included SHU lecturer Nick Pollard, described as having “a brain the
size of a planet” – I have a feeling that any OT students who have been taught
by him may agree! The presentation was stunningly illustrated with artwork by
Peter Doig. While working on the project in Edinburgh, the team came across
Doig’s exhibition, noticing a "doing" element to his work. Inspired
by this, Hetty encouraged us to “do it”, to “do” citizenship.
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| By artist Peter Doig |
“There are no foreign lands, it is the traveller only who is
foreign”
Robert Louis Stephenson
The team’s journey around citizenship led them to find
congruence between citizenship terms such as restricted participation and
occupational science terms such as occupational injustice. Citizenship is a fundamental
principle of OT, said Hetty, linking to human rights and social inclusion.
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| #ENOTHEyork conference tweet |
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How do we enact citizenship, she asked, as
citizens of the world? Social change has greater effectiveness, Hetty said,
when we as practitioners engage in doing rather than doing to people. Remember that you are a citizen first, she said, then an OT. She asked the question “should we be citizen-centred?”.
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| #ENOTHEyork conference tweet |
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“OTs like participation” Hetty said, opening up the value we
place on this word to critical debate. What if a person does not participate?
Are they still a citizen? Are there “good” and “bad” citizens, she asked? This
highlighted the power relationship between state and individual or client and
therapist or between cultures. Defining and categorising people according to
the level to which they participate with us, with their world or with society
can be disempowering. It made me think about how easy it is as an OT to judge a
client when they do not participate in therapeutic activity, how labels such as
“unmotivated” can be carelessly used. If citizenship is about human rights, the
right to be included and to actively participate, does it allow room for the
right not to participate and yet still
be respected and equal?
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| #ENOTHEyork conference tweet |
For OTs to enable citizenship and participation, Hetty
advised that we need to think strategically: get involved on a political level,
form an idea and be part of the solution!
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| #ENOTHEyork conference tweet |
After these two thought-provoking lectures, the rest of the
day was spent in workshops or mini-lectures. In Debbie Kramer-Roy’s session
“Emancipatory OT research and practice with marginalised ethnic minority
clients” I learnt how action research is consistent with OT principles and
occupational justice, helping people to participate in action and bring about
change as co-researchers. Artwork and photography were shown to be beautifully
expressive and inclusive ways for co-researchers to participate in research.
A piece of work created by a Pakistani mother (and British citizen) whose child was disabled depicted
the pressure she felt under, like a vase that might one day crack, and her
struggle with belonging, inclusion and participation in society due to the
stigmatisation she and her child faced.
This was a really strong learning point
for me: the client is always the expert. The artwork expressed more
powerfully and clearly than I could ever articulate in words, the depth of emotion,
pain, strength and determination of the mother and the deep examination she had
made of her life through the painting. I wish I had taken a photograph of the work
to share, it was so moving.
The workshop concluded with discussion about participation
in OT education and it was wonderful to hear the lengths an OT school in
Antwerp had gone to in overcoming cultural barriers that had prevented a group
of orthodox Jewish women from participating in university study. The lecturer explained that it was a process of collaboration, of finding solutions, and
then making these adaptations available to all
their students.
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| #ENOTHEyork conference tweet |
The day ended with a discussion between students about how to create an international student forum. I felt humbled that my ability to participate in the discussion was only because of the excellent language skills of the other students who spoke such good English. It was a privilege to spend time in the company of OTs and students from countries across Europe and it struck me that I have a very UK-focussed OT outlook.
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Clockwise from top left: Austrian students, German students, Kramer-Roy workshop with Tiska from Amsterdam and Morel from Bordeaux, Student forum discussion
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It seems to be rare for OT students to meet with their colleagues in other
countries but very much needed if we are to learn from each other. The collaborative working skills we are
learning at university could be harnessed to help us bring about a forum that would reinforce our collective identity as OT students and European
citizens whilst celebrating and learning from our cultural and practice
differences, thereby participating in each other’s development. SHOUT will be keeping an eye out for how this unfolds and hope to be involved in the forum in future years...
Thank you #ENOTHEyork, you were wonderful.
