Showing posts with label mentalhealth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mentalhealth. Show all posts

Sunday, 10 March 2013

Wednesday: Jennifer Creek on Occupational Therapy Philosophy in the 21st Century



Don't miss this Wednesday's SHOUT event with the incredible Jennifer Creek! Join us to hear the author of Occupational Therapy and Mental Health speak on the topic of "Occupational Therapy Philosophy in the 21st Century" on Wednesday 13th March 2013 at 6pm

About the evening:
Giving a brief account of the history and development of occupational therapy philosophy and theory, Jennifer will then consider what occupational therapists today say about their beliefs and values. The talk will explore some of the problems that have arisen due to occupational therapists’ lack of willingness to examine these beliefs and values, and conclude with some suggestions about how occupational therapy philosophy might support a more fair and inclusive professional practice. Come along and test your own knowledge and understanding of occupational therapy philosophy - there will be time for questions and discussion at the end.

About our speaker: 
Known to most occupational therapists and students as an inspirational writer, particularly for her work on the essential text Occupational Therapy and Mental Health, Jennifer has had a varied and extensive career in the world of OT. She gained the Diploma of the College of Occupational Therapists from the London School of Occupational Therapy in 1970, and also has a Post-graduate Diploma in Art Therapy, a Further Education Teaching Certificate and an MSc by research.  In 2005, she was awarded the honour of Fellowship of the College of Occupational Therapists.

Between 1970 and 1999, Jennifer alternated between practising occupational therapy and teaching, working in the fields of adult mental health, adult learning disabilities and mental health promotion, and helping to set up new occupational therapy programmes in Aberdeen, Hong Kong and Middlesbrough.  In 1999, she became a freelance practitioner, which included carrying out mental health promotion projects, teaching on pre-registration occupational therapy programmes in several European countries, teaching on the European Masters degree programme in occupational therapy, facilitating advanced skills workshops for practitioners around the UK and Europe, and writing occasional papers for the College of Occupational Therapists.  From 2000 to 2009, Jennifer took on a role of working part-time as a research and development officer for the College of Occupational Therapists, and from 2004 to 2011 she was a Mental Health Act Commissioner.

Jennifer's writing career began in 1984, when she was invited by the Edinburgh-based publisher, Churchill Livingstone, to edit a new textbook on occupational therapy and mental health.  The fifth edition of this book is currently in preparation and is well known to occupational therapy students around the globe.  She has also edited two collections of essays and written a book on the European conceptual framework for occupational therapy.  This last book is the English version of the work of the terminology group of the European Network of Occupational Therapy in Higher Education, of which she was a member for six years.  She has also contributed chapters to other textbooks and published papers in occupational therapy journals around the world.

She was a visiting scholar at Otago Polytechnic in 1998 and at the University of Southern California in 2008.  In 2001, the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust commissioned Sarah Cook and Jennifer to write a definition of occupational therapy as a complex intervention for the purposes of research.  This document was published by the College of Occupational Therapists in 2003.

Jennifer retired in 2009 but still works occasionally as a partner assessor of the Health Professions Council and as a consultant to a private healthcare company. We are thrilled to have her speak at SHOUT and want to thank her for her support of students and our learning.


Book now: To book your seat at this very popular event please email shout.team@hotmail.co.uk and, unless you hear from us, assume your place is booked.

Location: The event will take place in the Robert Winston Building at our Collegiate Campus. Registration and light refreshments are from 5.30pm. The talk begins at 6.00pm and SHOUT events usually finish before 7.30pm. 

Costs:  £2.00 for students and BAOT members, £3.00 for non-members.

Following the event we will hold an informal reflection session 'Wednesday Wind Down' at a pub on Ecclesall Road. Join us there to discuss and tweet your thoughts on the talk content and how it may impact your practice.

>>> Next SHOUT Event: 
WEDNESDAY 17TH APRIL 2013  "Mindfulness in Mental Health" with Keith Norman and Cambrian Healthcare OT team

Monday, 28 January 2013

Darryl Cunningham's SHOUT talk hailed a success



Thank you to everyone who came along to our latest SHOUT event with cartoonist Darryl Cunningham. It was a real success and gave plenty to think about. 

This was a new style of talk for SHOUT, the intention being to give people a different view of mental health and explore the importance of encouraging patients, clients or service users to utilise their own skills and abilities to help engender a sense of achievement and, therefore, aid recovery. Ultimately, people experiencing mental health problems are the experts, they know themselves, their condition and their inner resources better than any health professional. We have so much to learn from their experiences and shared stories, enabling us to come alongside during difficult times more effectively and provide support.

Here are a few of the (paraphrased) comments we received from those who came:

“It was uplifting to see such a positive result from a difficult situation”

“The talk was really good – very interesting story of mental health and the use of art to tell that story. I really enjoyed the humorous but realistic portrayal of illness through the cartoon strips”

“Moving images which were well discussed and explained – a picture speaks a thousand words


“Showed how the use of creative media may be powerful in recovery”

“Darryl highlighted that we all do things differently, experience mental health differently, and this must be reflected in our practice”

A visiting researcher from the Art and Design Research Centre said “As a person doing illustrations, it showed me that there may be different areas where you can use your skills


“I learnt that cows have four stomachs!” 



“The creativity and style of portraying information can be used in occupational therapy as a means of engaging participation

“Darryl showed me how to promote and key into clients’ skills, whilst thinking outside the box and not being afraid to do so in my future practice”

“As practitioners we must look closely at the people we help and encourage them to use the abilities they already have to help themselves


Saturday, 10 November 2012

Happy OT Week!

This week has been OT Week, an opportunity for occupational therapists across the UK to celebrate and promote OT to the public and talk about the difference it makes to people's lives. Here at SHOUT we like to be active in sharing our passion about this wonderful career and the way it helps people to overcome barriers in their lives and do the things that matter to them. So join us for our next evening seminar this coming Wednesday to hear how OTs help people with mental health problems find their way into work.  

"It works! The role of occupational therapy in employment support for mental health services" with Jennifer Fraser, Keeley Cassinello, Michael Russon and Michelle Cook on Wednesday 14th November 2012.

To attend this event about vocational rehabilitation, email the shout team shout.team@hotmail.co.uk to book your seat. Registration and light refreshments are from 5.30pm, and the talk begins at 6pm. Students and BAOT £2, non-members £3.

And here's what we got up to at Colette Beecher's talk on Cognitive Rehabilitation Techniques back in October...


Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Today! SHOUT's First Evening Seminar of the Academic Year

We're back! Autumn brings a new term and a new schedule of SHOUT events. We've worked hard over the summer to pull together a varied line-up of talks by academics and health and social care professionals.

Later today SHOUT holds the first evening seminar of the academic season with Bob Collins on "Recovery Themes in Mental Health".

Come and join us in the Mary Badlands Theatre at our Collegiate Campus from 6-7.30pm, meet students and local clinicians and hear Bob's experiences of working as a Recovery Co-ordinator at Bradford and Airedale Early Intervention Team.

The session will explore the holistic and personalised nature of recovery and the important role of occupational therapy in facilitating social reconstruction. Bob's work focuses on optimising social and occupational recovery for young people following a first episode of pyschosis. A locally developed tool, presented at this year's COT Conference in Glasgow, will be introduced as a structure for the OT process; the "LifeChart" is an assessment, goal setting and action planning tool which emphasises a strengths-based and solutions-focussed approach, as well as providing evidence of personalised recovery outcomes.

Not to be missed!
Registration and refreshments open at 5.30pm.
Entry is £2 for students and BAOT members. Email the SHOUT team to book a seat: shout.team@hotmail.co.uk or just turn up tonight!

And that's not all....."Wind Down Wednesday" takes place afterwards at The Botanical pub on Eccelsall Road: drinks and an opportunity to reflect on the session. Thoughts are tweeted to our SHOUT followers and a wider audience.

See you there!