SHOUT & SHU OT Students Attend COTSS-IP Conference in York!

On Monday Sheffield Hallam OT students, including members of the SHOUT team, headed up to York for two days to attended the College of Occupational Therapists' Independent Practice Specialist Section Conference. Returning enthused and inspired, they have shared their learning and experiences below.

And thanks to fantastic promotion and representation of SHOUT by our members, our SHOUT conference poster won first prize for it's clarity and message! Well done SHOUT, way to go!!!

Attending COTSS-IP

By Sam Evans, Jonny Duval, Emily Bode, Jodie Hall and Emma Wilsher

Day One

The first session was led by Pat Eyres, who discussed the resources available for making business achievable.  She made it clear that there is support available (such as small business start-up loans) to help us get the ball rolling. 

She made a number of practical suggestions such as contacting organisations for work in January when they often have money to spend before the end of the financial year.

Pat told the story of how she began practicing independently and explained that there is a great deal of work out there if you are prepared to take the leap.

Janet Wilkinson, from 3x3 Consulting, led a very interactive session in which we were asked at the outset to write down how much we thought we were worth per hour.  She reminded us of our incredible skill set and encouraged us to remember that "you can be lovely and still get paid!" At the end of the session we were asked to look again at how much we had valued ourselves and see if our view had changed. Many of those in attendance had added value to their services!

In an effort to simplify the process of setting out on the path to Independent practice, we were told that there are only a few things we need to start up a business:

·        A computer with internet access

·        A description of what you do

·        A set of rates

·        Business cards

·        An e-mail address

·        A separate bank account

·        Transport

·        A network

·        Knowing how many hours/days you want to charge for

We need to think of the extra costs involved in working independently in order to be paid correctly and not be underpaid.

David Bailey spoke to us about insurance and told us that we must keep records, not just for a few years, but even after death!  Apparently it is a good idea to leave the location of your records in your will, in case someone tries to sue your estate. 

Finally we got to network with many wonderful OTs who were all looking to take the leap into Independent Practice. Hayley from We DO Therapy was able to give some great reasons why we should use social media - and how she promotes her work via the use of social media. Hayley uses twitter and a blog to show how she cares. A large percentage of their service users have come to them via social media.

Day Two

Heinz Wolff presented the case for care4care to address the problem of "who will look after you when you're old?". It is a solution for our strained systems, the economic climate and the ageing population. This was an inspiring idea based on the value of volunteering, which he defined as "doing something you are not told to do". This volunteering initiative would work through building up hours to spend on care in the future, as time isn't affected by inflation and an hour is always worth an hour - no one can turn around and tell you that your hour is only worth 45 minutes. We reflected that although this is an amazing concept, we wonder how a transition to this type of society would work as it would take a transformation of culture. One practitioner said that the systems would all need to fall to pieces before this could happen.

Prof. Wolff also espoused the phrase "We live in the age of error, not the age of terror" and began to discuss how the "errorists" such as bankers are the ones to fear more than the "terrorists".

Are you aware that only 25% of people can work towards SMART goals? OT Jen Gash believes we need to be thinking more creatively enabling us to step into roles that are away from traditional roles.

From Jen’s talk there were discussions about community and the ‘Xfactor syndrome’, this is, how people are out to be rich and famous and forget what is most important:

·        Caring

·        Compassion

·        Communication

·        Community/citizenship

Finally, We were praised highly for representing SHOUT and Sheffield Hallam.  The overall feedback was that the poster was concise, succinct, clear and powerful and due to this we got the majority vote in the poster competition and won first prize! We'd like to thank COTSS-IP for allowing us to present our SHOUT poster and for the very kind prize of a £25 gift voucher.

To Summarise

The conference was very inspiring and made us aware of the wide range of opportunities for OTs outside of statutory practice - even for the newly qualified.  We were reminded of our great strengths as a profession and encouraged to think more highly of ourselves and not to undersell ourselves.  The common theme between speakers was that OTs need to break away from the pigeon-holed view of the OT role common within the NHS.

Some twitter links for you to follow:

@jw3x3

@ProfHeinzWolf

@WeDoTherapy

First SHOUT of the Semester! Tonight: Chris Mayers on Spirituality

SHOUT is back for the new term and tonight Chris Mayers will be getting us off to a great start with her talk on 'The relationship between occupation, person-centred practice and spirituality'.

Chris has worked as an occupational therapy practitioner, lecturer and researcher in London, Dublin and York. Her key areas of research and interest are the use of person-centred practice within occupational therapy; defining spirituality, assessing and meeting spiritual needs; the close relationship between spirituality and the meaningful occupationals of individuals; and the European Cooperation in OT Research and Occupational Science (ECOTROS).

Chris developed the Mayers' Lifestyle Questionnaire (1), (2) and (3); person-centred tools which enable people to state their quality of life priorities at the beginning of occupational therapy intervention.

Within the session we will be exploring and discussing a working definition of spirituality for occupational therapy practice; the relationship of this to occupational engagement; the relationship of spirituality to health and well-being; and ways of assessing spiritual needs.

To book your place at this popular event email shout.event@gmail.com and your place will be confirmed.

The talk will take place in the Robert Winston Building on our Collegiate Campus. Registration and light refreshments are from 5.30pm in the reception/cafe, with the talk starting at 6pm and finishing before 7.30pm. 

Costs: £2 for students and BAOT members and £3 for non-members.

We look forward to seeing you at our first event of the season!

They're here! SHOUT runs new student induction afternoon

Yesterday 60 new students joined the world of occupational therapy as they began the first day of their Sheffield Hallam University undergraduate OT course. After a morning of orientation and course information (not to mention the dreaded round of immunisations!), they spent the afternoon with SHOUT letting off some steam.

Getting to know 60 other students can be a bit overwhelming, so we played the "Name Game" to help us store each others' names in our long term memory through repetition and association by assigning a descriptor to ourselves beginning with the same letter as our names and an action to demonstrate it. Awesome Alisons, Beaming Beckys and Eager Edens ensued... and much giggling. But it worked! So remembering everyone's names is now one less thing to worry about :)

One of SHOUT's favourite activities of the afternoon was "Draw your ideal OT". In groups of 5 or 6, the L4 students came up with some fantastic ideas for essential OT attributes, tools and resources. Golden ears were added to one drawing to highlight the importance of listening and good communication; a backbone was added to another drawing to express the need to be resilient and stand your ground in a changing healthcare environment; and extra-long green-trouser-clad legs were drawn to enable the OT to take everything in his / her stride. Great work, showing just how switched on to professional attributes this cohort already are.

We hope you settle in during your first week L4s, your future profession awaits :)
SHOUT

SHOUT welcomes new SHU OT students at pre-enrolment day

It's September... It can only mean one thing.... SHOUT is back!
But before we all head back to the books, there's still time for some fun. Yesterday we enjoyed spending the morning welcoming 60 new Sheffield Hallam L4 occupational therapy students at their pre-enrolment day.

Talking to groups of 20 students at a time for about 40 minutes, we first got to know each other with ice breakers (all non-scary, we promise!) before explaining about SHOUT and its role as a local group of the Trent Region British Association of Occupational Therapy (BAOT). We look forward to seeing our new peers at our upcoming monthly Wednesday night talks designed to support CPD, and hope they will join us as members of the SHOUT team in the future.

But there was more! Each student grabbed a green stripy SHOUT goodie bag as they left, filled with sweets, information and BAOT freebies. After all, it wouldn't be a SHOUT event without an I  ☕  OT badge!

Good luck on your first day L4s! SHOUT is YOUR student group, so don't be afraid to ask us any questions or directions on campus when you see us around.

Our first event is a talk on spirituality by Chris Mayers at 6pm on Wednesday 2nd October in the Robert Winston Building - we'll be emailing you details during your first week.

See you soon!
SHOUT x

Students, thinking of attending COT Conference next year? SHOUT share their experiences

SHOUT with SHU lecturers & poster presenters  Julie Walters and Shirley Masterson 

Our aim at SHOUT, along with promoting occupational therapy, is to help support continuous professional development, both for our members and for those who attend our monthly Wednesday night talks. The range of health and social care topics covered at our events by clinicians and academics, the certificates we hand out to attendees and the thoughts we share at Wednesday Wind Down all aim to promote learning, reflection and provide evidence for CPD files. 

So it was only natural when a few of our members attended the COT Conference 2013 in Glasgow in June that they would reflect on their experiences and think about how themes encountered at conference related to study and future professional lives. 

And their advice to students thinking of going next year? 
"Go for it! It might feel like a long way to travel, at the end of a busy academic year when all you can think about is summer holidays, but the wide range of talks, presentations and people you meet make it more than worth it. And of course, there are the freebies! Who doesn't want a travel frisbee, a bendy ruler and a years' supply of pens?!"

SHOUT with Bournemouth lecturer and poster presenter Kirsty Stanley @Kirstyes

Flying the green flag of OT

Emma Wilsher, Sheffield Hallam University undergraduate and SHOUT member.

As a second year student coming to an OT annual COT conference for the first time, with my fellow SHOUT team members Julia-Helen Collins and Gill Smith who had been once before, I was overjoyed by the amount of OTs who came far and wide to celebrate, learn, share their knowledge and advocate for what they believe in. The green flags shone high and bright, as OTs came to be one and share their passion and love. The community vibe that was amongst us reminded me why I was becoming an OT and why I wanted to be part of the OT family. A sense of belonging was instilled in me and my passion to work in mental health was reinforced by the opening speech of Michael Iwama, who opened the COT conference on a high as I watched all OTs applaud his views on public health and saw how we were all singing from the same hymn sheet.

Sue Parkinson gave a magnificent talk on ‘beyond the model of human occupation screening tool’ and how the tool enables an OT to connect with the service user and make it more meaningful and client centred towards them.  She talked about the meaning and purpose of balanced lifestyle and environment and how this is crucial to enable a therapeutic process. I really felt this was beneficial to my area of interest and helped me to understand more about the model and its screening tool, enabling me to take away knowledge that I will be able to one day apply as a qualified OT.

The academia and copious amounts of assignments during the second year - all with hand-in dates around the same time – had been a test of my desire to fly the green OT flag. Trying to balance home life and university life as a single parent is difficult – spinning plates springs to mind. It’s a challenge for all future OTs to enforce what we are taught in lectures, seminars and workshops about maintaining a ‘balanced lifestyle’ and instilling meaningful activities into our own lives. Sue Parkinson emphasised this in her talk  - taking care of body and mind are key themes that contribute to a person’s sense of competence and pleasure, while leisure activities contribute to physical, social, emotional and cognitive health.

Going to conference and listening to many talks which all had a part in inspiring me, gave me great faith.  Listening to students who were talking about their findings from their dissertation papers and the results they had concluded allowed me to reflect on my second year and going forward into my final year of university. Reflection is key in my development, enabling me to see why I am doing this course and what I want to achieve and where I want to be in the coming years. Next year I want to stand where those students stood disclosing my findings and results from my dissertation, while flying my green flag high as a qualified OT.

I would like to shout out to all future OT students and those who doubt their abilities or the course - don’t lose the green flag – go to conference and let all there inspire you, speak to the stall holders who have a wealth of knowledge and to the many of people who are there and will one day be your OT family. This should relight the enthusiasm and bring back the reasons why you want to become a high flying OT.

With our poster

Three days of doing, being and becoming: a student’s journey along the "river of OT" at Conference 2013

Gill Smith, Sheffield Hallam University undergraduate and SHOUT member

Having just completed an Occupational Science elective at university, I may have simply been more attuned to Wilcock’s (1999) “Reflections on Doing, Being and Becoming”, but in many of the lectures or presentations I attended at the COT Conference 2013 I encountered this theme.

Conference was very much an opportunity for “doing”. With my fellow SHOUT team members Julia-Helen Collins and Emma Wilsher, I enjoyed the opportunity to exhibit a poster about our BAOT student group, as well as experience some of the challenges of later life by testing out an “age suit” in the exhibitor hall; great fun but also very thought provoking.

Just “being” in the company of so many occupational therapists from diverse areas of practice and around the country was good for the soul and encouraged reflection on my personal development and aspirations. But for me, more than anything else, conference was my “becoming”.

Before conference I pleased to see the end of a busy second year of seemingly endless essays and thankful for the summer break but now, after COT 2013, I am energised and ready for the rest of my student journey! Attending conference last year as an enthusiastic first year student, I was a little overwhelmed and eager to explore the community of OT. My journey, from student to practitioner, had begun as I jumped into the river of occupational therapy. This year, the current of conference has swept me further along my path, emersing me, as I ebb ever closer to employment and decisions about which way my career will flow. 

It is an exciting as well as challenging time to be becoming an occupational therapist with the many changes to the NHS and emerging areas of practice. Michael Iwama’s opening message to bring occupational therapy into the “river of public health” emphasised this. In my studies, it is the positive role of OT in preventing ill health and enabling people to maintain occupations, roles and identities through health promotion that has excited me most. Iwama’s call to take our practice into our own neighbourhoods spoke powerfully to me – I know now that this is where I want to be, working to make a difference to individuals’ lives within communities.

As an OT-in-training, attending conference is a fantastic way to become more professionally-minded. The networking opportunities with clinicians who may one day employ you, and the chances to talk to theorists whose books you have read, quoted in essays and committed to memory, is exhilarating. Much like practice placements, conference offers a tantalising glimpse of the working world of occupational therapy - it is so near and yet at times feels so far from reach as another year of study beckons in September. But there is still so much to learn and experience at university as I stream towards graduation, and hearing other students give excellent presentations was the motivation I needed to take the plunge, attempt to submit my own abstract to conference and hopefully become a presenter next year.

And it is this “becoming” that leads to “belonging”. Elaine Hunter spoke of her honour at being part of “Team Casson” through her delivery of the Elisabeth Casson Memorial Lecture. In a smaller way, I have enjoyed being part of “Team Conference”, a wide community of amazing people who are inspiring me to become one of them and, ultimately, find my place within OT. What a privilege it is to know that this is my future; that I may soon be able to call myself an occupational therapist and belong to this profession.

With Michael Iwama

Watch out for Julia-Helen Collins' reflection and advice coming soon....  

Suiting-up in the exhibitor hall...

Although we had a giggle trying on exhibitor Hewi's "age suit", commissioned by them and designed by a grad student to give an idea of what older age might feel like, it was also a very useful and emotive learning tool. The suit enabled us to gain an appreciation of the difficulties older people may face negotiating day-to-day occupations with impairments in their movement, vision or hearing. It was an uncomfortable, tiring and somewhat isolating experience and we felt quite emotional wearing it at times. Just walking and trying to position ourselves comfortably in Careflex's specialist chair was a challenge.

Tea and talks
Downtime between presentations was a great opportunity to grab a cup of tea or coffee and chat with conference friends old and new. It was great to put screen names from the online Twitter community to faces including the lovely @Helen_OTUK, @Kirstyes, @CharOTReilly and @Symbolic_Life. Cumbria University Masters student Michelle Perryman (@Symbolic_Life) has set up a fantastic project at her university to support OT students emerging into practice, find out more here: @Emerging2OT

It was wonderful to see both former and current Sheffield Hallam students deliver presentations or discuss their posters:

Becky Williams, a former Sheffield Hallam student, delivered a poster presentation about her experiences in US trauma centers as a result of the Nottingham Roosevelt Scholarship. Becky's drive, passion and warmth is inspirational, so its no surprise she was named an NHS Emerging Leader for 2013. We're hoping Becky will be able to speak at SHOUT this coming academic year! You can find her on twitter @_beckyOT and read her blog here: http://blog.travelpod.com/members/beckywilliamson

We enjoyed watching SHU graduate Fiona Roberston talking on boxing as occupation, and saw fantastic posters on role-emerging placements by SHU Masters students Hayley Pedley Clues, Charlotte Ann Wise, Suzy Booth and Raedin O'Sullivan. 

We were also really impressed with Arrows Connect, two Scottish graduates who have set up their own company producing easy-to-use CPD software. Check out their website here: http://www.arrowsconnect.com

Thank you 
We would like to say a really big THANK YOU to our local BAOT regional group, Trent Region, for generously aiding us with our conference tickets - thank you for your support to students, it is so appreciated.

That's all for now, but we'll be back in September with our new line-up of speakers and events for the next academic year. See you soon!

SHOUT

SHOUT attends COT Conference 2013!

We've had a wonderful time at the 2013 COT Conference in Glasgow, presenting our poster about how our local BAOT student group, SHOUT, helps promote continuing professional development for students (and clinicians). A highlight for us was the opportunity to meet Michael Iwama and so many other inspiring OTs and students from across the UK. We came away glowing about OT and proud to be a tiny part of the huge, diverse and beautiful OT community. Although we were, perhaps, more than a little relieved to be taking off our green T-shirts after wearing them for 3 days straight...!

Watch this space for our write up of our conference experiences and our forth coming programme of events for next academic year....

See you in September!

SHOUT is coming to a close for this academic year... we're packing away our green T-shirts, the biscuits have all been eaten and its time to turn our thoughts to planning next year's SHOUT seminars over the summer break. 

We did have an extra SHOUT squeezed into the last week in May (29th) with Venture Matrix, but this has now been postponed til next year to reach the new cohort of students. Thank you for all your support in attending the monthly seminars, we're looking forward to seeing you again in September! A timetable of speakers will follow soon.

We'll still be around over the summer getting involved in various activities and SHOUT is proud to be presenting a poster about our group at this year's COT Conference - keep an eye out for us.

See you soon!
SHOUT