Please contact us via the email address at the end of the e-Newsletter to contribute articles of interest to RCOT Scottish Eastern Regional members for publication.
SPOTLIGHT
With seasonal change upon us, we continue to develop and move with the times. In this e-Newsletter we have included reflections and reports from both the RCOT Annual Conference and The Royal College of Psychiatrists International Congress, both held in June 2017. Our local members have been busy attending these national and international events that serve to develop practice in a wide range of areas.The Committee would like to thank our members for their contributions to this e-Newsletter and for sharing their insights from these events. We hopeto keep you updated on our latest local developmentsand provide you with information regarding upcoming events, such as our local networking and social event - our traditional Scottish Eastern Region curry night in Edinburgh on 10th November 2017 (venue to be confirmed)!
CPD EVENTS
Upcoming Future Committee Meetings:
Date: Thursday, 9th November 2017
All provisionally to be held at Westerhailes Healthy Living Centre at 17.45/18.00 start.
Royal College of Occupational Therapists Annual Conference 2018:
The Royal College of Occupational Therapists Annual Conference is the only national conference run by the occupational therapy professional body. It is primarily a scientific based programme with keynote and plenary sessions. Next year’s Annual Conference is taking place in the Waterfront, Belfast.
Call for papers: Submit an abstract!Promote your successes and share good practice at the only UK occupational therapy conference delivered by the professional body.
Deadline for abstract submission is 6November 2017.
Registration for Conference is now open!
LOCAL ACTIVITIES AND SHARING KNOWLEDGE
Country Specific RCOT Policy Developments:
Each UK country RCOT policy officer has been leading the occupational therapy profile and identifying a manifesto for respective policy officers and health ministers.
There are key messages to share, and to identify developments RCOT wish to see taken forward in each respective country.
These key messages are useful for managers on development of services too.
This is the address:
FUNDING: Lifelong Learning Grants (LLE):
Looking for alternative funding option for CPD? Consider applying for a Lifelong Learning Grant (LLE). The grants are to enable participation in short courses, workshops, conferences or other activities related to continuous professional development and the promotion of the profession.
Individuals will be able to claim up to a maximum of £200 and successful applicants will be required to submit a report/article (minimum 500 words) within one month of the end of the event, giving feedback on the activity and how it benefited their practice.
Applications and more information can be downloaded from submitted
Event Report - RCOT Annual Conference, June 2017 in Birmingham By Claire Martin:
"Michele Harrison, Linda Irvine, Laura Dickson and I wanted to share our learning from a Pilot Project called “Progressing on Both Fronts”, which is being implemented in both the Royal Edinburgh Hospital and a supported accommodation residence at Firrhill. Our abstract entitled “Utilising the Residential Environmental Impact Scale (REIS) to increase patient participation in activities within a ward environment” was accepted to the RCOT Annual Conference as a “facilitated poster”.
The audience contained some very experienced occupational therapists who are experts on both the Model of Human Occupation(MOHO) and REIS, which did get my heart beating a bit faster than usual! Nerves were soon dispelled as the audience reacted positively to the information on how we worked with the rest of our multi-disciplinary team to improve the ward environment. I felt that the experience of preparing the presentation was very useful in structuring my thoughts around the benefits that REIS offers occupational therapists. I enjoyed the experience and was struck by how supportive occupational therapists are to each other.
Attending the Conference was inspiring and motivating. I particularly enjoyed attending the “Occupation Station” sessions which took the format of actively participating in a meaningful activity. The two I chose were tabletop gardening and slow stitching. It was wonderful to have the experience of being a participant in both groups. Tabletop gardening allowed us to experience the care and attention that occupational therapists in palliative care are taking around offering horticulture therapy to people at the end of their lives. It felt very therapeutic to touch the terracotta pot, feel the cold heaviness of the soil and smell the wonderful aromas of the different herbs that had been selected for us to pot up. Reflecting on our practice in our Greenspace Gardening Group, I was reminded that sometimes it is important to not always choose materials because they are the most cost effective. Consideration needs to be given to the look, feel and durability of items that will be treasured by group participants. We were encouraged to take away the plants we had potted, so I have a lovely reminder of the session in the form of a pineapple mint which is thriving in my back garden. The slow stitching session allowed participants to focus on the physical action of hand sewing. As we all worked steadily conversations developed about challenges working within mental health services, including time to undertake therapy treatment sessions with patients and the challenges of hot desking. The discussions were very good humoured and left me feeling energised.
On the journey back to Scotland I reflected that my learning outcomes had all been achieved. I felt more confident about verbal presentations and came away with ideas to implement in the workplace.
Event Report - RCOT Annual Conference, June 2017 in Birmingham By Laura Dickson:
"Laura Dickson was awarded a contribution towards attending and presenting a practice development poster at the RCOT Annual Conference which took place at the Birmingham International Conference Centre (ICC) on 19th and 20th June 2017. The poster was entitled ‘Promoting Cycling and Walking in Psychiatric Rehabilitation’.
Since September 2016 Laura has been working in Psychiatric Rehabilitation at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.
She is passionate about active travel, healthy living initiatives and cycling for physical and mental health.
Occupational therapists who work in Psychiatric Rehabilitation are well placed to influence how people’s choices can directly impact their physical and mental health. People with severe and enduring mental health conditions generally have poorer outcomes in physical health than the general population. This can be due to relatively inactive daily routines, high levels of medication and the restrictions of the hospital environment.
Through partnership working with third sector organisations such as My Adventure Edinburgh and Sustrans, Laura and colleagues have created various health promotion groups which include a walking group and cycling group. This has led to increased patient participation in exercise and time spent outdoors, and offers the benefits of active travel to explore the local community. We sought to create a clear pathway in relation to the development of moving on skills, maintaining interest in cycling as a leisure activity and a practical and cheap way to travel, as well as developing practical skills in bicycle maintenance.
The creation and development of these groups have enabled occupational therapists within the Royal Edinburgh Hospital to publicise and evidence their important role in health promotion. A further aim is to highlight the challenges and barriers to exercise within this client group, and considers ways to address these.
It was recognised that presenting at the Conference would provide opportunities to network with other professionals doing similar projects in mental health and rehabilitation, and provide learning outcomes for delegates around linking in with third sector organisations and how to overcome barriers for this client group in accessing sport and leisure opportunities. Laura’s facilitated poster presentation was very positively received and led to interesting discussion and debate with co-presenters on the benefits and challenges of cycling as an intervention, particularly for people with severe and enduring mental health conditions.
Following the conference, Laura has fed back further ideas to her colleagues and department about expanding the cycling project. She has also been requested to share resources such as the group protocol, risk assessments etc to other delegates who were interested in setting up a similar project.
One of the third sector organisations Laura has linked in with has agreed to return to the hospital next month for the annual Summer Fete, to provide a ‘smoothie bike’ stall. This will promote both exercise and healthy living initiatives through a fun and interesting activity. A further aim of this is to provoke interest and generate discussion and conversation around cycling and active travel, in a safe and approachable manner.
Laura would like to thank the Royal College of Occupational Therapists Eastern Division for supporting her in attending the RCOT Annual Conference. It was a valuable learning experience as well as benefitting practice in presenting ongoing work and evidencing our important role in health promotion".
Event report -The Royal College of Psychiatrists International Congress, June 2017, Edinburgh , by Catherine McIntosh:
"My colleague, Claire Martin and I, with the support of our manager Marcus Claridge, had developed a poster entitled ‘The Role of Occupational Therapy in the Intensive Home Treatment Team’. We used the Model of Human Occupation Screening Tool(MOHOST) as an outcome measure and qualitative feedback to demonstrate the value of our rols. We were encouraged and supported by Dr Ihsan Kader, Consultant Psychiatrist in theIntensive Home Treatment Team(IHTT), to submit the poster to the above congress in Edinburgh. We were delighted it was accepted, to have our poster on display at the event under the topic of Service Evaluation/Audit, and to be able to attend on that particular topic day. We hoped to be able to promote occupational therapy through the poster and to take advantage of the many learning opportunities.
Our first task was to put our poster up on display, and have a quick look at the other posters – we noted that most of the other posters on display that day were of course authored by psychiatrists or psychiatry trainees.
The first session we attended was the keynote session led by the President of the World Psychiatric Association, and this was interesting as it was very much focused on social psychiatry – social and legal discrimination against individuals with mental illness. Evidence was presented from around the world detailing the discrimination experienced engaging in occupations in different cultures, eg employment, marriage and voting. The call was for psychiatry to be increasingly aware and to advocate for social and human rights for all individuals with or without mental illness.
In all I attended five sessions. The one that I found personally most influential and inspirational to me as an occupational therapist in mental health practice was part of a Quality Improvement session. The topic was ‘Preventing Suicide’ and discussed recent research and the areas of confidentiality and consent. What made this so inspiring and moving was the presence of two speakers who had both been personally affected by suicides of close family members. They spoke honestly and openly to a crowded room about the role of health professionals, and their feelings of being excluded in the treatment of their family members. They also reflected on their belief of the breakdown in communication between health professionals involved in their loved one’s care. They challenged the audience to consider our own responses to managing risk in our practices, which it certainly has made me do.
Another session I found professionally relevant to my practice development was relating to traumatic stress – namely Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) diagnosis, criteria and treatment. One of the speakers was a survivor of a traumatic event. He spoke eloquently of his experience as a hostage and of his subsequent treatment within mental health services. There was a very useful discussion which followed on the best current evidence for treatment of individuals who have experienced trauma, and the roles of various health professionals.
Of course, the main reason we attended was to be able to have our poster on display to the conference attendees to highlight the contribution of occupational therapy within our mental health team. We were able to be present with the poster at breaks and lunch to reflect on our poster. There was a good amount of interest and positive feedback given. We had also produced smaller A4 prints of the poster for people to take away, and people took advantage of this. I would like to thank theRoyal Edinburgh and Associated Services(REAS) Occupational Therapy Department and Scottish Eastern Region for funding our attendance".
RCOT NEWS
UK Occupational Therapy Research Foundation (UKOTRF) grants 2018 – call for proposals:
The UKOTRF is now inviting research proposals to be submitted for the 2018 funding round. The aim of funding support is to meet identified research priorities within the profession and to build research capacity and capability within occupational therapy. The following grants are available:
- Research Priority Grant (up to 2 grants of up to £80,000 each)
- Research Career Development Grant (up to 3 grants of up to £10,000 each)
All enquiries should be directed to the R&D Administrator, in the first instance:
E-journals Available to RCOT Members:
Looking for ejournal articles for research, practice or study? Access the RCOT suite of ejournals including:
- American Journal of Occupational Therapy
- British Journal of Occupational Therapy
- Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy
- Clinical Rehabilitation
- Health and Social Care in the Community
- Journal of Occupational Science
- Occupational Therapy International
- Open Journal of Occupational Therapy
- OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health
- Work
Resources for Professional Development Support:
We are pleased to report that an exciting new Hub entitled Resources for Professional Development Support has gone live and is replacing our previous Mentorship scheme. The Hub is a curated list of mentorship and coaching services available throughout the UK. These resources have been collected with the aim of helping you in your professional development. Further information can be found here:
Please feel free to pass this information to your networks.
RCOT FELLOWSHIP AND MERIT AWARDS 2018 – CALL FOR NOMINATIONS:
The Merit Awards are for occupational therapists recognised by their peers in the occupational therapy community for excellence in their sphere of work. These awards, introduced in 2008, are open to all BAOT members (students, practitioners, associate members, managers, educators, researchers, new practitioners) with a minimum of two full consecutive membership years.
Additional information and nomination forms:
Deadline for return of Merit Awards nominations: Monday 27th November 2017.
For more details, please contact Dominique Le Marchand on 020 7450 2317 or
Quick Facts Documents:
The RCOT is pleased to announce that a new series of ‘Quick Facts’ documents is now available, for members, on the RCOT website at:
Occupational Therapy - Improving Lives, Saving Money Campaign - The Value of Occupational Therapy for Children and Young People:
Building on the successes of the "Occupational Therapy - Improving Lives, Saving Money" campaign, The Royal College of Occupational Therapists will be focusing a workstream on the value of occupational therapy for children and young people over the next year.
For more information visit:
CONTACTS
Committee Chairman: Hannah Cairns
Email:
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Royal College of Occupational Therapists.
All rights reserved.