Shining a light on Occupational Therapy Week
November 3, 2021 / 5:16 pm
Our OT department at Treloar’s is a team of 25 made up of Highly Specialist and Specialist Occupational Therapists, Technicians and our Admin Assistant who keeps them all organised!
And guess what – we have space in the team. So read on to find out what they do and find out if you could join them!
Many people haven’t come across OT’s before working here and people often ask what they do. So this is the perfect opportunity to shed some light, share the joys of their roles and celebrate their work.
They’re a busy bunch at Treloar’s as they are integral in supporting our young people with their independence and confidence. No day is the same and they have the opportunity to get stuck in with many different aspects of a young person’s day.
So what are Occupational Therapists?
Put simply, they are therapists who help people find ways to do daily activities that they need or want to do. While the word “occupation” usually means a job or profession, it also refers to everyday activities that let us live independently and bring meaning to our lives.
Vicky Pitt, our Head of Occupational Therapy tells us;
As an OT every day is about problem solving and thinking outside of the box. This means every day, every session can be different which keeps us busy and means we are never bored!
On a daily basis our team will get involved in eating and drinking assessments, wheelchair assessments, moving and positioning support, and they get very creative too and help students with switch use and introducing technology to support their independence and learning.
They might do this through:
- teaching the skills – by breaking it down into small chunks – for example mobility skill practice
- by teaching compensatory strategies/ adapting the task to make it easier to complete – for example cooking using a ready-made pasta sauce rather than cooking from scratch
- or by providing alternative equipment – such as specialist cutlery or a neater eater to enable someone to feed themselves
Some of the team shared why they love being an Occupational Therapist
- “I love the fact I’m helping someone achieve something that is meaningful to them.”
- “I love supporting the individual progress.”
- “I love toileting – even the basics mean a lot to someone!”
- “I love that every day is different.”
Vicky continues to tell us:
“Our role includes working on the house, in the classroom and supporting learning throughout all aspects of daily life, education and leisure. Our training teaches us to consider and assess physical, cognitive and sensory and emotional needs.” You can see one of our OTs doing this with Chloe, pictured in our special training kitchen.
Is it the career for you?
If you think you would like to get involved – take a look at our latest vacancies page here to see what roles we have available in the team.
We want to end the week with a big thanks to our Occupational Therapists for their hard work and the support they give all our students and families.
