1. INDEPENDENT STUDY IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY Petra Klompenhouwer

2. What is Occupational Therapy (OT)?  Put "occupation" at the heart of things.  People are occupational beings (COT).  People need occupation to be well and lead a satisfying life.  Occupational therapists help people participate in occupations, traditionally after illness or injury.

3. Independent Study  student identifies gap in current:  skills  knowledge  student finds external mentor  student prepares learning objectives with staff guidance (part of module marking)  student engages in experiential learning and completes:  business proposal  reflection

4. Experiential Learning in Context  Health course: fees paid, placements set  Changing climate in health and social care  changes in NHS structures and funding, less positions (both physical and mental health)  changes in social care, less housing and equipment, more social (community) health. Changing positions  competition  Jobs with OT skills, but not with OT in the title

5. This year students have worked with:  older people in residential homes (learning, music)  learning disabilities and work  horse riding for the disabled  sensory integration in autism and elderly  palliative care  homeless organisations  terminally ill people going home  substance misuse  eating disorders  domestic violence  drama for learning disabled and aspergers  GP practices  young carers  mainstream schools

6. General Changes in OT  move away from medical model  move away from acute care  staying in rehabilitative care; mental health; community services although all of this is changing  moving towards working with groups  moving towards looking at communities  more justification of services needed

7. Planned for the coming year  involvement of Venture Matrix = student enterprise centre  more input on writing a business case, with help from the enterprise centre  more emphasis on looking at existing skills and applying these in a different manner.  EEE4All  students going abroad

8. Question for you: 1. How can we use this module even more to prepare our students to be ready to apply for jobs with OT skills without OT in the title? 2. What skills do we need to develop in our students to enable them to make these jobs OT jobs?