Day in the Life

A day in the life of...

Margaret Spencer Margaret shares the wide and varied roles she undertakes on a daily basis as a consultant occupational therapy practitioner Each month... we talk to a different occupational therapist to see what a typical day is for them and explain a little more about their role. Spencer Margaret

What is your current role?

I work as a consultant occupational therapy practitioner, and I’ve been delivering professional supervision for twenty years. I do this alongside my other roles of RCOT Chair of Trent Region, delivering relationships and sexuality workshops in partnership with Love2MeetU, a dating agency for people with learning disabilities, reviewing publications as part of my role within the RCOT Publications Group, and my latest invitation to join the RCOT External Reference Group for supervision and guidance.

Describe a typical day...

My day starts at 8am when I check my emails. Then I have a zoom call with the co-author of our book and the publisher from McGraw Hill to finalise what the cover will look like and review our final edits of the second edition of ‘Surviving your Placements in Health and Social Care’ for AHPs. Publication date is this spring, so all deadlines now are crucial. After that, I see my first supervision of the day, a case manager who uses the supervision space to reflect and review all the clients on their case load. Over the years I get to know the clients so I can follow their progress and celebrate their achievements with the therapists. Then it’s more emails and tweets as I keep up with my social media, reviewing relevant new reading or training courses which could be useful for any of the people I am working with. I also work with counsellors and staff from Inquest, a charity who investigate state-related deaths and send check-in emails regularly. 1.30pm, and a phone call to the Cayman Islands where it’s 8.30am, so the start of the working day for the independent occupational therapist. We review the range of group work that has been planned and delivered this month explore online training opportunities and discuss any new referrals. 4pm marks the end of the day at a Therapy Farm, a non-profit organisation - time to review the pathway for the service during the supervision session with the occupational therapist who delivers Animal Facilitated Therapy. Discussion of potential funding, volunteering, and future projects is always sobering but upbeat and creative.

Later, I log on to Zoom and have a catch up with the amazing Trent Region Committee team, who are supporting the CPD event that I am delivering this evening for the regional occupational therapists called “Recording your CPD for the HCPC audit made soooo easy!” Everyone starts to log on and the training session begins after a few technical hitches. The session, which is sold out, goes smoothly, with a request for a repeat session later in the year.

What’s the hardest part of your role?

The hardest thing is that there are not enough hours in the day. I am so lucky because as the old adage goes: “If you find a job you love, you will never have to work a day in your life…”

What’s the best part of your role?

The absolute best part of my role is working with all the amazing people I encounter through my job. I have the privilege of working in so many different areas, the NHS, charities, the independent sector, and independent occupational therapists running their own companies all wanting to deliver the best occupational therapy service they can.