9 minute read
Making OT Known
MAKING
OT KNOWN
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Advocating for the profession is a vitally important aspect of occupational therapy, and it’s an opportunity to be fun and creative
One of the largest challenges faced by occupational therapy as a profession is advocacy of the profession as a whole. There is a drive to bring more public understanding of what occupational therapy is, bringing it to a similar level of recognition that other allied healthcare professions seem to enjoy in the public eye; physiotherapy is an excellent example of an adjacent profession which enjoys a high level of recognition in the public eye, being portrayed with relative accuracy in the media on a semi-regular basis, in both fictional and news media settings. Promoting occupational therapy isn’t just about promoting the service itself - although this is a vitally important aspect of promotion - but also involves allowing people the opportunity to get to know occupational therapy as a concept. What does an OT do? What do you have to do to qualify as an OT? You of course know the answer to these, but does the average member of the public? Many people might not even know an OT personally! Advocating for OT as a profession is something that anyone can do, regardless of practice area. Leaflets are the classic way of bringing attention to something. If you’ve ever been to Edinburgh in August, you will know how vital leaflets are to selling things to the public: Edinburgh Fringe shows live and die on their marketer’s ability to get leaflets out to people on the street, bringing huge crowds in to see shows they might never have even heard of in the first instance! Of course, you’re advocating for occupational therapy, not a tight ten-minute set of knock-knock gags, but the marketing aspect is similar. Leaflets are fantastic because you can carry them around with you, they’re relatively cheap and easy to produce, and all you need to do to get them is know your way around a printer.
The Royal College of Occupational Therapists has a host of free leaflets which can be downloaded, printed (in A3 or A4) which advertise the different ways in which occupational therapists support people - like those living with anxiety and depression, or living with dementia - plus an assortment of guides in both English and Welsh. That said, if graphic design is your passion, there is nothing at all to stop you from creating your own masterpiece. Programs like Photoshop (which is a paidfor program) or Canva (which is a free online resource) will allow you to create posters and flyers to your exact specifications, which can then be distributed around your workplace or community at will. Creativity is key! If you’re confident, you might want to try gaming the ol’ Google search function by creating blogs or YouTube videos centred around the theme of “what is occupational therapy”. When people want to understand something, they look it up online; it’s what we all do. The problem is that a lot of the material we might discover is geared towards people who already have knowledge of the area, so it can be impenetrable to the layman. Take, for example, Wikipedia: someone who doesn’t understand what a “meaningful activity” is might want
to know what an OT is, but leave the website more confused than they came in. Creating blogs, YouTube videos, Instagram reels, or TikToks which explain how occupational therapy operates in a language that people not familiar with it can understand, and being open to explain and answer questions in a simple and relatable way can go miles to helping people cement their understanding of how valuable occupational therapy is as a profession. You’re the expert in this situation, and you have the ability to break down what the profession is in a “bitesized” way for people who may be coming to it for the first time to consume. Social media is an excellent way to network with other occupational therapists, but these networks can also be used for outreach to people who may not yet know the value of occupational therapy. Utilising trends on social media in a way that aligns with RCOT’s social media values can be an excellent way of bringing attention to occupational therapy, and lets you expand the understanding of the profession in a way that’s both fun and approachable to people. Using social media has the added value of being able to reach a wide array of people, from all age groups and walks of life, who might not be aware of the importance of occupational therapy, but be at an age where they are making decisions on their long-term career path. You never know - you could be one fun-but-professional TikTok away from introducing a young person to the profession that will change the trajectory of their career path forever!
Evenbreak’s Career Hive
The careers service designed by and for disabled people that could help your patients get back to work
It is well-known that working gives people more than just a regular income; it reaffirms self-worth, boosts confidence, expands skills, provides social benefits and can help promote self-identity. As occupational therapists you know how important it can be to a person’s wellbeing to find a job that they love. However, we also know how wide the disability employment gap is with disabled people only having a 52.7% employment rate compared to 81% for nondisabled people. Sadly, there are still barriers for disabled people looking for employment, but there are services out there who can help support disabled people into meaningful employment, and Evenbreak is just one of those organisations. Evenbreak is an accessible job board where disabled people can find roles with companies who are proactively looking to employ more disabled candidates. They also support employers to become more inclusive and accessible, and remove disabling barriers. Over the years, Evenbreak realised there were some real gaps in the provision of careers support for disabled people who were looking for new or better work. Candidates were reporting that often they couldn’t find careers support which was suitable and accessible for them. Sometimes it wasn’t relevant to disabled candidates, and was perhaps delivered by careers coaches with little understanding of disabling barriers in the workplace. Or the provision had restrictive eligibility criteria – dependent on their postcode, or their age. Last year Evenbreak developed the Career Hive (hive. evenbreak.co.uk) which offers a wide range of relevant and accessible careers support specifically for disabled people looking for new or better work. They recognise that everyone needs different support at different times and want to offer a diverse range of services for people to choose from. They spoke with candidates about what support they needed, and built the service around their responses. All of the services are free of charge to disabled candidates who are looking for real job opportunities, as the Career Hive is funded by the surplus income from the services they sell to employers. The hive is there to support disabled candidates and can help in the following ways:
1 FIND SUPPORT ORGANISATIONS LOCALLY
They couldn’t find a comprehensive list of organisations who offer career support to disabled people, and they didn’t want to duplicate existing services, so they created their own directory. There are many large and small organisations around – large national disability charities, and some local social enterprises. There may be one near your client that they don’t know about. Local organisations are likely to have relationships with local employers, so may be better placed to assist than Evenbreak themselves. Candidates can search by postcode and by what kind of support they are looking for.
2 ACCESS ONLINE RESOURCES
There are many online resources on employability, but most don’t address the barriers that disabled candidates face. The dilemma about whether or not to mention disability, or ask for adjustments, for example. Evenbreak offer a searchable range of resources – videos, templates, articles, etc., looking at employability skills through a disability lens.
3 SEARCH FOR JOBS ON A SPECIALIST JOB BOARD
Employers who are looking for more disabled applicants advertise their roles on Evenbreak’s accessible job board (evenbreak.co.uk). Candidates can search by location, employer, job type and others, and even set up job alerts to be informed if any jobs come up meeting their criteria.
4 ATTEND ONLINE WORKSHOPS AND WEBINARS
Evenbreak run online webinars and workshops on a range of subjects, including writing CVs and attending interviews, and also on some of the softer skills, such as networking, or developing resilience and grit. There is also a library of recordings of previous webinars, so you can find exactly what you need.
5 COME TO ‘MEET THE EMPLOYER’ EVENTS
There are regular online events with employers, who talk about the kind of jobs they offer, what the recruitment process looks like, and how to ask for adjustments. There is also the opportunity to ask them questions as well, so candidates can get to know the organisation better before applying.
6 RECEIVE ONE-TO-ONE COACHING SESSIONS FROM CAREER COACHES
Some candidates might need one-to-one support, and their team of careers professionals (who all have lived experience of disability) can offer this. Candidates may just want their CV reviewing, or some preparation for an interview, or they may need some support with confidence building, or identifying transferable skills. The support is tailored to what the individual needs, and delivered in a way that suits them – video call, email, telephone, WhatsApp, with a BSL interpreter, whatever is required.
7 COMPLETE AN E-LEARNING COURSE
A range of e-learning programmes are being developed so candidates can learn the skills they need at a pace that suits them.
There is no charge, and no complicated eligibility criteria – if your client is disabled, currently looking for a new job or better work and would like support in their job search, Evenbreak can help.
Visit hive.evenbreak.co.uk to explore what’s on offer and access as many services as you need.
