Dr Sir David Henderson
THE
ORIGINS OF OT
Occupational therapy in the UK can trace its roots back to the Scottish Association of Occupational Therapists, which would have turned 90 this year.
I
n the west end of Glasgow lies the old Gartnavel Royal Hospital. Despite its unassuming nature, the old Tudor-style buildings on the hospital’s grounds were once home to the birthplace of occupational therapy in the United Kingdom, and 2022 marked the 90th birthday of the Scottish Association of Occupational Therapists.
and occupational therapy pioneer Eleanor Clarke Sagle. Henderson was influenced by their approach to occupation, and sought to establish something similar in Scotland. To that end, he appointed Dorothea Robertson as a teacher in occupational therapy in December 1922, and oversaw the building of the occupational therapy pavilion, which would be completed in 1924.
In 1921, Dr Sir David Henderson became superintendent of what was at the time called the Glasgow Royal Mental Hospital. He had previously spent time in America, working in Baltimore’s John Hopkins Hospital alongside renowned psychiatrist Professor Adolf Meyer
Robertson, who had previously worked as a welfare supervisor in a munitions factory in Gretna Green, would learn on the job, and utilise her understanding of the arts that she had refined on a handicrafts course at the Glasgow School of Art. Patients at Gartnavel would
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