WFOT Update

Dr Emma George, WFOT 1st Alternative Delegate

Welcoming New WFOT Leadership

The WFOT 34th Council Meeting was held online in January. Adam Lo represented OTA and voted on its behalf to elect new officers to executive positions. We congratulate the following members elected:

• Samantha Shann (United

Kingdom)–President • Tracey Partridge-Tricker (New

Zealand)–Vice President Finance • Andrew Freeman (Canada)–

Programme Coordinator

Practice Development

Thank you to Marilyn Pattison who most recently served as president following an incredible era with WFOT beginning in 1992. During this time, WFOT has grown from 43 members to 105, more than 1000 approved occupational therapy programs worldwide, and more than 100,000 students. You can read Marilyn’s farewell message online: https://wfot.org/ news/2021/presidents-farewell-message

WFOT Resources

A recent WFOT publication on Economic Evaluations reported on the impact of occupational therapy in relation to the cost of providing a service. A Quality Evaluation Strategy Tool (QUEST) is presented as a guide for evaluation and details appropriateness, sustainability, accessibility, efficiency, effectiveness, person-centredness, and safety. Access the report through the WFOT resources page: https://www.wfot.org/resources/ economic-evaluations-a-resource-for-occupational-therapy

WFOT International Congress and Exhibition 2022

The next WFOT Congress is scheduled for Sunday to Wednesday, 27-30 March 2022 in Paris, France. The congress will be a hybrid event, so you can attend in-person or online. The theme is ‘Occupational R-Evolution’. Registration will open in August 2021.

Anti-Racism in Occupational Therapy

The WFOT (2020) condemns systemic racism as an abuse of human rights. Occupational therapists globally are calling for action on racism through social media, professional associations, and in education and research. As I aim to improve my own competency in this area, and to share these experiences with members of OTA, I have sought opportunities to challenge my own thinking about racism and move towards being actively anti-racist. The author of New York Times bestseller How to Be an Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi, wrote: “Antiracism is a powerful collection of antiracist policies that lead to racial equity and are substantiated by antiracist ideas” (Kendi 2019, p.20).

To learn more from an occupational perspective, I attended a training on ‘AntiRacism in OT: Uprooting White Supremacy and Steps for Combatting Racism in Your Practice’. This online workshop was hosted by POTAC (Psychiatric Occupational Therapy Action Coalition), an organisation based in the US with a mission to support the practice of psychiatric occupational therapy through education, information, and advocacy for consumers, health-care providers and the community (POTAC, n.d.).

Driven by a motivation to be personally challenged, and burdened with a sense of professional responsibility to bring this content to the Australian conversation, I woke up at 3am and logged on to Zoom for the session. I was joined by 60 occupational therapists from different corners of the world. A team of occupational therapists facilitated discussion and created safe spaces to unpack issues of white privilege, race as a social construct, implicit bias, microaggressions, white fragility, and being an ally. Historically, within countries like Australia, our profession has not been known for diversity, and most occupational therapists are white. Therefore, those in positions of power and service provision do not always represent the clients and communities they serve. In the workshop, we discussed that while there were many ways to unite people within society, we acknowledged that occupations were diverse, knowledge systems were diverse, and communication styles were diverse. In order to demonstrate and commit to anti-racism, the workshop participants collated intentions for action (word cloud shared with permission).

I noted the importance of listening, reflecting, thinking critically, being open to vulnerability, and developing action plans. Kendi (2019) argued that “being anti-racist requires persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination” (p.23).

As the first alternate delegate to the WFOT for OTA, this is one of many articles I will write for Connections. I bring anti-racism to our magazine with the hope that it will spark conversations and action. We have been called to address systemic racism by the WFOT, and this is one of the reasons I strive to be an occupational therapist who is actively anti-racist. Please join me.

LEARN MORE

OTA offers online courses in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Competence and Trauma Informed Capability through our CPD Library. Visit: otaus.com.au/cpd

References Kendi, I. X. (2019). How To Be An Antiracist. The Bodley Head. The Psychiatric Occupational Therapy Action Coalition (POTAC). (n.d.). Mission Statement. https://www.potac. org/about World Federation of Occupational Therapists. (2020). Position Statement on Systemic Racism. https://www. wfot.org/resources/wfot-statement-on-systemic-racism