FEATURE EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY
‘Somewhat ridiculously, I feel I am being rude if I
do, so I just either let people pronounce it wrong or
shorten it. Unfortunately, this is still a problem for me
even today. I should make more effort to correct people
of my name, but it sometimes feels like people are not
really that interested in hearing how to say it properly.’
Life as a qualified occupational therapist
Since qualifying, Somia has worked in a range of
settings across physical and mental health, but, she
says, ‘has barely come across other occupational
therapists of colour’.
She adds: ‘Some days I find myself asking why?
Why are we few and far between? But then, when
I reflect on my journey, I think about how I found
myself conforming for a lot of my educational and
professional journey.
‘I didn’t really bring any attention to my
uniqueness, which makes me wonder how many
others are struggling with integrating their personal
and professional identity? I am sure this isn’t simply
limited to just aspects of race or religion.’
She adds: ‘I have always taken pride in is my
ability to engage service users by using their unique
qualities, asking them about their cultures, beliefs and
values. This is so important because they all impact
on our occupational performance. How can we begin
to understand what is meaningful to them if we aren’t
exploring this?
‘I love when people ask me about my religion.
I love sharing that side of me and now I offer
information without being asked, as I finally put an
end to my self-oppression. I think the more I have
grown professionally, the more confident I have
become in speaking up on behalf of my service
users, which has given me further confidence to
speak up about topics that feel important to me.
‘I also think that, if we speak out more about our
experiences, both positive and negative, we will
attract a more diverse audience to our profession.
To me it is crucial that no one should feel like they
can’t do something because of culture, skin colour
or beliefs.
‘We can do anything we put our minds to. I think
the more diversity within our profession, the more
approachable we are to a range of service users.’
Somia’s most recent post is in perinatal mental
health, where she has been able to successfully
support a number of mothers with her interventions,
using meaningful occupations that incorporate
religion and culture.
‘I had begun working with one mother who
felt that she had lost her identity since becoming
a mother and struggled to do things that were
meaningful to her. By listening to her story and
unpicking her interests I discovered that reading
around her religion was important to her, but she felt
she had no time to do so while looking after a new
born.
‘We took what was meaningful to her and
incorporated this into a co-occupation (something
she could do with her baby); this was done by
finding children’s books that she could read to her
baby.
‘This left her feeling like she was still connecting
with her religion while sharing this with the baby,
which were both important to her. This led to her
adapting many other aspects of the religion into
co-occupations (such as praying and cooking), and
on completing the intervention, she said she felt like
a newer version of herself.’
Somia also believes that her background has
helped her to reach out to people who might not
otherwise have accessed services, because she is
readily able to identify with their cultural needs.
‘Within the Pakistani culture, mental health is
somewhat frowned upon and some families believe
mental health does not exist at all,’ she asserts.
‘Traditional interventions involve going to an Imam
(Muslim leader) for support, which can range
from prayers been read on the person affected or
advice on how to change their daily life, normally to
incorporate the five pillars of Islam.
‘Having this knowledge of my own culture
has allowed me to enter people’s homes and
acknowledge the above, but also to widen what the
service user can access in terms of interventions.’
She concludes: ‘This is just my experience, and I
am not generalising a whole culture… and perhaps
some of my experiences have been a little bit selfinflicted,
but actually I believe the world around us
has influenced me into thinking this way.
‘It is easier to blend in than stand out. I share my
story with the hope it reaches either professionals
or students experiencing similar hardships. To those
sat in a room full of people feeling completely alone, I
say reach out. You are not alone in this and I believe
together we will get there.
‘It is time to be open and share our experiences
and to spread awareness of diversity in occupational
therapy. Through this we can inspire others to join us
in doing the same.’
Somia Elise Jan, occupational therapist, can be
contacted on Twitter: @SomiaOT or email:
[email protected]
26 OTnews July 2020