Occupational Therapy News OTnews February 2019_Joomag | Page 11

NEWS
Two occupational therapists land new year honours
Two RCOT members received honours in the Queen’s New Year
Honours list.
Paraig O’Brien was made an MBE for his work in housing in
Northern Ireland.
‘I was very surprised,’ he says. ‘These things are done
anonymously, so you suddenly get this letter from the Cabinet Office.
But it’s been wonderful to see the scale of the professional support in
housing and health.’
Paraig, now the head of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive’s
housing adaptations policy unit, has led on work including the
development of Northern Ireland’s influential adaptations toolkit, and
contributed to other key work including new-build wheelchair housing
standards to support people’s independence at home.
Paraig says he is most proud of bringing together decision
makers, service users, architects and designers to explain why
housing standards need to change.
‘We mapped out with masking tape the old standards and then
the new standards. The policymakers were very reluctant to make
changes because of cost, so we had wheelchair users demonstrate
use of the rooms. Then we got the policymakers to take part.
By lunchtime the policymakers came over and said, it’s time we
improved Northern Ireland’s housing standards.’
He has also been a dedicated RCOT member for Northern
Ireland, and describes the RCOTSS – Housing, of which he was
previously chair, as a ‘valuable think tank’ to share best practice
across the UK. ‘Between us we have shared good practice and
gradually pushed the standards up,’ he says.
Thérèse Lebedis was made an OBE for her work in stroke
services in Scotland, and says she was ‘very surprised but very
honoured’ to get the honour. ‘It’s really gratifying to be given
acknowledgement of the work you do,’ she says.
Now head of the stroke managed clinical network for NHS
Grampian, Thérèse was the first AHP in Scotland to be an active
clinical lead for a stroke rehabilitation service.
She has been heavily involved in RCOTSS – Neurological Practice,
contributed to both practice guidelines and the book Occupational
therapy and stroke, and has also been involved in training and
research. She also delivered the 2015 Elizabeth Casson Lecture to
RCOT members. And in Scotland, she has taken part in the national
advisory committee for stroke to make sure rehabilitation is prominent
in the government agenda.
In terms of what she wants to do next, Thérèse says: ‘I’d like to
make sure we continue to develop recognition and understanding
of rehabilitation and the role occupational therapy can play. This has
given me a boost to do more with good practice, education and
resources and work with the teams.’
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OTnews February 2019 11