Occupational Therapy News OTnews October 2019 | Page 16

FEATURE MENTAL HEALTH
The art of occupation:

wielding the mind
Jerome Sewell shares his personal
journey, to give a real life example of
how occupational therapy helps people
recover from a mental illness
J
erome Sewell is a service user at the Bethlem
Royal Hospital. Over the two years he has
spent in hospital, he has taken part in over 10
different occupational therapy activities, three
psychological assessments and five different groups.
Here he shares his personal journey, alongside
comment from staff members, to give a real life example
of how occupational therapy helps people recover from a
mental illness.
‘I first began getting involved in occupational therapy
on the Norbury Ward, which is an intensive care unit,
16 OTnews October 2019
where I took part in baking and art therapy, along
with developing my CV and applying for a job at the
Riverhouse Library,’ he explains.
Jerome says that he ‘used occupational therapy as a
way to occupy my time and create mental stability, as well
as show progress to my clinical team’.
When he moved to the Effra Ward for rehabilitation
he says that his ‘occupational therapy went to a much
higher level’.
‘I began by explaining to the occupational therapist
the projects that I engaged with in the community, which
© GettyImages/Victor_Tongdee