OTnews August 2020 | Page 22

FEATURE COVID-19
An opportunity to shine
The Russell Clinic received some glowing feedback about the work its occupational therapists
have been doing during the pandemic. Here, Susie Frost shares what the
occupational therapy team has been getting up to during COVID-19
The lockdown has, I feel, brought out the
best in our occupational therapy team here
at Russell Clinic and we have enjoyed rising
to the challenge. As occupational therapists
we are intrinsically ‘wired’ to think outside the box
creatively, be resourceful and adapt to most situations,
so you could argue that the lockdown has been an
opportunity for us to shine and show what we are
really made of.
As a mental health rehabilitation ward our focus in
‘normal’ times is to offer a top quality therapy service
to our clients, with a rich mixture of on and off ward
activities, targeted at each individual’s needs and
abilities as we work with them on their recovery journey.
This usually includes strong collaboration with
mental health projects and initiatives in the community,
such as Co-Lab, Devon Recovery and The Bridge
Collective, as well as vocational rehabilitation services
Workways and New Leaf.
Due to the COVID-19 lockdown forcing a temporary
closure of these wonderful resources, plus our
resident’s ‘off ward’ leave being limited to half an hour
a day, we have really had to pare back what we can
offer and thus adapt very quickly to this strange new
world.
During this time our top priority has been to try and
limit levels of anxiety by thinking up fun activity ideas
that can help divert our residents from all the negative
news and the boredom of confinement.
Alongside this we have had to be mindful that the
activities align with individual interests, the Five Ways
to Wellbeing, and are graded to match levels of ability
in order to sustain motivation.
Feedback from our residents is crucial in shaping
how we deliver our service and implement change.
Our weekly community meetings are an opportunity
for residents to voice their thoughts and opinions on
their ‘Russell Clinic experience’, however we have also
created another more ‘occupational therapy specific’
way of collecting feedback through our occupational
activity activity evaluation forms, where the rationale
behind the activity is linked to each individual as well
as the Five Ways to Wellbeing.
The bottom half of the form is for the resident to
express their feedback. Since trialling this idea we
have received some very valuable comments and are
continuing to run with it.
This challenging time has also been an opportunity
for learning, both for our residents and staff. For
the whole team at Russell Clinic it has been the
perfect platform for the new occupational therapy
team to wave the flag and demonstrate exactly what
occupational therapy means.
There has historically been some confusion over
role identity and to this day there appears to be a
wide misconception that the role of an occupational
therapist is to occupy patients while in hospital, filling
their time with a generic range of activities.
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22 OTnews August 2020