Health and wellbeing
Health and wellbeing
Feature
The role of occupational therapy in universities
For her final year placement , Josie Holding worked with Leeds Conservatoire in the health and wellbeing team . Here she discusses the benefits of occupational therapy in higher education and how our creative , practical approach to mental health is beneficial for university students .
S
tarting university can be tough . With changes in location , style of study and the independence , students can find the transition overwhelming , with a detrimental impact on their mental health . In 2021 , 63 % of students in the UK reported that they had worsening mental health ( BBC 2021 ). At a time with so much change , coupled with a change in responsibilities , university students need to be better supported .
Occupational therapy has the power to transform lives . With our ability to be creative in recognising practical ways to support our service users , occupational therapists can be so beneficial in higher education settings .
In March 2022 , I embarked on my final year student placement . I was placed in a performing arts specialist , Leeds Conservatoire , where my role was to be part of the health and wellbeing team alongside mental health practitioners , wellbeing advisers and a counsellor .
Students self-refered to the service to seek support for their mental health . The team already had in place a practical approach to supporting students ’ mental health . They met with students on a weekly , fortnightly , or monthly basis and discussed practical ways to help them engage in university while also supporting students ’ mental health .
As an occupational therapist , I was able to highlight the need for an occupation-focused approach . The students here came to university with their instrument or acting as an occupation . Students noticeably found it challenging , as this occupation changed to one that was classified as work , rather than a hobby .
They were so solely focused on the need to be the best at their practice that they experienced occupational imbalance and deprivation .
The students I met with to discuss mental health had close to zero alternative occupations to the one that they were studying at the Conservatoire . They also felt a vast amount of guilt for doing something other than practise . Because of this , they often avoided even attempting a further occupation .
I worked with students using a self-adapted version of the Model of Human Occupation ( MOHO ) interest checklist to highlight further activities and hobbies that students could engage in .
The quiet room
The Conservatoire has around 33 % of students identifying as neurodiverse or with a physical disability ; 15.7 % higher than the average UK university , which is 17.3 % ( Bolton and Hubble 2021 ).
28 OTnews December 2023