Welcome to OTnews
This time of year can often get people thinking about rebooting their careers and in this issue we kick off with an inspiring chat with Jo Whiting , who retrained as an occupational therapist in her 40s . Currently working with Sue Ryder in neurological care , it ’ s a far cry from her earlier career in sales and marketing in the software industry .
She tells us how she first discovered occupational therapy and how she kept her dream of joining the profession alive for a decade , before she finally threw herself into life as a student occupational therapist . Turn to pages 20-23 to read more about her journey .
Still on the subject of choosing occupational therapy as a career , a group of students and lecturers from the University of Southampton share their experience of designing a student-led initiative to improve awareness of the profession with local school-aged young people thinking about their further education choices .
Recognising that their students ‘ might just be best placed ’ to design and deliver outreach to schools – as they ’ ve already been through the selection and recruitment process themselves and are likely to be more relatable to the young people – staff set second year learners the task of designing resources to support the initiative . Turn to pages 24-27 to see how they got on .
And if you are thinking about supporting the students you know into a rewarding career , RCOT has a dedicated campaign and resources to help . Visit the website https :// chooseot . co . uk /. Then , on pages 28-29 , Rachael Harrison shares her own return to practice journey . Having been made redundant , after 23 years ’ service , she took a career break that lasted longer than intended . In this issue , she tells us how she faced the challenge of carrying out supervised practice , aged 51 , in part by joining RCOT as an intern .
And , as part of RCOT ’ s restructure , we ’ ve recently been joined by Rob Smyth , in the new role of Director of Strategy , Technology and Transformation . He tells us about his background and career to date and maps out how his new role will support RCOT ’ s future priorities ( pages 18-19 ).
And finally , are you ready for a new challenge ? Consider standing for election to our governing Council or becoming a member of one of our Boards . There ’ s all you need to know on pages 16-17 and 30-31 .
I ’ d love to hear from you
Cover image : © SDI Productions via Getty Images
Tracey Samuels Editor
If you have any feedback about this issue of OTnews , or would like to contribute a short article or feature for a future publication , please email me at : editorial @ rcot . co . uk
February 2023 OTnews 3