An innovative role emerging placement led Joseph Courtney to land his first newly-qualified role leading a project on green therapy and sustainability. Here he reflects on what’ s been achieved to date.
Greening Bradford’ s healthcare one step at a time
An innovative role emerging placement led Joseph Courtney to land his first newly-qualified role leading a project on green therapy and sustainability. Here he reflects on what’ s been achieved to date.
B ack in 2023, when I was a thirdyear occupational therapy student, I was lucky enough to undertake a fascinating role emerging placement in the sustainability department at
Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust.
This involved looking into the use of nature therapy within the trust and writing a business proposal for the hiring of a specific‘ green’ occupational therapist( Courtney and Euden 2023).
The placement was supported by Emma Clarke, Environment and Sustainability Manager, who worked with Natural England to secure funding for this role through the Bradford Nature Recovery Project, in addition to trust funds.
In November 2023, after graduation, I stepped into this temporary-funded role, as Green Therapy Project Development Officer.
The first six months were focused on understanding what the trust already offered and
18 OTnews September 2025