Paul Cooper. Professional Adviser. @PaulCooperOT

Why get involved with a Specialist Section? Receive a welcome pack on joining or renewing Network with like minded occupational therapists Share, develop and keep up to date with your practice Receive newsletters/bulletins Free CPD and resources Join additional Clinical Forums Free advice and information on best practice Meet the requirements of the HCPC Expert professional knowledge Events, networking, conferences Social media Web pages and resources

Specialist Sections To share and develop practice and encourage members to keep up to date with practice issues. To promote and enable continuing professional development. To support members with opportunities for networking and learning; organise events/study days/conferences and activities of interest and need. To promote evidence informed practice. To support members new to the specific area of practice. To function as a resources to provide expertise at a national and local level. To act as advisors and influencers for and on behalf of the Royal College. To facilitate regional communications and be a point of contact for individual members of the region.

What can you gain from your Region? Quarterly E-newsletters and E-Bulletins Information and resources Local networking opportunities and events Peer led study events Promote the importance of occupational therapy locally Lifelong Learning Grants Opportunities for Continuing Professional Development Encouraging good practice and sharing information Regional RCOT Roadshows Online professional community with Twitter and Facebook Web pages with information Raise the profile of occupational therapy Regional

Are you making the most of your RCOT Region? Participate in your Region’s events Form a local group as part of your region or join in with your local group Follow your region on twitter and /or Facebook Share your learning and experience within your regional e-Newsletter Visit the webpages for updates and information Contact your region and find out how you can get involved Represent your region at events Promote occupational therapy as a career

Life long learning Grants Looking for alternative funding option for CPD? Consider applying for a Life Long Learning Grant They provide financial support to enable members of the RCOT to participate in short courses, workshops, conferences or other activities related to their continuous professional development and the promotion of the profession. Issued by RCOT Regions Up to £200

Questions & Feedback Louise Cusack – UK Regional And Specialist Sections Manager Stacey Abraham – Membership Engagement Officer Louise.Cusack@rcot.co.uk Stacey.abraham@rcot.co.uk 0207 450 5228 @Louise Cusack @staceyabraham15

The RCOT campaign Occupational Therapy –Improving Lives Saving Money has four strands : Urgent Care –the value of occupational therapy (released Nov 2015) Reducing the pressure on hospitals (released Nov 2016) Living, not Existing: Putting prevention at the heart of care for older people in England (released July 2017) Mental Health –the value of occupational therapy (for release Nov 2018)    

Improving Lives, Saving Money Launched in November 2016: Reducing the pressure on hospitals – the value of occupational therapy - in each nation of the UK. The reports marks the end of phase 1 of our Improving Lives, Saving Money Campaign. There are 4 reports for each country in the UK - Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales - with an additional report available in the Welsh language. You can read the full reports and recommendations on our campaign microsite at www.cotimprovinglives.com

What does the report say? The report calls for six recommendations to put occupational therapy on the frontline in hospitals and emergency services: To prevent inappropriate admissions from falls for older people, access to occupational therapists as part of the wider primary care workforce is essential. Occupational therapists in all rapid response & emergency care services Extended occupational therapy services to improve 7 day hospital discharge Occupational therapists in all hospital admission & discharge teams Therapy led services across hospitals, in parallel with medical care Occupational therapists to lead reablement & community support programmes

What do we want members to do? It is absolutely critical that members: Share the reports with their managers, Head of therapy services and senior leaders across their Trust or Board. Inform the communications team where they work so that they can include it on their website, email newsletters and social media channels. Get involved in the campaign by signing up to our microsite www.cotimprovinglives.com and using the hashtag #ValueofOT Send in service examples

What’s next? Reports/Press releases to follow on: Work/Employment Prisons Childrens Mental Health

Mental Health –the Value of Occupational Therapy There is now a mental health DEMO template to use with real life mental health examples on the campaign website. You can find the template here: http://cotimprovinglives.com/ Any questions to genevieve.smyth@cot.co.uk 0207 450 5220    

Further work with stakeholders Influencing activities Key organisations / stakeholders have been sent report and approached for meetings England - Parliamentary questions to be tabled by Norman Lamb Communications strategy in place to optimise coverage of each report Toolkit for members template letter for Communications teams for those in report Email network of people who have submitted examples to keep engaged

I believe the ultimate purpose of occupational therapy is …

“Occupations are everything that we do: it is the way we spend our time productively, in leisure pursuits and taking care of ourselves.” (Chard, 2010, p. 162)

The role of occupational therapy Occupational therapy improves health and wellbeing through participation in occupation. Occupational therapy enables people to participate in daily life to improve their health and wellbeing. Daily life is made up of many ‘occupations’ such as getting ready to go out, cooking a meal or working. An occupational therapist will help people who may need support or advice if they are not able to do their occupations due to illness, disability, circumstances or as a result of changes in their lives as they get older. https://cot.co.uk/briefings/children-and-young-people-0

College of Occupational Therapists position statement “Occupation should be considered a basic need and human right, like eating, drinking and breathing (Dunton 1919). There is a renewed understanding of how engagement in occupation is therapy and fundamental to health and wellbeing (Wilcock 2006).” “The focus of the practitioner in any setting, with any service user group is to maximise occupational performance and participation (World Federation of Occupational Therapists 2012).” Available at: https://www.cot.co.uk/position-statements/position-statements

What is happening now? What is the purpose of your service? How do you know you are achieving this? Where are the gaps?

Group discussion

How would you like it to be? What is happening now? Who makes the decisions about what your service offers? What informs these decisions? Who do you want making decisions? How can you ensure they are well informed?

What can you do? You have concern but little influence Gather information Be selective in what you focus your energy on You have some influence Piloting work and demonstrating outcomes Timely and focused suggestions You have control of what happens Your interactions with others Your professional reasoning What are your priorities for promoting the profession? Now? Next month? Next year?

Top Tips for promoting the profession… What works? What doesn’t work E.g. Being open to change Be proactive – invite self to meetings Delegate meetings and tasks to all levels of practitioner Manage expectation for self Promoting what we do well – whatever size of change Supporting students / using students Recognising compliments – write to MP Networking - MDT E.g. Seeking perfection in services Not changing Perceived as being too challenging Overcomplicating things Moving away from occupational therapy Using promotional material inappropriately

Resources from the Royal College of Occupational Therapists Occupation-centred practice position statement https://www.cot.co.uk/sites/default/files/position_statements/publi c/Occupation-centred-practice-August2015.pdf Occupation-centred practice briefing: https://www.cot.co.uk/briefings/occupation-centred-practice Outcomes and record keeping briefing and tools https://www.cot.co.uk/outcomes-and-record-keeping Career framework https://www.cot.co.uk/join-our-communities/career-development-framework

http://cotimprovinglives.com/get-involved

Why do it? ‘Sometimes it’s just easier to say I’m a physio’ ‘It’s not just doctors and nurses’ ‘I didn’t have a clue about occupational therapy before my accident ’ ‘This is a turning point for occupational therapy’ Senior management don’t know who we are or what we do

The Power of Media – Falls Response Service 2015 Request for service data Urgent Care report Invitations to speak at Kings Fund and other events Recognition through awards 2016 Inclusion with further data in Reducing Pressure in Hospital report Filming for BBC Breakfast Parliament – attending launch of COT report 2017 Interest from other clinical commissioners on setting up the service model 5 NEW SERVICES Norfolk – seen on BBC Look East

How to influence (become a Media Luuvie) – Preparation     Your experience & examples are hard to argue with – they show your expertise & credibility Key to influencing: Don’t use jargon – use occupational therapy Champion your cause

How to influence (become a Media Luuvie) – Preparation Key to influencing: Frame your points as a solution/way forward Prepare your headline message Take stats and figures Be prepared to follow each point with a real life example

What are your key points

Remember… …the public’s attitude to the media has changed –they are much more relaxed about how people look and speak –you are not expected to be a polished news presenter…… But…. …most people engage with media while they are doing another activity so being able to cut through is important    

How to influence (become a Media Luuvie) – what makes a good story? Tears! Fears! Peers! Tears – what brings an emotional response –weep or smile Fears –what taps into or may allay our fears Peers – what are we talking about with our family and friends?    

How to influence (become a Media Luuvie) – Delivery A good interview is presentation not conversation Get to your key points early –don't wait for useful questions Be brief and concise Give real life examples Acknowledge difficult questions and bridge to the point you want to make Pace, power, pitch- slowing down pace of your voice can increase power Keep up your energy –TV flattens everything so use your arms Use active, dynamic language A soundbite lasts 10-15 seconds End on a positive note – we are a solution!    

How to become a Media Luuvie – follow up Send back up information Check they have everything they need Be available again Resources on RCOT website including guide to contacting the media and press release www.cotimprovinglives.com/promote-occupational-therapy-media    

Telling a human interest story: Tweet, Talk or write

How to become a Media Luuvie – Exercise In threes take turns to interview, film and be interviewed for 2 minutes. Prepare your two key points and let your interviewer know what subject you will be interviewed about. Tip – choose an area of practice you are passionate about! While you are interviewed get filmed on your own phone. After everyone has been interviewed, watch your own film and come up with two learning points to take home. E.g. I need to speak slower etc    

Suggestions… How do occupational therapists improve lives and save money? How is that different from a support worker? What would your advice be to someone thinking of employing an occupational therapist? How can an occupational therapist solve this issue? What would your advice be to ….?

Social Media Share views / comments Engage in conversation Seek support from wider group Network Influence

Blogging https://baotcot.wordpress.com/ letstalkaboutdementia.wordpress.com https://baotcot.wordpress.com/ https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/blog http://www.housinglin.org.uk/blogs/ https://otalk.co.uk/ https://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network https://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network

Consider Professional behaviour Voice and Tone Talk with people not at them Conversational Think about content

Use social media to promote occupational therapy https://www.cot.co.uk/promote-ot/use-social-media-promote-occupational-therapy

Don’t forget #valueofOT And finally…. What would your Facebook update / tweet of the day be? Don’t forget #valueofOT

Summary of day Don’t be afraid to promote the value of occupational therapy. Consider who and where can you influence Demonstrate your expertise and credibility – use experience and examples. Highlight how we can offer solutions. Decide on at least one action from today and go for it!

Your RCOT Professional Advisors and key Contacts Stacey Abraham Stacey.abraham@rcot.co.uk @StaceyAbraham15 Louise Cusack Louise.Cusack@rcot.co.uk@LouiseCusack Genevieve Smyth genevieve.smyth@rcot.co.uk @GenevieveSmyth Anne Keen anne.keen@rcot.co.uk @annekeen55 Karin Orman karin.orman@rcot.co.uk @KarinOrmanOT Paul Cooper paul.cooper@rcot.co.uk @PaulCooperOT