1. Paul Cooper. Professional Adviser. @PaulCooperOT

3. 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

4. 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.

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. Questions & Feedback
Louise Cusack – UK Regional And Specialist Sections Manager
Stacey Abraham – Membership Engagement Officer
@Louise Cusack
@staceyabraham15

10. 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)
   

11. 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

12. 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

14. 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, newsletters and social media channels.
Get involved in the campaign by signing up to our microsite and using the hashtag #ValueofOT
Send in service examples

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

16. 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:
Any questions to
   

17. 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
network of people who have submitted examples to keep engaged

18. I believe the ultimate purpose of occupational therapy is …

19. “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)

20. 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.

21. 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:

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

23. Group discussion

24. 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?

25. 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?

26. 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

27. Resources from the Royal College of Occupational Therapists
Occupation-centred practice position statement
c/Occupation-centred-practice-August2015.pdf
Occupation-centred practice briefing:
Outcomes and record keeping briefing and tools
Career framework

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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

33. What are your key points

34. 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
   

35. 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?
   

36. 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 seconds
End on a positive note – we are a solution!
   

37. 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
   

39. Telling a human interest story: Tweet, Talk or write

40. 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
   

41. 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 ….?

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

43. Blogging https://baotcot.wordpress.com/
letstalkaboutdementia.wordpress.com

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

45. Use social media to promote occupational therapy

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

47. 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!

48. Your RCOT Professional Advisors
and key Contacts
Stacey Abraham
@StaceyAbraham15
Louise Cusack
Genevieve Smyth @GenevieveSmyth
Anne Keen
@annekeen55
Karin Orman @KarinOrmanOT
Paul Cooper @PaulCooperOT