Occupational Therapy developed as a holistic profession, aiming to treat the “whole person” through the means of meaningful activity. While initially rooted in the arts and crafts movement, the profession has evolved significantly since its inception.
Given its roots, it’s no wonder that OT literature includes robust evidence for the benefits of creative activities in maintaining well being, promoting recovery following illness or injury, and addressing many of the social determinants of health. In 2017, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Arts for Health and Wellbeing, published their findings (https://www.culturehealthandwellbeing.org.uk/appg-inquiry/ ), coining the term ‘Creative Health’. This term is used to describe and encompass creating the opportunities for the arts, culture and nature to be embedded into public health. University College London has since inaugurated a Masters of Arts and Science in Creative Health, which aims to generate a generation of socially engaged scholars to meet the changing needs of the NHS, Social Care and Voluntary Sector, offering opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.
Knowing that creativity finds itself in the roots of the occupational therapy profession, the National Centre for Creative Health, Royal College of Occupational Therapists and the MASc Creative Health collaboratively held an OTalk and webinar in Autumn 2022, exploring creative occupational therapy, they built cross-sector bridges and inspired many. The webinar resulted in a number of occupational therapists reporting the need for community networking, story sharing and training opportunities to support work across, and between the arts, humanities and health. In recognising the need for this work to be formalised and actioned, the ‘creative roOTs’ network has now been established.
The “creative roOTs” network will provide opportunities for OTs to showcase their work via blog posts and webinars. We will also hold monthly “drop-in” networking events online for practitioners to share evidence and engage in peer support. This network also aims to facilitate collaboration between OTs and arts in health professionals through networking opportunities and evidence sharing.
In inaugurating this work, co-founders Hannah Sercombe and Sorcha Dunne would like to stimulate discussion around the professions progression and discuss whether it has been at the sacrifice of losing our roots.
Questions:
- How has the role of (creative activities in) occupational therapy evolved over time?
- Do you believe Occupational Therapy’s professional progression has forgotten it’s roots?
- What influences, in your opinion, have resulted in occupational therapists reclaiming or losing touch with their roots?
- How can the roots of occupational therapy be leveraged to inform current practice, particularly in promoting creativity for health and wellbeing?
- What do you envision for the future evolution of the occupational therapy profession following this discussion?
OTalk 