With four of the OTalk team being at this years RCOT conference in Belfast, @gillygorry will be on the twitter account for an OTalk OTea Party, the plan is to have an informal chat about all things social media, conference and CDP.

To follow everything that is happening at this years Royal College of Occupational Therapists conference checkout these Hashtags #RCOT2018 #OTalkOnTour

Post Chat

Hosting and on the #OTalk account @GillyGorry

Online Transcript

#OTalk Healthcare Social Media Transcript June 12th 2018

The Numbers

748.830K Impressions
114 Tweets
24 Participants
91 Avg Tweets/Hour
5 Avg Tweets/Participant

#OTalk Participants

#BlogSquad2018, OTalk

Introducing the RCOT 2018 Blog Squad

June 6, 2018June 24, 2018 lgpersonaldev

As everyone is starting to prepare for RCOT 2018 this years blog squad is gearing up to bring you insights into their conference experience. We had wonderful feedback about the blogs last year and so have decided to do it again. So that you know who we are here is a little bit about us.

Given the size of conference, and the fact that people are doing this during their own conference time, there is a limit to how much we can capture. However we’ve tried to cover all of the key events and to pick some of the sessions that have caught our individual attention.

The blogs will be posted during conference so make sure to keep an eye out for them next week and if you’re at conference and you see one of us – come and say hello.

Marie Baistow

Hello I am mum to four lively boys and a crazy dog. I hold two Occupational Therapy posts within Pennine Care NHS Trust, one within an acute Older Adults in-patient ward and the other a Care Home Liaison Service. Since graduating 18 years ago I have practised predominantly within mental health. I love learning new information. I am passionate about ‘human centered care’, social inclusion, advocacy, compassion, the value and awesomeness of Occupational Therapy and a focus on ‘seeking to understand’. I am really excited to attend the conference and soak up all the positive vibes. To stay buoyant in very challenging work environments ( ie the medical model/risk aversion) I have been blessed and I am grateful to have in my life grounding/bare foot walking, Nia Dance , Somatic Yoga, Ariel Yoga, Pilates, Meditation, Glasswalking, Firewalking and Gong Baths ( sound / vibration healing). I also love long walks with my dog and cycling. Say hi to me on twitter @Mrsbaistow

Elspeth Clark

Hello, I am an occupational therapist on a specialist NHS community team for adults with learning disabilities and complex distressed behaviour. I am passionate about learning disability occupational therapy practice and integrating research into clinical practice. In 2017 I was awarded a place on the HEE/NIHR funded MSc in Clinical Research at Plymouth University; my research focus is outcome measurement in learning disability occupational therapy. I am co-presenting a session this year and excited to be attending the conference, and part of the blog squad! Find me on Twitter at@Els_OT

Faye Dunford

I worked across a range of adult mental health services before my passion for research led me to my current role as a research practitioner within mental health research delivery. I recently completed an HEE/NIHR Internship and I plan to progress as a clinical academic. My research aims to develop the role of occupational therapists working within Crisis Resolution Teams. I am co-presenting at this year’s conference and am excited to use blogging as a way to celebrate the insights, ambitions and attainments of occupational therapists! Find me on Twitter @FayeDunford

Lynne Goodacre

I worked in the NHS and voluntary sector supporting people with rheumatic conditions and managing an Independent Living Centre before moving into academia. I have supervised postgraduate students at Masters and PhD levels and undertaken my own research. I work now in independent practice as a professional personal coach and specialise in providing 1:1 and group coaching to AHPs and early career researchers.

Catherine Gray

Hello, I’m Catherine. I have spent the majority of my professional life as an Occupational Therapist working in young people’s mental health and early intervention psychosis. I currently work as a Research Practitioner in Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust and I am the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cup-O-T: Wellness and Therapy Services. Cup-O-T is a social enterprise which delivers mental wellness support to those living in rural Norfolk and Suffolk. Outside of work I enjoy foraging, anything to do with Harry Potter, origami and spending time with my Husband, Joe, and cat, Frodo. Website: www.cup-o-t.co.uk Twitter: @CupOTservices

Orla Hughes

Hello, I am a MSc occupational therapy student at Teesside University. I aspire to work as an occupational therapist in the mental health sector when I graduate in early 2019. My hobbies include playing ukulele, singing in a choir, travelling, hiking, and photography. I am presenting at conference for the first time (Session 12) and hope to share what I’ve learnt from this experience in a blog squad post. Find me on twitter and say hi: @orlatheOT

Rachel Imms

Hello, I have been an Occupational Therapist for almost twenty years. Most of my clinical practice was within the NHS in an acute medical setting, and I have also worked in private and voluntary sectors. I did my post graduate MSc at University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) and enjoyed it so much that last year I left practice and secured a job at UCLAN. I am now part of a team who are developing a brand-new pre-registration MSc OT course which will start in September. This is my first COT conference and I am very much looking forward to it.

Catherine McNulty,

I am an Occupational Therapist, passionate about the ‘doing stuff of life’, many years working in mental health & teaching next generation of occupational therapists in my role as an Associate Lecturer with Sheffield Hallam University & loads of voluntary feral occupational therapy. Will be hosting Occupation Station Workshop : Learning in a Human Library: don’t judge a book by its cover! Wed 13 June Session number: 93.1 14.00-15:35. Come and join us!! … twitter @cathymc9781

FB_IMG_1528133404307 — Amie Mowlam-Tette

Amie Mowlam-Tette

Hello, I am an Occupational Therapy graduate from Essex. I currently work as the RCOT Education Liaison Officer for pre-registration students travelling to universities across the UK to talk to students about RCOT membership and support them through their studies. I can now say I’ve left the South East and seen most of the UK, my geography on the other hand, hasn’t improved. Professionally, I am interested in the therapeutic use of writing and creative arts, mental health, Dementia and Autism. Outside of work I spend a lot of my time with my adorable and energetic sprollie (spaniel cross border collie), fire juggling, dabbling with archery, knitting, sewing, attempting to cross stitch, folk music and drinking way too much coffee. If you want to say hi or talk more, find me on twitter: @Amie_OT

Cathy Roberts

Hi, I am a soon-to-be qualified Occupational Therapist having just finished my BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy at Coventry University. I have recently accepted my first rotational Band 5 role in acute mental health, starting on a dementia unit. Professional interests include: Green Care interventions for mental health recovery, mindfulness and evidence-based practice. Personal interests are: anything to do with my tortoiseshell cat (Summer), historical fiction novels and the great outdoors. This is my first time at conference (and first trip to Ireland!) 🙂

#OTalk Research Chats, OTalk

#OTalk Research – Tuesday 5th June: Is working in research a viable option for occupational therapists?

May 29, 2018June 8, 2018 @OTontheTracks

The research #OTalk at 8.00pm on 5^th June 2018 is being hosted by ROTTERS Plymouth (with ROTTERS Exeter and ROTTERS Truro) and supported Lynne Goodacre from the #OTalk Research team.

The reason for choosing this topic is because, whilst research is a recognised part of the work of an occupational therapist, it is not always clear how you can work as a researcher in occupational therapy. We have invited some occupational therapists, who are working in research, to join in the discussion. We will tweet to let you know who has agreed to participate; we are hoping for a great discussion informed by occupational therapists who have experience of working in research.

In our #OTalk we hope to discuss what sort of research roles exist, whether research roles are financially viable and if it possible to research occupation in these roles. We hope that the contributions from people, who are working in research roles, will provide invaluable insight into working as an occupational therapist in research especially in terms of providing top tips for an occupational therapist seeking a career in research.

We offer the following questions as a basis for reflection and discussion:

What roles are available for occupational therapists wanting to work in research?

Are there any financially secure research jobs? (i.e. Are there only fixed/ short term rather than permanent contracts? Or do you have to combine research work with another role?)

Is it possible to work solely on occupation focussed research projects?

Where do you find out about research jobs?

What would be your top tip for an occupational therapist seeking a career in research?

Prepared by Solei Naisbett-Jones, Elspeth Clark, Rachel Rawlings, Martha Hocking and Katrina Bannigan on behalf of Plymouth ROTTERS.

@ROTTERsPlym

@ROTTERsExeter

@rotterstruro

Post Chat

Hosting Chat @ROTTERsPlym @KatrinaBannigan with support from @ROTTERsExeter @ROTTERSTruro @OTPlymouthUni @PIELRes

On the #OTalk account @LynneGoodacre

Online Transcript

#OTalk Healthcare Social Media Transcript June 5th 2018

The Numbers

1.241M Impressions
714 Tweets
67 Participants
571 Avg Tweets/Hour
11 Avg Tweets/Participant

#OTalk Participants

OTalk

#OTalk 29th May – Implementing the recovery approach in OT practice.

May 22, 2018June 1, 2018 @Kirstie_OT

This weeks #Otalk is on the topic of “the recovery approach” and will be hosted by Jenny Hong (@OTJennyH).

Here is what Jenny had to say…

I’m currently in my last year of an OT course at Brunel University London. I have a range of interests in occupational therapy, from forensic and pediatrics settings to green care, animal-assisted therapy and recovery approaches. I’m continuously exploring every area I am exposed to in order to gain understanding, both personally and professionally. As most of my research currently focus on OT and the recovery model within mental health, I want to host a OTalk session to discuss and understand the different perspectives members within this profession have in regards to this area. I also hope this session provides opportunities for members to reflect on their practice and future work.

The recovery model applied to psychiatric settings is comparatively recent. The National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) guiding statement on recovery includes guiding principles to deliver recovery-oriented mental health services (2005). At the beginning of the 21st century, the United Kingdom’s government policy and guidance took a recovery and hope approach to mental health and illness, as described by Rankin’s (2005) Rethink press release. Themes in this approach include recovery, employment, social inclusion, equality, and health improvement (COT, 2006). Mental health services are currently being redesigned under new policy and legislation to focus on integrating recovery, vocational opportunities, and social inclusion within communities to meet the needs of patients and in turn, providing equal opportunity and better mental and physical wellbeing (COT, 2006).

These recovery ideals closely align with values of occupational therapy in using a holistic, client-centred and client-led approach, highlighting strengths, monitoring outcomes, and emphasising hope towards recovery (COT, 2006). The Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) defines autonomy to be “the freedom to make choices based on consideration of internal and external circumstances and to act on these choices” for occupational engagement and participation to lead a meaningful life (ENOTHE, 2004). Therefore, occupational therapy is pivotal and valuable to empower patient autonomy-promoting occupational engagement and supporting patient recovery. As the recovery approaches/principles are currently expected in occupational therapy practice, I’d like to explore how qualified OTs/prospective OTs perceive this.

So my questions to you are:

Have you used recovery approaches/principles in your work as a qualified OT? If so, did these approaches originate from the recovery model or OT frameworks/models? If not, why?
If you’re a prospective OT, how would you include recovery principles in your future OT practice?
What are your thoughts in using recovery principles in OT work?
How do you think your clients/service users understand your therapy work? Are recovery principles explicitly demonstrated in your interventions?
Currently, there is no guidance for OTs to apply recovery approaches by RCOT. What are your thoughts about this? Should RCOT follow the AOTA and OTAustralia by releasing explicit guidance on this for OTs in the UK?

Post Chat

The Host Jenny Hong @OTJennyH

On the OTalk account Rachel @OT_rach

Online Transcript

#OTalk Healthcare Social Media Transcript May 29th 2018

The Numbers

740.102K Impressions
233 Tweets
26 Participants
186 Avg Tweets/Hour
9 Avg Tweets/Participant

#OTalk Participants

OTalk

#OTalk 22nd May 2018 – The role of Occupational Therapy in compulsive hoarding

May 15, 2018May 24, 2018 @Kirstie_OT

This weeks #Otalk is on the topic of “hoarding” and will be hosted by Orla Hughes (@Orlatheot).

What is compulsive hoarding?

Compulsive hoarding, or hoarding disorder, is a pattern of behaviour that is identified by the following characteristics:

Having difficulty or an inability to discard possessions (NHS Choices, 2015).
Excessively acquiring objects, regardless of their monetary value, which prevents use of living and work spaces (Tolin, Frost, and Steketee, 2014).
As a result, considerable impairment or distress in occupational, social, or other critical areas of functioning is present (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).
The hoarding symptoms are not restricted to symptoms of another mental or physical condition, for example, food storing issues as a symptom of Prader-Willi Syndrome (Mataix-Cols et al., 2010).

This condition was formerly recognised to be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) but due to recent research, it is now classed as a separate diagnostic entity by healthcare providers and in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Pertusa et al., 2010; Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2016).

The prevalence of compulsive hoarding

Clients who have the behaviours of hoarding and acquiring are common issues faced by staff in health, social-care, housing and environmental services (Dissanayake, 2012). A prevalence rate of 2-5% in the population have been found through studies in Europe and the United States (Bratiotis, Schmalsich and Steketee, 2011). Yet, when analysing these figures, in studies such as Samuels et al. (2008), it is not clear whether the 4% of participants who were found to compulsively hoard would have met the new diagnostic criteria outlined for the condition in this study. As a result, more research is needed in this field to quantify the population who compulsively hoard.

Current MDT practice

Although guidance is provided for working with hoarding symptoms within OCD, there is no specific guidance for working with compulsive hoarding (NICE, 2005). However, the NHS Choices website describes the condition and recommends Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) as the common treatment for the condition (NHS, 2015). A comprehensive search of the literature, from the fields of psychology and psychiatry, revealed that compulsive hoarding is mainly treated with both CBT and medication (Tolin D.F. et al., 2015). Serotoninergic drugs, such as fluvoxamine, have seen benefits for clients, yet no medication is currently advertising to treat compulsive hoarding (Saxena, 2008; Soares, Fernandes, and Morgado, 2016). CBT can include motivational interviewing, psychoeducation, developing cognitive techniques highlighting dysfunctional beliefs, and the graded discarding and sorting of items (Steketee and Frost, 2014). This combination has shown modest clinically-significant results for clients finishing treatments and therefore papers call for further studies to investigate the issues these clients confront and how to improve their well-being (Tolin D.F. et al., 2015; Vilaverde, Gonçalves, and Morgado, 2017).

Compulsive hoarding and occupational therapy

Compulsive hoarding can decrease occupational engagement in many areas of life, appropriate for occupational therapy input, such as functional independence, roles, and the social and physical environment (Dissanayake, 2012). Recent quantitative research, conducted by Dissanayake, Barnard, and Willis (2017), investigates the role of occupational therapy in the assessment and treatment of compulsive hoarding and calls for further research involving occupational therapy and this population which can begin to inform clinical practice.

Here are the questions we will be discussing:

How would compulsive hoarding affect a person, how they perform their occupations, and interact with their environment?
Do you feel equipped to work collaboratively with this population?
What ethical issues do you predict you would encounter with this population?
What occupational therapy interventions could be utilised?
Finally, what could the role of occupational therapy be in this setting (the assessment and treatment of compulsive hoarding)?

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 5th edn. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

Bratiotis, C., Schmalisch, S., and Steketee, G. (2011) The Hoarding Handbook: A Guide for Human Service Professionals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dissanayake, S. (2012) ‘Clearing the Clutter,’ in OT News, February 20 (2) pp.24-25 published by The Royal College of Occupational Therapists: London, UK

Dissanayake, S., Barnard, E., & Willis, S. (2017): “The emerging role of Occupational Therapists in the assessment and treatment of compulsive hoarding: An exploratory study”. New Zealand Journal of Occupational Therapy, 64 (2) 22-30.

Mataix-Cols D, et al. (2010) ‘Hoarding disorder: a new diagnosis for DSM-V?,’ Depression Anxiety, 27(1), pp. 556–572.

NHS Choices (2015) Hoarding Disorder. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hoarding-disorder/ (Accessed on 2^nd December 2017).

NICE (2005) Obessive-compulsive disorder. Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg31/evidence/cg31-obsessivecompulsive-disorder-full-guideline2 (Accessed on 22nd February).

Pertusa A, et al. ‘Refining the diagnostic boundaries of compulsive hoarding: a critical review,’ Clinical Psychology Review, 30(1), pp. 371–386.

Polkinghorne, D.E. (1989) ‘Phenomenological research methods,’ In R.S Valle and S. Halling (Eds.), Existential phenomenological perspectives in psychology. New York, NY: Plenum Press, pp.41-60.

Royal College of Psychiatrists (2016) Hoarding. Available at: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/problemsanddisorders/hoarding.aspx (Accessed on 2nd December 2017).

Samuels J.F. et al. (2008) ‘Prevalence and correlates of hoarding behavior in a community-based sample,’ Behav Res Ther, 46(1), pp. 836–844.

Saxena S. (2008) ‘Neurobiology and treatment of compulsive hoarding,’ CNS Spectrum, 13(14), pp. 29–36.

Soares, C., Fernandes, N., and Morgado, P. (2016) ‘A review of pharmacologic treatment for compulsive buying disorder,’ CNS Drugs 30(4) pp. 281–91.

Steketee, G., and Frost, R. O. (2014) Compulsive hoarding and acquiring: Therapist guide. 2nd edn. New York, NY: Oxford University Press

Tolin, D.F., Frost, R.O., and Steketee, G. (2014) Buried in Treasures. Help for Complusive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Tolin D.F. et al. (2015) ‘Cognitive behavioral therapy for hoarding disorder: a meta-analysis,’ Depression Anxiety, 32(3), pp. 158–66.

Vilaverde, D., Gonçalves, J., and Morgado, P. (2017) ‘Hoarding Disorder: A Case Report,’ Frontiers in Psychiatry. Available at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00112/full (Accessed on 10th November 2017).