Supporting Housing and Equipment OTs in Clinical Practice
No matter which specialist area our Clinical Lead Di has worked in during her career, she simply loves OT and wants to share her experience and passion for housing and equipment provision with therapists who are keen to develop their knowledge within this ever-evolving area. Having overcome many planning and funding challenges throughout her career she has a wealth of experience to support therapists to champion a client’s needs when, at times the obstacles can feel overwhelming. Her more recent experience in case management allows her to approach things with a different mindset. With strong clinical justification, she now supports many therapists on the same journey.
Di provides day to day support to the team nationwide and guides them through complex clinical queries sharing the latest evidence from the industry. She is part of The OT Practice’s Clinical Leadership Team that promotes best practice and high-quality therapy for, not only our clients, but for the occupational therapy profession as a whole. We asked her some questions regarding private practice, and here is what she had to say.
What attracted you to working with The OT Practice?
The OT Practice has a great vision with ethics at the heart of their practice, they strive to present clients with all their options so they can make an informed choice about their care. I wanted to help other OTs feel empowered to support their clients and use my skills and experience in a new way – I remember what it was like not to know something and not have a place to go to ask questions, so I was excited for the opportunity to be the dedicated support role for over 300 OTs.
How do you promote best practice in Housing and Equipment?
The most important part of being able to promote best practice with our Housing and Equipment OTs, is to ensure we maintain a continuous learning cycle and stay up to date with the latest evidence, innovations or changes in legislation. I then share this knowledge. For example, the information I gain from any webinars or conferences that I attend is shared with the network. Also, I have developed a variety of resources made available for therapists to access whenever they need them. The next step is to ensure this is put into practice and, by providing support sessions and case study reflective practice groups, I am always on hand to speak to a member of the team to offer guidance.
What qualities do you look for in OTs interested in joining and finally, what advice would you give to therapists looking to start their career in private practice?
I love to meet therapists that are enthusiastic and keen to try new ways of working step into private practice. For occupational therapists who fancy a change and a chance to do things differently you are able to, among other things, prescribe the type of equipment that we see advertised at Naidex and The OT Show which, can seem a little daunting but also enlightening. While you have full control of your working schedule, you are able to (and indeed must) throw yourself into learning as much as you can. Motivation and a desire to continually improve the quality of the occupational therapy is so important.
Although to work independently as an OT you will already have the transferable skills needed, sometimes you will come across something you haven’t seen before. The OT Practice offers the support that OTs need in this instance. As an illustration, it can be hard if you have only worked in community-based settings where you provide input for a safe discharge but perhaps you have never worked on a case long term.
In this sense, the private sector allows you to experience a variety of cases and work across a variety of boroughs or settings. One day you could be talking to a solicitor and the other a case manager, and this all-builds confidence. Experiencing different environments makes you see things differently and gives you a breadth of experience that makes a great OT.
If you would like to find out more about the specialist field of housing and equipment in the private sector, please email join-us@theotpractice.com.
