The power of occupational therapy in transforming health and social care

Dr Jen Sutton is Project Lead for the Community for Allied Health Professions Research (CAPHR) Accelerator Project 2024 which is hosted by Royal College of Occupational Therapists. She is an occupational therapist registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. Her areas of specialism include the mental health care of older adults, dementia care and frailty. She is a member of the BGS and an AHP representative on the BGS Clinical Quality Committee and NAHP Committee. She is also a member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists. She posts on X: @JenSutton_OT

To mark Occupational Therapy Week, Jen reflects on why she chose a job working with older people to celebrate the BGS #ChooseGeriatrics campaign.

Why did I choose a career in occupational therapy? This is the question I'm reflecting on during Occupational Therapy Week 2024.

It was a question my grandparents, a retired GP and a retired geriatrician, asked me when I told them I’d been accepted onto a pre-registration MSc in occupational therapy. I enjoyed studying for my undergraduate biology degree, but knew for sure that I didn't want to work in a lab. I’d been working part time as a support worker and spent much of my time thinking of creative ways individuals could overcome barriers to engaging in activities and tasks that were important to them. The focus was always on supporting people to have greater independence and autonomy in day-to-day life. Occupational therapy just seemed like the right fit.

My mum, also an occupational therapist, suggested that I volunteer with a local community mental health team to get a feel for the role and its impact. From there I was hooked. I observed the occupational therapist spending time with service users, establishing the roles, routines and occupations that brought their life meaning and the activities that supported their physical, mental, social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. Any difficulties they were experiencing in engaging in these occupations were assessed holistically, with the occupational therapist considering all aspects of the individual and their environment, working collaboratively with them to create a plan to reach their goals. I loved the person-centred approach of the role. It seemed like a career with just the right balance of science, creativity and practical thinking.

There are a huge variety of roles open to you as an occupational therapist.  You are trained to work across mental health and physical health settings, and across health and social care, often acting as a bridge between the two.

The theme of this year’s #OTWeek2024 is ‘The power of occupational therapy – transforming health and social care’. It highlights that occupational therapists work proactively with people where they are, empowering them to manage their changing needs and helping to reduce pressure on the NHS and the wider health and care system.  This is certainly something I've seen time and time again throughout my career.

I’ve been lucky enough to work across a variety of settings, including mental health services, dementia care and primary care. In primary care as an occupational therapist, I saw the impact of proactive frailty care on the ground. Occupational therapists are well positioned to offer personalised and proactive care in primary care settings to support ageing well, with a focus on maintenance of independence and reducing the frequency and need for crisis interventions.

It was working in dementia care where I first discovered a passion for working with older adults; and I'm proud to support the BGS’s #ChooseGeriatrics campaign. As an occupational therapist working in dementia care, I brought specialist knowledge of psychosocial interventions to the role. My skills in assessing activities of daily living skills (considering the impact of changes in cognition, physical health, mental health and social circumstances) were highly valued, as were my skills in complex risk assessment and management, including positive risk-taking. It was a real joy making recommendations for the systems, aids and adaptations to support those with a diagnosis of dementia to live as independently as possible.

From here, I decided to specialise in the mental health care of older adults and worked as a research occupational therapist in this field. I completed a PhD in Old Age Psychiatry Research, focused on assessing frailty in the context of mental illness. I later supported brain health research and developing a lifestyle intervention for individuals with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment. The intervention had key behavior change, motivational and goal setting components, which really drew on my occupational therapy training.

As well as research, I've always had a real focus on quality improvement and love how the two sit together. I see occupational therapists, and all AHPs, as natural innovators. I now work in supporting the collective AHP research and innovation agenda; leading a project to boost AHP research capacity and capability-building across the UK. Occupational therapists leading and undertaking research and innovation certainly have the power to transform health and social care.

So why occupational therapy? It’s a career full of variety and meaningful occupations, with the power to support and drive change.

• Discover more about occupational therapy: rcot.co.uk/aboutOT
• Explore becoming an occupational therapist: rcot.co.uk/chooseOT