New pathways are emerging for Occupational Therapists who work independently, but all OT's need to consider what these new pathways are and what they could be... we are all OTs

1. Courageous &
Creative:
Emergent Pathways
in Occupational
Therapy
Jen Gash
OT, Coach, Artist
www.otcoach.com
www.jengash.co.uk

2. • Messy, crafty kid
• Painty teenager
• HR Job in London
• Trained in OT: BG, Sen 2,1,
Head OT
• Still Painting
• Trained as a coach &
became a mum
• Voc Rehab, Case Manager,
Coach
• Artist, Writer, Speaker,
Coach ...always an OT

3. What might the future hold?
Why we need to understand creativity and it’s differing impact?
Why courage is more important than ever before?
Why it’s important to question what it means to be “independent”?
Warning…
I’m going to say some stuff you already know, ask lots of difficult questions say lots of
contentious things. Some things may sound off the wall…
Please know that I don’t have all the answers…but asking difficult questions is always
important, even if the answers are not yet clear.
Courageous & creative: emergent pathways in OT

4. The Well -Trodden Path
Photo by Rafael Morais dos Santos on Unsplash
Medico-legal, case
management, private therapy
& specialisms in housing,
adaptations, equipment

5. Photo by Nurhadi Cahyono on Unsplash
VUCA
Volatile,
Uncertain,
Complex &
Ambiguous

6. The future?....
What might the world look like in
20/30/40 years time?
What occupational challenges might we
all be facing?
What expectations might we have from
our work, social life, education and
health systems?
How will travel/mobility be different?
(assuming we all don’t have a TARDIS!) From my TARDIS I see….

7. Changing work patterns, predicted years ago, are already taking hold = Less “work”
Greater leisure time, but some are working harder than ever before.
Housing – more communal living as land & property become more scarce & costly?
Environmental/political issues might displace people “en mass” globally
Information: people are more informed & have different views about managing their health
Current predictions indicate an aging population with multiple LT conditions, but my children…raised
on ipods & cheese strings….?
An epidemic of mental health problems…it’s already here and may worsen
Neuro-diversity – perhaps it will become understood as the norm in the future?
Cycling, walking, baking, growing, making… an explosion in meaning making, purpose & connection

8. Courage

9. Photo by Michelle Spencer on Unsplash
The desire to
explore ……
I wonder what OT
could do here….?

10. Explorations….small goat tracks that
emerge in the forest have included…
• Student role-emergent placements of all kinds, such as
fire service, homelessness services, dementia cafes/day
care
• Community wellbeing cafes
• Using a passion for baking to form a social enterprise
• Using football and OT
• Using OT models in corporate settings…not to do with
wellbeing/health (performance and recruitment)
• Coaching…

11. Photo by Samuel Edwards on Unsplash

12. Creativity

13. “We can not solve our
problems with the
same level of thinking
that created them”
Einstein

14. • Combinational creativity:
combining familiar things or
ideas to come up with
something new
• Exploratory creativity:
using what’s already there,
but with new twists or
changes
• Transformational
creativity: rule book is
thrown away, the idea may be
quite shocking..oooeerrr
OT + ambulance
OT uses circus skills
Rapid resp OT in A&E or
OT employed by a school
OT sets up new education
service in the community
or in a forest... or
OT joins a social circus,
training circus workers etc

15. Independent?????
1. free from outside control; not subject
to another's authority, self-governing, not
supported by public funds.
2. not depending on another for
livelihood or subsistence (of income or
resources) making it unnecessary to earn
one's living.
3. capable of thinking or acting for
oneself, not influenced by others; impartial
4. not connected with another or with
each other; separate. Not depending on
something else for strength or effectiveness;
free-standing.

16. We are all “just” OTs

17. Photo by Dmitry Sovyak on Unsplash
An OT Pool?
www.bristoloccupationaltherapy.co.uk

18. • Innovation Hubs
• Social
Entrepreneurship SSE
• Crowd Funding?
• Collaborate more
broadly eg the RSA
Royal Society for the
Arts, NESTA
RSA

19. The logic
of largeness
devalues
the personal
Charles Eisenstein

20. • Small actions whilst holding a big vision in mind
• Not a choice between philanthropy and commercialism….it
needs to be both.
• Hold OT firmly in one hand and use the other to feel, scope,
understand and relate to the broader world
• Look outside the OT box
(yey, cliché!) … who else is doing
stuff, what they are calling it,
how they are getting funding,
marketing “it”

21. Thanks for listening…
Keep in touch:
• Jen@jengash.co.uk
• www.otcoach.com
• Facebook/otcoachuk
• Twitter @OTCoachUK
• OTs in every high street ? Based with
Osteopaths/Chiropractors or
community cafes? We see it a bit, but
there’s scope for more
• An OT/AHP bus for isolated
communities for
assessment/advice/treatment!
• Working in sustainability
education/public health/community
development etc.
• More OTs in large organisations, not just
for wellbeing….what about
organisational change, personal
development & performance