Hi, my name is Lucy and I’ve come to work at Tees Valley Arts for 6 weeks as a part of my Occupational Therapy degree. This placement is classed as role emerging, aiming to create a role for occupational therapy in an organisation that doesn’t already have an Occupational Therapist present. So far, both myself and my placement partner Richelle have been welcomed into the team, and we have had the opportunity to participate in a number of activities – both artistic and not so artistic.
We have had the privilege of attending the Thorntree Roses group on a Tuesday, which seems very successful in creating a close-knit community (women only of course). This group is also starting to show signs of increased independence and organisational responsibilities, which is fantastic! It is hoped that this group will continue to progress in this area, so that it may become an independent group run project with only small amounts of input from TVA in the future.
I think we were both surprised to find out about the huge volume of work that goes on behind the scenes to run these projects! As a part of our placement, we hope to look into how all of this works, and whether we can add anything to improve on these methods from an occupational therapy perspective. A number of ideas have already been raised for a project, including outcome measures and feedback methods. It’s still early days in this placement and I certainly look forward to getting stuck in with these potential ideas, as well as getting involved with ‘Making Time’ in the prison!