Immerse Yourself in the Theme of Identity

The Occupational Therapy Service are the proud headline sponsors of the CMSUK Conference this year.  Here our Clinical Director Lucy Leonard, explains why this theme resonates with The Occupational Therapy Service,  and what she believes case managers will take away from this year’s conference.

How ‘The Identity Journey’ theme resonates with our work

A person’s identity is a core principle of occupational therapy, because occupational therapists focus on enabling people to return to meaningful activities that are based on their values, their preferences and their cultural backgrounds. In order to do that, we make sure our occupational therapists conduct a holistic assessment to gather information on the person’s cultural, social, spiritual and occupational history, as well as their past experience and how that has shaped their life. This forms the goals that we set for them to achieve in their rehabilitation.  It’s about giving people autonomy – the ability to make decisions for themselves without being influenced by external constraints, and thinking outside the box when they are setting their goals, because clients might not appreciate what they are able to achieve.

What case managers will take away from the Conference

I think the main thing is the quality of the speakers, and the broad range of people who are going to be delivering presentations over the two days. There are going to be lots of lived experiences shared which is crucial to understand our client’s journey, as well breakout sessions, to allow people to get fully immersed in learning about identity, and that theme is going to run right through the two days.  I think it’s important to go with an open mind, and to listen and learn. And to learn from each other as well, because there are going to be so many case managers there who have such a lot of experience to share from their practice.