As I began this blog I was unsure if the thoughts I had around sustainable activities were applicable to implementing into occupational therapy practice and for use in client treatments. That is to say will such activities meet the chosen needs of the individual or community, and will they achieve the social and environmental outcomes as envisaged by the client and/or the Occupational Therapist.
As I have uncovered more and more information on my blogging journey I am now certain the use of sustainable products and activities is an important aspect that occupational therapists as ‘change agents’, and enablers can offer our clients through practical task focused activities.
The opportunity to be more sustainable in my place of work is an aspect I would like to incorporate into my practice. I know I would be proud to tell my clients that, where possible, the resources I am employing are local and that I have considered the sustainable aspect to what I am using. I would like to think that my environmental focus and emphasis may be enough to guide clients’ thinking about what they may be able to do to become more sustainable around their own home, community, or work environment.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Looking At the Bigger Picture
GREENER HEALTH CARE - "The Campaign for Greener Health care is a dynamic, independent team working on the interface between health and sustainability to bring health messages into the centre of the climate change agenda and to transform health care for a sustainable future".
LINK
I was very excited to find this group in London who are getting those in health care to take another look at how they can become more sustainable in their places of work and then pass the benefits onto their service users.
Greener Health Care (a London based organisation) seemed to have taken on a mammoth task trying to change health care services into becoming more sustainable in their practices. If you read their Annual Review, (2009) (http://greenerhealthcare.org/webfm_send/106) and see what they achieved in a short space of time they must be on to something those in the health care profession agree with.
Another initiative from the Greener Health Care is a forum called; Sustainability for Health: an Evidence Base for Action from the Campaign for Greener Health care (SHEBA) (http://www.sustainabilityforhealth.org/) this is an index of the information sources that will help to achieve the thorough transformation in energy consumption, waste disposal, and water usage that is needed.
They have also been looking at how they implement changes at an educational level, so for Occupational Therapy: “We have also had a busy year helping to introduce sustainability onto the agenda of the College of Occupational Therapy (OT). We have written articles for the college magazine, submitted abstracts for the conference, formed an online “Green OT” Network, and planned a Sustainable Living study day for early 2010”. I wonder if this will flow onto Otago Polytechnic School of Occupational Therapy?
If, as occupational therapists, we are resourceful in our interventions (listen to the podcast on the post prior to this one for some ideas) this will then reflect encouragingly on our profession and impact positively on those whom we are enabling.
So the challenge.......Occupational Therapists start looking in your own backyard to see how you can reduce your carbon footprint, by walking to work, switching some lights off or acquiring produce at a more local level. Have a look around there may be someone in your backyard who is growing vegetables, has chickens or has excess of fruit, that they then may be able to supply ingredients and ideas for your next kitchen assessment.
LINK
I was very excited to find this group in London who are getting those in health care to take another look at how they can become more sustainable in their places of work and then pass the benefits onto their service users.
Greener Health Care (a London based organisation) seemed to have taken on a mammoth task trying to change health care services into becoming more sustainable in their practices. If you read their Annual Review, (2009) (http://greenerhealthcare.org/webfm_send/106) and see what they achieved in a short space of time they must be on to something those in the health care profession agree with.
Another initiative from the Greener Health Care is a forum called; Sustainability for Health: an Evidence Base for Action from the Campaign for Greener Health care (SHEBA) (http://www.sustainabilityforhealth.org/) this is an index of the information sources that will help to achieve the thorough transformation in energy consumption, waste disposal, and water usage that is needed.
They have also been looking at how they implement changes at an educational level, so for Occupational Therapy: “We have also had a busy year helping to introduce sustainability onto the agenda of the College of Occupational Therapy (OT). We have written articles for the college magazine, submitted abstracts for the conference, formed an online “Green OT” Network, and planned a Sustainable Living study day for early 2010”. I wonder if this will flow onto Otago Polytechnic School of Occupational Therapy?
If, as occupational therapists, we are resourceful in our interventions (listen to the podcast on the post prior to this one for some ideas) this will then reflect encouragingly on our profession and impact positively on those whom we are enabling.
So the challenge.......Occupational Therapists start looking in your own backyard to see how you can reduce your carbon footprint, by walking to work, switching some lights off or acquiring produce at a more local level. Have a look around there may be someone in your backyard who is growing vegetables, has chickens or has excess of fruit, that they then may be able to supply ingredients and ideas for your next kitchen assessment.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Occupational Therapy for Sustainable Living with Ben Whittaker and Tamara Rayment
12/10/2009, author: Frances
In this podcast Frances Mortimer speaks to Ben Whittaker and Tamara Rayment about the contribution of occupational therapy to a greener health service. Why does OT need a paradigm shift to Sustainable Global Wellbeing, and what are the plans for the new Green OT Network?
Artist: Ben Whittaker and Tamara Rayment
Title: Sustainable_Living_7.10.09
Album: Greener Healthcare
Year: 2009
Length: 8:12 minutes (9.38 MB)
Format: MP3 Stereo 44kHz 160Kbps (CBR)
Offers insight as to what Occupational Therapists can be doing to have a more sustainable practice.
Click here to access
http://greenerhealthcare.org/podcasts/2009/10/occupational-therapy-sustainable-living-ben-whittaker-and-tamara-rayment
In this podcast Frances Mortimer speaks to Ben Whittaker and Tamara Rayment about the contribution of occupational therapy to a greener health service. Why does OT need a paradigm shift to Sustainable Global Wellbeing, and what are the plans for the new Green OT Network?
Artist: Ben Whittaker and Tamara Rayment
Title: Sustainable_Living_7.10.09
Album: Greener Healthcare
Year: 2009
Length: 8:12 minutes (9.38 MB)
Format: MP3 Stereo 44kHz 160Kbps (CBR)
Offers insight as to what Occupational Therapists can be doing to have a more sustainable practice.
Click here to access
http://greenerhealthcare.org/podcasts/2009/10/occupational-therapy-sustainable-living-ben-whittaker-and-tamara-rayment
Hmmm..mm
"Out of clutter ... find simplicity. From discord . . . find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. "
- Albert Einstein
- Albert Einstein
Friday, September 3, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Something to Think About
"Only after the last tree has been cut down. Only after the last river has been poisoned. Only after the last fish has been caught. Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten."
- Cree Indian Prophecy
For more quotes go to:
http://www.sustainablelivingdirectory.com/sustainability-quotes.php
- Cree Indian Prophecy
For more quotes go to:
http://www.sustainablelivingdirectory.com/sustainability-quotes.php
Meaningfulness
What is meaningful to one person may not be to another and as an occupational therapist we need to be mindful of this in our practice.
Christiansen and Baum (1997) explain: “meanings reflect our overall interpretations of life events. Most of our intentions and actions are filled with meaning. This meaning comes from the nature of a situation and how we interpret its significance based on our current goals, values and past experiences. There are individual meanings and collective or shared meanings” (p53)
Meaning is derived from our life experiences and no one person has the exact same encounters in their life-time as someone else. These daily patterns of our lives – which are meaningful to us – make us who we are (Hinojosa, Kramer, Brasic Royeen & Luebben, 2003) and can be obtained from many different sources and experiences; they shape our worldview, values and beliefs and give us goals and inspiration. Meaningfulness is associated with everything we do; these are known as our occupations.
In the above post I talked about the older persons’ group that I ran who thought that the recycling activity was silly, it never occurred to me that it held no meaning for them like it does for me or people of my generation. What is meaningfulness? I believe it is so personal you cannot really explain it, but as a professional in the occupational therapy world it is the biggest thing we have to be concerned about with whoever we are in contact.
ReferencesChristiansen and Baum (1997) explain: “meanings reflect our overall interpretations of life events. Most of our intentions and actions are filled with meaning. This meaning comes from the nature of a situation and how we interpret its significance based on our current goals, values and past experiences. There are individual meanings and collective or shared meanings” (p53)
Meaning is derived from our life experiences and no one person has the exact same encounters in their life-time as someone else. These daily patterns of our lives – which are meaningful to us – make us who we are (Hinojosa, Kramer, Brasic Royeen & Luebben, 2003) and can be obtained from many different sources and experiences; they shape our worldview, values and beliefs and give us goals and inspiration. Meaningfulness is associated with everything we do; these are known as our occupations.
In the above post I talked about the older persons’ group that I ran who thought that the recycling activity was silly, it never occurred to me that it held no meaning for them like it does for me or people of my generation. What is meaningfulness? I believe it is so personal you cannot really explain it, but as a professional in the occupational therapy world it is the biggest thing we have to be concerned about with whoever we are in contact.
Hinojosa, J., Kramer, P., Brasic Royeen, C., & Luebben, A. (2003). Core concept of occupation. In P. Kramer, J. Hinojosa, & C. Brasic Royeen, Perspectives in human occupation: Participation in life (pp. 1-17). United States of America: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Reed, K. L. (2005). An annotated history of the concepts used in occupational therapy. In C. H. Christiansen, C. M. Baum, & J. Bass- Haugen (Eds.), Occupational Therapy: Performance, participation and well-being (3 ed.). Thorofare: SLACK Incorporated.
Reed, K. L. (2005). An annotated history of the concepts used in occupational therapy. In C. H. Christiansen, C. M. Baum, & J. Bass- Haugen (Eds.), Occupational Therapy: Performance, participation and well-being (3 ed.). Thorofare: SLACK Incorporated.
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