| ENOTHE Update |
|
|
|
|
Largest ever Irish contingent participates in ENOTHE meeting on combating poverty and social exclusion
By Janice Crausaz, AOTI representative to ENOTHE
Thirteen educators and students from all four Irish occupational therapy programmes attended and presented at the 16th Annual Meeting of the European Network of Occupational Therapy in Higher Education (ENOTHE) on 14-16 October in Stockholm, Sweden. The gathering, held at the Karolinska Institutet, had over 400 participants (half of them students) from more than twenty-four different countries. Margaret McGrath, Aideen Gallagher, and students Niamh O’Grady and Joanne Fahy represented National University of Ireland, Galway; Katie Cremin & Sarah Quinn, Trinity College Dublin; Janice Crausaz, Shelley Mack and students Suzanne Leclair and Ciara Fitzgerald, University College Cork; and Alison Warren and recently graduated Eileen Mooney and Siobhan O’Grady, University of Limerick.
ENOTHE (www.enothe.eu) was founded in 1995 within the framework of the European Union on the initiative of COTEC (Council of Occupational Therapists for the European Countries). ENOTHE’s main aim is to enhance occupational therapy’s knowledge base and educational quality through development of a European dimension in occupational therapy curriculums. This is primarily done by bringing together educators and students from across Europe for an annual meeting held each time in a different country and around a specific theme. University College Cork was host to the 2007 meeting where the theme was Equal Opportunities for All – towards a just society. As 2010 was the European Year of Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion that was also this year’s theme.
In congruence with this theme, Sarah Quinn and Katie Cremin chaired a very well-attended workshop titled “Occupational Therapy in a prison setting”. They described their collaborative project, established in 2008, which employs the teaching methodology of service learning. Trinity occupational therapy students and lecturers delivered and evaluated a nine-week self-advocacy group programme within a women’s prison service. The programme then expanded and now incorporates stress management, independent living, problem solving and a drama group. The central objective of this on-going project is to develop, in the female prisoners, an ability to manage relationships and their occupational lifestyle both in the prison and on release. The workshop ended with ENOTHE participants exploring what occupational therapists can uniquely offer within such an occupationally deprived setting. For the long-term sustainability of such a project, Sarah and Katie stressed the importance of building up a strong partnership between the educational and prison institutions.
This same point was underscored by Margaret McGrath in her workshop, titled “Community - University Partnerships in Occupational Therapy Europe” where she presented in collaboration with occupational therapy educators from the Netherlands, Spain, Tunisia and Estonia. They argued that our educational approaches need to ensure that occupational therapy graduates have competencies in the areas of community-based rehabilitation and development if they are to contribute to the achievement of economic, social and environmental objectives as set out in such European-wide policy documents as the European Social Agenda, the EU Disability Action Plan and the Council of Europe Action Plan. The presenters propose community – university partnerships as one method of addressing this challenge. To this end they are developing a framework to document current practice in Europe. By describing and analysing these partnerships, they seek to facilitate the sharing of information/ experiences between different occupational therapy programmes. Workshop participants were then invited to trial this tool and give feedback to its authors in order to aid them in its further elaboration.
Students from University College Cork, NUI Galway and the University of Limerick also presented their combating poverty and social exclusion themed projects at student workshops. UCC students Suzanne Leclair and Ciara Fitzgerald had investigated the occupational therapy services currently available to the Travelling Community in Ireland. They explored how negative attitudes and poor understanding of traveler lifestyle/ traditions are barriers for access to these services. Through research and interviews Suzanne and Ciara explored occupational therapy services which could benefit this community. As similar communities exist throughout Europe, they sought to stimulate a discussion, create new ideas and share knowledge among fellow European OT students.
NUI Galway students Niamh O’Grady and Joanne Fahy described their project of working with an organization which promoted social inclusion through support services for older adults in their local urban area. By offering social contact and decreasing isolation, older adults were supported in living independently. Niamh and Joanne sought to illustrate how occupational therapy can make a difference through empowering the service users to make decisions for their organization and thereby acquiring a greater sense of group ownership.
As part of their role-emerging placement with AccessCampus, a Study Club set up to enhance the educational potential of pupils from Limerick and assist in breaking the cycle of poverty, UL students Eileen Mooney and Siobhan O’Grady analysed the needs of pupils in the Study Club. They then developed a vocational exploration workshop called Participate. The weekly group of 10-12 members focused on team-building group cohesion and generating ideas through creative activities. The group members were encouraged to envision a positive future despite barriers erected by the structures of social exclusion in which they live.
The next ENOTHE Annual Meeting on 3-5 November 2011 will have as its theme “Occupational Therapy and the added value of voluntary work”. The occupational therapy staff and students of the Arteveldehogeschool in Ghent, Belgium are hosting the event at newly built conference facilities located right in the heart of the medieval beauty of this Flemish city of 60,000 students. In addition to the usual workshops and keynote speakers, two 5 ECTS courses, open to all European OT students, will be offered before and after the annual meeting: Creativity in Occupational Therapy on November 2nd (consult www.occupationaltherapy-creativity.be for further details) and Occupation Revisited on November 7-8(www.occupationaltherapy-occupationalscience.be).
If you are a student or educator, you are warmly encouraged to participate in this most inspiring forum for new and emerging ideas on European occupational therapy education and practice. Those interested in attending and/or presenting a workshop or a student project please contact one of the following ENOTHE university representatives: Margaret McGrath (
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
), Sarah Quinn (
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
), Shelley Mack (
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
), or Alison Warren (
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
).
|
