Hi - my name is Lisa Gannon. I'm the principal OT at Bradford Council - okay so as principal ota at
bradford council i purely look at the strategic aspect of the service delivery for occupational
therapy across the district um part of my role is to um look at how the delivery is encompassed
across multiple areas that we we work within we're quite a significant large team we're with 72 73
um ots that are working within the area so we work across and integrated into health
so what strength-based practice means to me as an occupational therapist it's about undertaking
that um practice that was in the inception of our team so it's looking at our core values
which align quite nicely across the stem strength based approach um it's looking at what people do
how we analyze things um and giving people the confidence by offering solutions and approaches
to give them control over their outcomes um for me strength-based approach is an effective way
to support people to live their own versions of a satisfying life um it's fostering an emphasis
on people's interests and the talents rather than a person's inability or what we label as deficits
so it allows us to consider those traits that we've labeled as deficits um as kind of
a person's um attributes the characteristics it can lead to what their strengths are as well um
the strength-based occupational therapy approach also invites us to see all aspects of that person
um in their authentic life because i think if we try to take away those little nuances the deficit
it actually doesn't give us the full character of that person which is really a positive feature
and it can be a powerful way to harness that full complexity of that person i think using
the strength-based language is probably the most appropriate thing that i think needs to come in
alignment with the way that we view things um so it kind of gives us an a professional
standing it acknowledges that we are listening to who they are and we see them as uh totality
and not those individual elements when we're looking at planning strength-based strategies
we focus on the person's life and their engagement within the home and also the community and
we feel that people are competent and gratified and interested if they are engaged in their lives
now i threw this question out to my management team and they utilize words like empowering
um it prevents um escalation it leads to best outcomes it's personal it's intrinsic
motivation and also extrinsic motivation it's positive affirmation and it refocuses
the person's mindset what skills and knowledge do occupational therapists bring to strength-based
practice i think it's our tool bag we have a tool bag that when we train we kind of develop
over time um and i think one of the core things that for us is that with person-centred approach
we look at positive risk-taking we analyze tasks or activities we look at holistic assessments so
we look at things in a wider perspective to to sometimes a very slim narrative view we
look at collaborative working we work across lots of multi-disciplinaries connecting with
lots of different professionals and charity bodies that work to support people within the community
we utilize individual strengths to afford them the best outcomes we are problem solvers um we
try and offer resolutions or paths for others to consider i think we work in in kind of um
i have been told a different mindset to maybe some other professions we do think outside the
box and we're quite creative um with some of the solutions we can come up with for individuals and
we look at personalization we also are quite good at kind of teasing out information from people so
we kind of are skilled at interviewing if you will and getting the relevant information that we need
we're good at asking those appropriate questions in the right manner
i do think we provide tangible solutions we have a wide knowledge um within
the sphere of our working environment in regards to lots of various different pieces of equipment
adaptations we work within multiple legislations we also linking quite um significantly within
bradford with our local charities as well and third sector organizations that support
you know the person and their family and we've got a knowledge of physical and mental health which
can impact on somebody's functionality we have a large resource pool and we recognize motivational
factors which are intrinsic and extrinsic to the person to to get them to utilize their skills
and and kind of motivate them to move forward with anything that they choose to implement
okay so how is the role of practice leaders within occupational therapy encouraging
strength-based practice within their own and other professions well we lead by example we
allow every voice to be heard and we acknowledge that and we we make it valued we count it
and we normalize strength based approaches um and also the assessment and engagement with anything
that we do we encourage co-production of shared solutions with people peers people sorry people
and peers across health and social care and the wider sectors we encourage staff to continue to
utilize their core skills in different medias so we look at kind of adapting to how
things are at this present time we support individual needs um and that is of the people that
we we look to um support within the community and also the staff that work within the teams
we um have affirmation of good practices and we share that we share it far and wide we kind of
sing you know what is working and how we can jump on board that we engender an inclusive
approach in all aspects of work providing solutions for people and the service delivery
we take ownership of developing ourselves the service and interactions with everybody that we
come in contact with and we look at accessibility we look at the accessibility to the service to
essential tools um and also the accessibility into how things we can progress them so it's no good as
offering a solution to somebody if they they have no access to that we're quite flexible as well
i think the difference that strength based practice makes to the people and families is
that it's it's all positive so nothing's seen as a negative and i think we live in a society where
we kind of branch on to negativity and work from that and i think it comes back to our core things
of being human we we develop from the things that we do wrong i think we need to turn that on on its
head and look at the positives and kind of that then opens a different sphere um because people
then take ownership of what they're doing and it's it doesn't become a chore so i think if you can
spin something as a positive which strength based is it then leads it to leading to more positive
behaviors and attributes and also engagement so i think if if you find something that's positive
it's always a good platform to build upon and i also think you get more people joining into that
um rather than seeing it as a chore and things can become really inclusive so i think for me it so it
encompasses kind of flipping things on its head in society and and making things more positive
it also gives that person a sense of control um and there's nothing better than and feeling
positive about something that you know you may have struggled with in the past