As part of our blog series for Occupational Therapist Week, Rebecca from CLDS has shared her reflections on the role of OT’s in CLDS, and how they can improve the lives of the people they support.

“I have been an OT working with people with a learning disability for over 20 years now. What I have really learnt is that people either overestimate or underestimate the functional ability of the people we work with. CLDS OT’s work with the person and their carer to look at the things that are important to them and increase their participation in these. Many people with a learning disability do not have the opportunity to do the everyday things that you and I do.

Doing everyday activities called ‘occupations’ can be really challenging for the people that CLDS OT's work with but if you get the task right, the support right and the environment right then they can be supported to achieve what they want to. Grading and adapting the task, the support and the environment are all core skills of OTs and ones which we utilise every day.”

The work OT’s are involved in at CLDS has a significant impact onto the lives of people with a learning disability in the borough. One example is “Margot”.

Margot’s Story

Margot is a 47-year-old woman who has a learning disability and a high Body Mass Index. Margot was referred to Occupational Therapy because she wanted to lose weight and wanted to get support her to prepare healthy and delicious meals instead of relying on takeaways and readymade meals.

Margot explained that being overweight has had an impact on the places she can go, her fitness, enjoyment of everyday things and her ability to look after herself, socialise and care for her husband.

OT’s talked with Margot about her key priorities and identified two goals for Occupational Therapy:

• To be able to learn and make one or two healthy recipes at home which Margot could make independently as part of her weekly meal planner.

• To support Margot to understand healthy eating choices to support her health objectives.

OT’s worked with Margot over 9 sessions. They supported her to choose recipes and provided easy-read instructions to make each meal.  Margot was soon able to begin making the recipes she’d chosen and included them in her weekly meal planner. CLDS OT’s worked with nursing colleagues to provide Margot with accessible resources about portion control, balanced diets, and being active.

Working with the OT improved Margot’s confidence and gave her the skills and experience she needed to move towards her goals and live a healthier life.

Margot’s story shows how important the work on OT can be, and the significant positive impact it can have on the lives of people with a learning disability. Rebecca and the other OT’s working in Camden have supported people to live with greater independence, including the installation of new wash dry toilet facilities at Kingsgate and Greenwood.

For more information about OT week please go here, and to find out more about the OT teams in Camden, please visit the practice guide here.