Going it alone

I have gotten out of the habit of posting blogs (which I might blame at getting to grips with third year! I won't mention the dreaded 'D' word...)

But I've tried to share some things I  have found interesting in last few months (except I haven't been writing about it - whoops!)

One thing that I have been thinking about recently is the opportunities for OT's to go it alone. With the changes happening to the national health service within the U.K, it's not suprising to see independant practice being a genuine consideration for OT's. This months OTnews is focused on independant practice, and has ' invaluable advice for anyone considering independant practice'.

And they're right - there certianly is some very good advice in there! It was really intersting reading the story of OT Maggie Winchcombe who in 2007 co-founded the 'Years Ahead' partnership alongside Marie Hendry and David Silver. The website explains that the business aims to :

• ' bring easier living products and services out of the specialist sector (which has been the province of healthcare professionals) and into the mainstream market place. ' 

 and

• ' advise  organisations on how to develop their proposition in a way that enables consumers to enjoy living longer and living well. '

Maggie talks about that despite not 'treating anyone' in the sense of a therapist, it was her focus on occupation in its purest sense which enabled her to realise that her customers were wanting professional help to deal with changing circumstances. 

From reading Maggie's story, and checking out the website (which is well worth a loo) http://www.yearsahead.co.uk/ got me curious about other independant OT services. So a little search on google led me to a few websites that you might want to look at just to see what is going out there:

http://occupationaltherapyessex.co.uk/

http://www.westcountrytherapy.co.uk/

http://iotherapy.co.uk/

http://www.krysalisconsultancy.co.uk/index.htm

http://www.iots.org.uk/index.html

http://www.accessindependent.co.uk/about.asp

http://www.qualityindependence.co.uk/

http://www.dorsetoccupationaltherapist.co.uk/index.html

http://www.thrivingminds.co.uk/

http://www.able-2.co.uk/


and there are many more! I'm quite suprised at how many independant OTs are out there, and it is nice to have more career opportunities available, either as an independant OT or to work for an independant occupational therapy service.

This months OTnews is full of features on independant practice so if it is something you might consider, or might think about in the future make sure you don't throw out the November 2012 issue!