#OTPOWER: Breaking the Barriers
This is a collaborative project carried out by students of Occupational Therapy from Portugal, Spain, Armenia and Georgia and aims to promote occupational therapy among the population of the participating countries, raise awareness of the role that an occupational therapist can have in social inclusion – through realising which are the specific needs and realities of each country – and share values and knowledge among OT Power students.
We focus on the idea that the person is the expert in his health process and the role of the Occupational Therapist is centred in accompanying, advising and making an active listening.
Based on a common activity made with the participation of people from each country, we had the opportunity to develop a workshop at the ENOTHE – Zagreb for the students, and then present our project to everyone at the conference.
We considered this a high point of our participation in the congress given the richness of the debate that arose not only for us, but for all those present – this was a great moment of sharing opinions and experiences. Some relevant questions arose: Are there limits in our practice? Which are the different job opportunities in each country? What are the main areas of intervention? Which are the different perspectives about different working fields?
At the end of the three days, the feeling was not only of realisation and satisfaction due to the effort and work done, but also due to the feedback from the participants, who conveyed a great interest, concern and willingness to do more about this topic.
We recommend all students to get involved in this type of projects because the dissemination and development of occupational therapy depends on each one of us and it is very important to be aware of it in our daily lives.
Contact us for more information: otpowerproject@gmail.com
Authors: Ana Catarina de Brito Martins, Ana Filipa Cardoso Lopes, Bárbara Isabel Barreta
Ferreira, Cristina Torregrosa Ras, Georgina Cortés Rufe, Rita Henriques Bogarim and
Tamar Rekhviashvili.