It was a highly momentous occasion for me to finally attend an in-person Children Young People and Families (CYPF) Conference (Royal College of Occupational Therapists Special Section, RCOT-SS) after attending the 2021 and 2022 conferences online. I have been looking forward to connecting to many of my colleagues within children’s occupational therapy for a while now so to be able to do this in 3D was incredible!
As well as speaking and presenting twice one with colleagues and one solo about my book it also was a privilege to attend other presentations by some incredible occupational therapists. I even attended a talk and spoke to Iona Novak! As a children’s OT researcher, I was fangirling and was fangirling more so when Iona came over to talk to me. I know if you’re not in paediatrics you may not know who Iona is but trust me as a children’s OT researcher it’s a big deal!
Children’s OT researcher? If you’ve been here for a long time you’ll know that being an occupational therapist who works with children, young people and families was always the goal. Although I love working in academia it took me a while to come to terms with the fact that I wasn’t the children’s OT I always wanted to be. BUT I am a children’s OT and I am so grateful to CYPF for welcoming me into their family.
I am actively involved in children’s OT research which does make me a children’s OT. Okay, I’m not out in practice and have very limited clinical experience in this area but I do still have experience in research. I’m currently involved in multiple research streams and groups about children’s OT such as Mind The Gap and oh yeah… a big percentage of my book evaluated children’s occupational therapy and attending the conference reminded me of that.
Colleagues spoke to me about my work and praised me which was really hard for me to believe. They’re more experienced than me I wanted to praise them and learn from them (which I did). I’m still starstruck that people came to my talk and asked me questions and this is not in any way to undermine lived experience as I know my lived experience is highly valued. But these are fantastic occupational therapists who have been in the field for years yet still listen and praise me for what I have to say and I appreciate it.
Thank you, CYPF for putting on this amazing conference, it was an absolute privilege to attend especially in OT week and thank you to the wonderful CYPF family for making me feel belonged although my journey as a children’s OT is slightly different. Yes, I would still love to do more clinical work one day but for now, I’m happy with the work I do within children’s OT. Thank you to CYPF and my amazing colleagues Benita, Hortensia and Holly who have finally made me realise this and most importantly that I’m valued as a children’s OT and I will be forever grateful for this.
Yet, it was bittersweet as who knows when the next CYPF conference will be due to the removal of the RCOT-SS. We all have opinions on the changes and I definitely have mixed opinions on it but we will give it a go. I will obviously miss the CYPF conference and I’m already sad I don’t have one to look forward to after this being in my diary for so long. Yet, I know how close as a community CYPF are and I am confident that we will get another conference up and running again in the future whatever this next chapter brings for us.
Thank you for reading,
Georgia x
