By Pete Vesey
Enabling our members to understand and act to embed sustainability in their interventions and work with service users is an important workstream for RCOT. In June, occupational therapist Pete Vesey joined us as our new Professional Advisor – Environmental Sustainability. He tells us more about his role and how you can get involved.
My brief is to work with members and support the occupational therapy community to recognise and integrate environmental sustainability in their everyday work and practice.
There have already been some excellent examples of practice and opinion in OTnews and in the British Journal of Occupational Therapy, and through the work of Greener AHP (NHS England) and OTSusnet (Centre for Sustainable Healthcare), which we can build on.
But to get properly started in this work, I’m keen to listen to and understand the range of views, experiences, ideas and activity that our members and the wider professional community have right now and to work with them to help shape knowledge, resources and expertise.
I’m planning to carry out a baseline survey in October 2022, to help measure change over time, and to bring together a small steering group. I’m also looking to engage with the different occupational therapy groups and networks, to listen to their ideas and discuss opportunities, and to collaborate more widely with the sustainability networks to share resources, case studies and advice.
Look out for further information on the survey on social media, and if you’d like to find out more about being part of the steering group, or to contribute more widely, please email me at pete.vesey@rcot.co.uk.