2023 Elizabeth Casson Memorial Lecture

This learning resource is a reflective toolkit that will help you widen your learning from the RCOT 2023 Elizabeth Casson Memorial Lecture delivered by Keir Harding. It is accompanied by a facilitator guide for those who wish to learn in groups. You can use these alongside the lecture recording or during the live event.

Career development pillar and career levels: Leadership 1–9

Keir Harding is CEO and Clinical Lead at Beam Consultancy.

Keir graduated in 1999 and has worked in mental health his entire career. He admits he was a terrible student and, at best, an average practitioner for much of this time. Despite this, he has taken on a variety of roles and ventured into new practice areas where OTs had not previously worked.

Keir specialises in working with people who use self-harm, recurrently feel suicidal and live with enormous amounts of stigma. He started to gain a following on social media by advocating for better treatment for this client group, particularly around ceasing to export traumatised young women into private hospitals. To spread this message, Keir used social media, conference presentations, journal articles, print and broadcast media. He is considered a leading expert in the mental health field among occupational therapists.

Keir left the NHS after feeling his specialism could not be utilised due to his profession. Nevertheless, he works hard to promote and support the role of occupational therapy with his clients. He's written articles calling for more OT input in this area and used the Model of Human Occupations (MOHO) to describe the work of adapting social environments, such as actively challenging stigma and developing trusting empathic relationships. He was fundamental in overturning the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's (NICE) decision not to have an OT on their panel to review the NICE guidelines for self-harm.

Keir is one of the most visible and outspoken occupational therapists practising today who is passionate about his patients and profession.

Do you know an occupational therapist who has made or is making a significant contribution to our profession? If you do, we want to hear from you. 

Nominate your chosen speaker by 5pm on Wednesday 31 May 2023. 

The lecture is a memorial to Elizabeth Casson (1881–1954) in honour of her contributions to the profession of occupational therapy. The first woman to be awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of Bristol in 1929, Elizabeth Casson specialised in psychiatry and introduced occupational therapy to England, setting up the first school of occupational therapy, Dorset House, in Bristol.

The lectureship is awarded to an RCOT member whose peers consider them to have made or be making a significant contribution to the development of the profession. 

Watch the recording of our 2022 Elizabeth Casson Memorial Lecture.