Occupational Therapy Week 2022

Why does Occupational Therapy Week take place?

We want to share what occupational therapy is all about and why it’s important. Occupational Therapy is often overshadowed by other easier to understand professions, and so until everyone understands the life changing power of occupational therapy, OT Week is here to stay!

How are we going to be front and centre of the campaign?

As OTs you work with people to improve their everyday. Your knowledge and advice will be the focal point of this campaign. You are the experts, and we want people everywhere to value the life-changing power of occupational therapy.

What’s the aim of this campaign? 

The aim of this campaign is to promote occupational therapy to the general public and introduce OT to those who don’t already know the power of it. To engage with them and to give them the knowledge and power to make meaningful changes in their lives, in simple and accessible ways.

Why do we use the term 'life hacks'?

A ‘life hack’ is a widely accepted term that's understood to be a way of changing something to make things more efficient and effective for someone, however that may be. We’re using this term to highlight some simple and small ways that people can make changes in their life which will benefit them, as recommended by you, occupational therapists.

What are OT Life Hacks? 

OT Life Hacks are small, simple ways that people can make changes in their life which will benefit them.

Who can create OT Life Hacks? 

This campaign is about you and your expert knowledge. The OT Life Hacks will come from you, as healthcare professionals. 

Do you have examples of OT Life Hacks? 

We will have some to share with you soon. We’ll be sharing a launch video along with four launch OT Life Hacks. These will start the campaign and give you guidance on how to create your own. 

What resources will be available for us to use?

There are resources available to help you get involved in each aspect of the campaign. 

• To help you share the campaign there will be a launch video, a few core hacks and some graphics to use on social media. 
• To help you promote the campaign there will be posters. 
• To help you create your own hacks you’ll have some guides on how to create them and share on social media. 

Will there be printed resources? 

Over the last few years, we’ve moved the campaign online as part of our commitment to sustainability. By taking the OT Week campaign online, not only has it meant we’re more sustainable, but we’ve also made a bigger measurable impact. Last year our campaign achieved a reach on social media of 8.9 million,  

What can I do in my teams?

You can use the networks of occupational therapists that you have and pool your knowledge, and once the campaign has launched, you can share the information far and wide, using those networks of OTs to reach as many non-OTs as possible.

How can I get involved?

Create OT Life Hacks that you can share with people, looking at the areas of home, work, school and play. 

Now that OT Week is here we want you to share the launch and campaign videos, promote the campaign and tell your friends, service users and everyone you know about it, sending them to our dedicated website, and finally we want you to create your own OT Life Hacks and share them far and wide. 

Continue to look out for our emails, social media posts and updates on this page for more details about how you can get involved before, during and after the campaign. Keep visiting this page for updates. 

Does my OT Life Hack video need to look designed?

No, it does not. Raw and unedited videos are very relatable and make the OT Life Hacks feel more accessible and real.

What is ALT text and how do I add it to my social media images?

To make your social media posts more accessible you can add ALT text, which is text that can be read by a screen reader that describes the image shown. You can watch this simple video and read the following posts to see how to add ALT text to your social media posts.

What are GIFs and how do I add them to my social media posts?

GIFs are digital stickers that move, you can put them on your social media posts to animate social media posts. There are some specially designed RCOT themed GIFs that you can share. Applications such as Instagram have these built into their search systems, watch this video to see how to find them. You can also find them on this website.

I’d like to add an OT Week banner to my email signature. Where can I find it?

You can find our OT Week email signature banner under the ‘Social media images, posters and email resources’ section on this page.

What happens after OT Week?

OT Week was the start of the ‘Lift Up Your Everyday’ awareness raising campaign. We’ll use materials created, advice given and stories told to develop the campaign more over time. We’ll also take insights from how the launch campaign performed to guide our future planning. This is just the start of our activity over the next five years to Rise Up and raise our profile so that more people understand the power of what occupational therapists do. We’ll keep you in the loop with what we’re doing and invite you to stay involved.