Occupational Therapy Week 2023

If you have a question that isn't covered here, please contact marketing@rcot.co.uk

How can I get involved? 

We’re sharing suggestions for how you can get involved during OT Week at the end of October. Look out for emails and on social media for updates. 

I have events and activities planned using ‘Occupation matters’ as the title what do I do now?

We recommend that you consider what’s appropriate for your activity and the people that you’ll be talking with.

I’ve already printed off all my resources and promoted my ‘Occupation matters’ event. What should I do now?

We will be updating the resources and sharing them with you. We recommend that you consider what’s appropriate for your activity and the people that you’ll be talking with.

Why does OT 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. 

Why have you changed the campaign?

We’ve heard from a few members about the very distressing situation in Israel and Gaza and our upcoming OT Week campaign, ‘Occupation matters’. The concerns raised are primarily about the campaign’s title and the meaning of the word ‘occupation’ in its geo-political sense, and whether it’s appropriate given the current conflict.

We hear and appreciate the concerns. We’ve spent time last week considering the options and consulting with Council and the group of members who have been involved in shaping the campaign. We’ve had a wide range of views shared with us. We recognise the strength of feelings involved and want to be sensitive to them. And we don’t want anything to detract from celebrating occupational therapy. That’s why we’re going to make some amends to the campaign to make sure that it’s clear were talking occupation in the context of occupational therapy.

What have you changed in the campaign?

We’re stopping using the campaign name ‘Occupation matters, and the hashtag and we’re updating the resources to ensure that they put occupation in the context of occupational therapy. And we’ll use #OTWeek only.

What’s the campaign name now?

Rather than come up with a new name we’re going to focus on OT Week. The campaign itself remains the same, it’s focus is still to create a better understanding of occupations in the occupational therapy context.

Who did you consult about the change and what did they say?

At the start of preparing for OT Week we asked members to let us know if they’d like to be involved in shaping the campaign. We consulted with these members, over 90 responded and shared a range of views with us. It was very clear they wanted to continue to celebrate OT Week, but that we need to be sensitive to the situation. That’s why we’ve taken the decision to adjust the campaign.

Can I continue planning my event for OT Week?

Yes, please do continue to plan events and activities for OT Week. 

I have events and activities planned using ‘Occupation matters’ as the title what do I do now?

We recommend that you consider what’s appropriate for your activity and the people that you’ll be talking with.

I’ve already printed off all my resources and promoted my ‘Occupation matters’ event. What should I do now?

We will be updating the resources and sharing them with you. We recommend that you consider what’s appropriate for your activity and the people that you’ll be talking with.

Why aren't all the resources in Welsh?

We’ve created the promotional materials in Welsh as well as English – posters to display, graphics for social and documents, banners for email signatures. However, the resources that are specifically for members are in English. 

How do I link the email banner to a website? 

To link the banner to find out more, you can add a hyperlink to www.rcot.co.uk/occupation when you add the banner to your email signature.  We’ve removed the ‘find out more’ text from the latest resources so you don’t have to link.

How to add image with link in an Outlook signature? (extendoffice.com)

Do you have an MS Teams background ?

We don’t have an MS Teams background for OT Week. We will consider one for next year. 

Can the posters be edited?   

In the latest resources you’ll find PowerPoint versions of the posters. There is one that you can add your contact details on and another you can add event information on. 

Alternatively, you could print the PDF version and write on them.