One of the priorities from the workshop in Athens was identified as mapping existing curriculums and developing new curriculum materials to assist students and educators, and occupational therapists in the field, with tools and knowledge to develop competencies to take on roles as an advocate for and with displaced persons.

For this project we have partnered with our physiotherapy colleagues from the PREP project who are working in a European collaboration to develop new curriculum for OT's in practice. See this website for more information: https://www.hvl.no/en/project/622494/

The next months we will be reviewing their current curriculum plans to see where overlap is with occupational therapy, and will even be contributing our own OT specific modules. All resources will be available open source on completion!

Are you interested in contributing to the project on reviewing and/or developing curriculum? Please contact Nadine at n.l.blankvoort@hva.nl

Thank you to those who participated in the 2019 ENOTHE Workshop on the Call-to-Action for a 1 Year Action Plan on OT Educational Activities with Displaced Persons. After so much insightful discussion and idea sharing, we are really excited about the outcomes and potential collaboration from educators and students to make this action plan tenable.

For those unable to join, this is a chance for you to get involved and start taking part in the action!

Below are the action items created in the workshop. Items in bold are those we believe to be the most practical, immediate next steps.

Subsequently, we sent a survey to all participants and our mailing list to explore how and in what way people wanted to contribute. Pleas let us know if you didn't receive this survey!

ENOTHE 2019 Workshop Outcomes: Action Items for 1-year plan towards Curriculum Change

1. Network

• Strengthen network through knowledge sharing via ENOTHE, SPOT

• Sharing of good practices

• Social media campaign

• Share outcomes of workshop on website

• Webinar on certain topics related to displaced persons

• Knowledge exchange between teachers and students who are working on projects in this field

2. Curriculum Design

• Review curriculums and guidelines for European BSc programmes

• Open / redesign courses, ie. “Emerging Fields” which is always evolving

• Curriculum development on advocacy and politics, community-based practices, occupational justice and environmental influence on “displacement”

• Multidisciplinary courses with non-health professionals: ie. Law, policy

• Online courses

• Volunteering opportunities built into curriculum

• Teacher training to support students on projects in these fields

• Bachelor thesis projects on same topic taking place in different countries

3. Experiences

• Community labs/experiences for students and educators, more partnerships with communities for fieldworks

• Immersion and storytelling to increase awareness

• Open and free or low-cost student conferences

• Documentaries like Human Flow

• Inter-professional projects in the field

4. Co-Production

• Individuals with migration/forced displacement experience providing education to students

• Create exchange on how to set up placements and projects

• Centralise this information on one platform

5. Shifts in Profession

• Recruiting and supporting OT’s with refugee background

• Move from providers to enablers: changing roles and attitudes

• Challenge stereotypes in the profession

• OT educators as politicians

• Challenging institutions and our roles: sanctuary schools

• Discuss and critique voluntourism/altruism

March 24, 2022

We participated in the recent OT-Europe event, hosted by ENOTHE, on Sustainability and presented the following statement:

"With the recent humanitarian crisis in the Ukraine, and the ongoing humanitarian crises globally, there is a need for occupational therapists to reflect on their role in provided a sustainable response to forced human movement.

Drawing attention to unequal experiences of occupation disruption due to structural, racial violence and the need to engage with policy makers in meaningful engagement at a moment of rebuilding requires critical reflection, advocacy and collaboration.

Considering the current humanitarian crisis in the Ukraine, we are eager to explore the role of the Occupational Therapy community in responsive solutions. We will be contributing to the ENOTHE Meet up on March 29th at 17:00 CET: Think Together to Find Action-Based Solutions Coming from the Academic World of OT.

Join us for the discussion! Registration link here.

March 23, 2021

Join us April 22nd for the Virtual Student Conference - for students, by students! See the student space for more information and the link to the registration! Registration now open!

February 17, 2021

Dear students and other interested persons!

Thank you very much for all your contributions for our webside! Please look under "student space" at all different projects all around Europe!

The OT-Europe Group would like to host an online conference discussing the different project results and we would like your projects to be included! On 25 February 2021 (Thursday) from 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm (Central European Time) we would like to discuss the planning of this mini conference, i.e. who would be willing to take on which tasks in the preparation of the online event. 22 April 2021 (Thursday) from 4 pm to 7 pm (Central European Time) as the date for the student conference.

Are you too late? That doesn't matter. If you have any interest to participate in one or other way, please do not hesitate to contact

kim.roos@zhaw.ch

November 11, 2020

Announcement for students and educators!

The Occupational Therapy Europe Interest Group on Displaced Persons is Looking for Input!

Are you a student (bachelor or master) studying Occupational Therapy who is currently working on a project in your studies related to the topic of Human Displacement, Refugees or Migration? Or are you a student who has completed a project related to one of these topics in the past?

The OT-Europe Interest Group aims to collect projects from students throughout Europe who are working on this area and to provide a platform for them on our website. In this way, we aim to have a place where students can see what projects have been completed in the past, what questions still remain and can connect with other students interested in this area.

Additionally, the OT-Europe Group would like to host an online conference discussing the different project results and we would like your projects to be included!

If you would like your project included in the website please send a short (200-300 word) summary of your project, explaining the main questions, methods and results to: n.l.blankvoort@hva.nl

The deadline for project submission is December 1^st, 2020.

June 12, 2020

Excitement announcement! The on-line world-premiere of the short film Night Becomes Day will take place on 18th June, 6PM Australian Eastern Standard Time.

This film introduces case studies in the 'Working with displaced persons' online module from WFOT and showcases the work of Occupational Therapist Theo Bogeas with displaced persons.

The event includes an international panel discussion including Theo Bogeas, OT and is leading into Refugee Week around the world.

Register here: https://www.fanforcetv.com/programs/nightbecomesday18thjune

Night Becomes Day is the first virtual reality documentary which explores forcible displacement, immersing you in a real refugee journey from camp to community. Through humane professional support, teenage boy Sohail's displacement and resettlement from an Athen's refugee camp makes a stunning human challenge to Australian and US refugee management.

Viewing can be via any screen with 2D regular; or 3D immersive through VR headsets or glasses.

For more information about the film and the education resources: http://www.nightbecomesday.com

The cost for the viewing and panel is USD7.99

April 20 2020

Time for an update! The OT-Europe Interest Group has been busy the last months continuing to collect practice examples from across Europe and we are impressed to see what occupational therapists, educators and students are doing in the field of displaced persons. Please continue to send us your input!

We have also been in discussed with PREP project - a project carried out my our colleagues in physiotherapy on developing education materials for healthcare workers on working with refugees. We are excited to tell you that we will be collaborating with them to hopefully offer resources to all of you soon! For more information see the update here: Update on Interest Group Activities

Lastly, we have been communicating with you over email since our last workshop at the ENOTHE conference in Athens. After a productive think tank we have identified some key action points moving forward and will be contact people directly who have highlighted areas where they would like to contribute.

Are you a student who is interested in exploring the area of displaced persons and Occupational Therapy? See our Student Space for more information on how you can contribute: Student Space

Interested in work we've done in the past?

Check out the Practice Examples and Interactive Map for the up-to-date information on what's going on in Europe!

And the documents which we published last year: We have published a report on current practice examples of OT with displaced persons in Europe, a call-to-action document and a template position paper. These documents can be found here and also can be found on the OT-Europe website.