What if money didn't matter?...

This is an incredibly motivational clip about a father who came to the realisation that it is his role to assist his son in discovering who he is! This clip carries a profound message in that there are so many parents out there that try to shape their kids into something that they never got to be instead of humbling themselves and giving them the adequate support and love that they need in order to build their own identity....

Day Care Centre – Wilcock’s model

One of our main projects that we focused on in the community block was the day care centre. Have a look at how well it falls under the different areas that Wilcock labelled as 'essential' for living a healthy life.

Doing

Wilcock stated that, “People spend their lives almost constantly engaged in purposeful ‘doing’ even when free of obligation or necessity. They ‘do’ daily tasks including things they feel they must do, and others that they want to.” (Wilcock, A., 1998). The disabled individuals that attend the centre feel a sense of doing something purposeful when they are engaging in the programme that the centre has to offer. The intervention planned by the students for this component of the model is to take ownership of their own garden which they have begun. Another aspect of intervention will be based on a craft programme that will make use of recycled material and that will focus on performing activities that will improve the individual’s fine, gross and verbal skills.  

Being

“To ‘be’ in this sense requires that people have time to discover themselves, to think, to reflect and to simply exist.” (Wilcock, A., 1998) The day care centre was donated some learning material and books from the Down Syndrome Association. We made use of the centres and the communities resources in order to construct a shelf that was installed to store the books on. This results in material for leisure activities such as listening to stories being read out by the teachers or for the higher functioning individuals to read by themselves.

Becoming

 

“Occupational therapists are in the business of helping people transform their lives by facilitating talents and abilities not yet in full use through enabling them to do and to be.” (Wilcock, A., 1998) Our profession plays a huge role in an individual’s process of becoming which is why it is important to take the process of individuals very important. At the day care centre, six different conditions are found. The severity of the cognitive impairment varies greatly which is why it is so important to group the individuals into severity of their impairments. This was done by a previous student group. For further intervention on structuring we have decided to structure the physical environment by employing room dividers which are in the process of coming. The infrastructure of the facility is a real hazard as it puts the individuals at great risk of harm. This is the reason why we assisted the process through teaching the principle how to correctly address the issue with the relevant services that are available.

Belonging

This term was first used by Reibeiro et al. (2001) to describe the state an individual finds himself in when he is included in taking part in certain occupations that other individuals also benefit from. (Hammell, 2004)The Augmentative and alternative communication which the speech therapists have started to employ in the Day Care Centre , creates the opportunity for assisting the carers of a disabled individual to interpret  ‘non verbal communication signals’ such as touch, gestures and objects to help with ‘language and communication within an environment’. (Bloom, L., 1993) The speech therapy students have drawn up an ACC programme that consists of a morning ring, absent/present chart, placemats and name labels. All of these contribute towards the feeling of belonging. The individuals give back to the community and to the centre by making crafts that are sold on pension day. Another contribution will be the vegetables that will be growing in the garden.

 

Reference

Bloom, L. (1993) The Transition to Language: Acquiring the Power of Expression. Cambridge, UK: CUP.

Hammell, 2004, Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 71(5), Canada, CAOT Publications Ace

 

Wilcock, A. (1998). Doing, being, becoming. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 65, 248–257.

 



Human Rights Day...not just a public holiday

Andrea Firth put the historical occurrence that brought about the public holiday into perfect words which is why I will be quoting her directly from the blog called "My Jet Online: Celebrating Human Rights Day" that she posted on the 20th of March 2014. This is what she wrote;

"Human Rights Day commemorates the 'Sharpeville Massacre' on 21 March 1960, when a large group of protesters took part in a campaign to resist unjust Apartheid laws which forced all black people to carry pass books. After a day of demonstrations the South African police then opened fire on the crowd, killing 69 people and wounding 180.
Human Rights Day is a reminder of how undemocratic systems of government and abuse of authority can lead to injustice, oppression and violence. After 1994, 21 March was declared a public holiday, Human Rights Day, by the democratically elected government.
In 1996, then President Nelson Mandela said: "21 March is a day which, more than many others, captures the essence of the struggle of the South African people and the soul of our non-racial democracy. 21 March is the day on which we remember and sing praises to those who perished in the name of democracy and human dignity. It is also a day on which we reflect and assess the progress we are making in enshrining basic human rights and values."
As citizens of a democratic country, we must ensure that basic human rights are protected and respected. Everyone is entitled to human rights without discrimination of any kind. The South African Constitution states that one of our basic human rights is a right to life, equality and human dignity. We need to ensure that these rights are respected by finding ways, no matter how small, to improve people's lives every day."

(Firth, A., 2014) 

Today emphasises the importance of the rights of people, especially with the history of our country that involved mainly injustice and marginalisation of people of colour. OT should be well aware of the human rights and should make them part of the foundation of their intervention.


Reference

Firth, A., 2014. My Jet Online: Celebrating Human Rights Day. Retrieved on 21 March 2014, from http://www.myjetonline.co.za/Why-we-celebrate-Human-Rights-Day.aspx

Places of safety

“Woe to the man who offends a small child!”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Lately we have been focusing on supporting a place of safety in the community. It breaks my  heart to see in what a psychology and physical state some of the children are due to neglect, psychological, emotional or physical abuse. The problems the occupational Therapy students have been facing over the years is that the carers are burnt out and do not want to learn which defeats the purpose of sustainability that we need to employ. The root of the problem does not seem to be addressed successfully which causes a vicious cycle that the place seems to be stuck in. We have discovered that this issue becomes a real ethical issue that we are in the process of solving. What makes the problem soling process challenging in that every therapist has a different rational of going about the problem.  I have learnt that every therapist has a different approach and rationale when it comes to intervention which can cause quite an obstacle.

On Thursday in our community TUT, we discussed and reflected on the experiences we have had so far. My friend that is working in the same community that I am working in presented on child abuse which I found really interesting.

Did you know that 3-8 min someone is being rapped in South Africa!!! 45% of which are kids, of which 50% are under the age of 18 years old!

According to research, if a developing child is abuse in any kind of way, the body experiences an increase in cortisol levels resulting in brain death and shrinkage.

Many of the affected children "freeze" and have the ability to separate the pain from their consciousness. A template of fear is therefore being fixed in their brains.

Many children experience difficulty with memory which goes hand in hand with learning.  

Our role in all of this is to work on the individuals deeper psychological needs such as self esteem, self image and their emotional insight.

(Sobey, K., 2014) 

References

Sobey, K. (2014) Child Abuse. OCTH413W0. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. Unpublished presentation