At Mary Seacole House, one resident, JH is taking an active role in championing resident volunteering and will be joining the Occupational Therapy team as our in-house, “Resident Activity Coordinator”.
‘Putting people first’ is much more than just a soundbite to us at Northern Healthcare, and at Mary Seacole House we strongly believe in being proactive. That is why we actively involve our residents in as many ways as we can. Each person who lives at Mary Seacole House is unique, with a different skillset, their own aims for the future and recovery journey. We foster an environment where residents can co-facilitate and co-produce work with us, where they can learn new skills, build confidence, and achieve personal goals.
JH likes to keep busy and understands the value of occupational therapy and meaningful activities – he keeps an action-packed schedule of his own. JH has a history of engaging in both Occupational Therapy (OT) and activities within Mary Seacole house and has taken initiative to find community resources to get involved in independently. JH now wishes to share his passion for the value of Occupational Therapy and activity with others!
JH aims to lead by example by demonstrating to other residents that we can all play an active role here at Mary Seacole House. JH is spreading the word that all of our contributions are valued, no matter whether we have lived experience or are a resident or a staff member. We are all equal here.
A huge part of JH’s role will involve working closely with the OT team in actively planning and preparing activities, co-facilitating them, and then assisting the OT team to evaluate them too. JH will play a vital role from start to finish in providing a resident voice and perspective regarding what the occupational therapy service can offer. JH wishes to use this opportunity to develop new coping strategies to manage his anxiety and is a strong believer in keeping busy.
JH will manage one activity each weekend that he has been supported to plan, and then facilitate this with support from weekend staff. JH is currently working on developing questions for a quiz night, which he hopes will be enjoyed by all residents.
Soon, JH wishes to work even more closely with the occupational therapy team. He has made a clear goal to access meaningful employment and it is hoped he will take this opportunity as a stepping-stone towards that. This is the first step in working towards that goal where we are working diligently to build up JH’s skills for employment.
Written by Martin, OT at Mary Seacole House with help from JH.
