Wednesday, 3 September 2014

cOnnecT with Alison Gerlach


I have been thinking, learning, talking about and doing occupational therapy for the past 30 years. This journey starting in the UK and in all honesty my reasoning for entering occupational therapy has faded over the years.  My passion for who we are, what we do and what we could do to contribute further towards society remains as strong as ever.

From stating as an OT student that ‘I never want to work with kids’ – my career has been, and continues to be, focused on providing OT for families, children and organizations that support their health and wellbeing.  Over the years my occupational lens has continued to evolve as I have become increasingly drawn to thinking about how we may contribute towards a broader agenda of social justice and health equity for people who experience occupational and socio-economic marginalization. In this work I am drawn to exploring critical social theories, a broad range of interdisciplinary and international literature and to building alliances that I hope support my evolving role as both a researcher and advocate.

Volunteering with the CAOT-BC Advisory Committee provides an opportunity for me to bring my head up from my doctoral work and contribute towards our profession in all its many forms and contexts across our province. What opportunities exist for us to strengthen our profession in BC? What are the current issues and challenges OTs are facing? What do we need to do in order to continue to work towards contributing in a meaningful and effective way to improving the health of all peoples?  It is a privilege to contribute towards a profession that has given me so much.

Alison will be joining the CAOT-BC Advisory Committee starting October 1, 2014.

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