Celebrating world occupational therapy day

On World Occupational Therapy Day, we’re highlighting the work of Susie Wood, the first occupational therapist to join our team of clinical specialist nurses

Our service

Our team of clinical specialist nurses provide specific care and advice regarding spinal cord injury care in hospitals, nursing homes and residential settings. This service is available on a regional basis – Susie provides support in the northeast of England but is also able to give occupational therapy (OT) specific support across the other regions. This means that patients, family members and healthcare professionals can contact her about issues such as moving and handling, equipment, driving and care provision.

Aside from working to use our online channels to provide information related to personal and domestic activities of daily living, Susie has also been networking with other agencies to ensure that more OT students are able to learn about spinal cord injury.  She has been involved with the Apprentice OT scheme at Teesside University and she and Andy Wharton have provided a session for OT students at Northumbria University.

Susie is a great addition to the team, allowing them to add an extra dimension of expertise to the support, advice, and information they can provide.

Our new therapy module

And we are now delighted to announce that Susie is currently developing a virtual module about the rehabilitation of SCI people. To be launched in 2023 this module will be aimed at OTs and physiotherapists working in major trauma centres, local hospitals, social services, wheelchair services, hospices, and rehabilitation units.

Many of the referrals we receive come from therapists and providing this module will enable them to understand more about spinal cord injury.  The course will include:

• An overview of spinal cord injury.
• Acute management of spinal cord injury.
• Rehabilitation after spinal cord injury.
• Community preparation after a spinal cord injury.
• Discharge planning from hospital for people with a spinal cord injury.
• The role of our support network officers.

More information

Find out more about our current courses by visiting our healthcare professional course listings page.  If you would like to be added to our mailing list for information about this and other future courses, please email Karen Mikalsen.

To contact Susie or any of our clinical specialist nurses click here.