Paula is one of our rising stars in occupational therapy.
Paula’s spent over 11 years at Oxfordshire County Council, originally joining as a care placements officer and most recently, completing her apprenticeship in occupational therapy. Paula’s now a fully qualified occupational therapist within our adult social care team.
We’re helping people live the life they want to live. Understanding what someone’s ‘normal’ is and helping them to get there.
Different people have different skillsets and we’re fortunate to have Coordinators who come from a broad range of backgrounds. This creates a great space to develop ideas and we’re always learning from each other.
I love the celebrations that we’re able to have when I’ve spent three, four or five weeks working with someone and helping them get back to living as independently as possible.
Reablement is key and it’s inspirational to watch someone achieve their personal goals, that will have such a huge impact on their life moving forward.
We work off a ‘patch based’ system which means we try to group our jobs to specific geographical areas. This means we’re not spending hours travelling across the county to meet clients.
Working in a specific area means we’re able to develop a depth of knowledge of the services available in community pockets. Essentially, improving the service we’re able to offer to our clients, which is what it’s all about!
Do you want to make a difference to someone's life? If so, why not join our adult social care team.
When the occupational therapist apprenticeship came up, I was encouraged to apply for it. It’s not something I would have done if I hadn’t had the backing and funding of an employer, and I felt quite nervous about applying.
I was on a phone call when I received the email saying that my application had been successful.
Everyone around me knew that I’d been waiting for the result, and they all started to come up to me to celebrate while I was still on another phone call. That was where it all started.
I’ve already done a lot of training on posture and seating. There are opportunities to look at moving and handling and other aspects of social care. We overlap with lots of different agencies, so it’s a huge field and I’m just scratching the surface.
I have a huge loyalty to Oxfordshire County Council. I was incredibly supported throughout my four years of my training and I can see my future career developing here.
Learn about Fiona's inspirational journey and her dedication to delivering the very best service for our residents.
