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We are delighted to introduce Rachel Woolcomb our first Talking Mats OT Associate.  She is joining the Talking Mats Team and will be working to develop awareness and use of Talking Mats by Occupational Therapists.  I will let Rachel introduce herself:

I am delighted that Talking Mats have asked me to join their team for one day a week. I am passionate about occupational therapy and about Talking Mats and to have the opportunity to bring these two loves together and seeing what develops is very exciting.

I live in South Gloucestershire and have had a varied career since I qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 1992. I was introduced to Talking Mats in 2008 and have never looked back, using them with my clients ever since.

In 2017, having spent over 25 years working in the NHS, I made the decision to move into independent practice. I work predominately with teenagers and adults who live with long term neurological conditions or who have experienced catastrophic injuries following trauma. I am very aware of the psychological impact of sudden disability and the need for people to be able to express who they are and what is important to them, even in difficult circumstances.

I now use Talking Mats with most of my clients. It doesn’t matter if they are old or young, can speak or have communication needs, they all benefit from the opportunity to stop and think and have someone really listen to them.

In the last few weeks a man who has had a stroke and has limited expressive speech has used a Talking Mat to talk about what leisure activities he used to enjoy. He then used a second mat to explain what he can and cannot achieve now. This helped us together, set goals for occupational therapy. I am also working with a teenager who has had a traumatic brain injury and now struggles with her education. She uses Talking Mats with me regularly, to think about her coping skills at school. Looking back at her previous mats is helping her to recognise progress. I have so many more examples and will be sharing them with you soon!

I really want to inspire OT’s, helping them to consider how they enable their clients to think, communicate their choices and make decisions. A Talking Mat is a great for this. It is also creative and interactive something that in my experience OT’s like! I will also be looking at important issues within the field of occupational therapy that are currently driving practice, such as personalised care, goal setting and shared decision making. I believe it is vitally important that we collaborate with our clients as together we can achieve so much more. Talking Mats is an effective tool in enabling this, so watch this space, and please do get in touch if you want to know more or have stories to share.

It is great to have Rachel working with us to build on some of the excellent work being done already in the Occupational Therapy Sector. Our Director, Lois Cameron shares why we are so excited to welcome Rachel to our Team:

 ‘I  am really pleased that Rachel is joining us . I think the Talking Mats approach sits well with the values and approach of Occupational therapy,  In my experience OTs are naturally holistic in their approach.  I remember at a training course in London an OT said for her Talking Mats was the missing link in her toolkit. The training and experience  of OTs allow them to see things through a different lens and that will be really helpful to us’

For more information about how OT and Talking Mats are a winning combination, take a look at Rachel’s recent blog – https://www.talkingmats.com/talking-mats-and-ot-a-winning-combination/

Feeling inspired and want to know more about the training courses we offer? See www.talkingmats.com/training/ for details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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