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See discussion - a spiral curriculum for sustainability advocacy skills for occupational therapy 

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Environmentally sustainable person-centred care: Occupational therapy students' attitudes, perceptions and self-perceived preparedness for practice. 

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Environmentally sustainable person-centred care: Occupational therapy students' attitudes, perceptions and self-perceived preparedness for practice. 

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https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39406350/

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Environmentally sustainable person-centred care: Occupational therapy students’ attitudes, perceptions and self-perceived preparedness for practice - PubMed

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Occupational therapists believe that it is important to support people to participate in occupations that matter to them. However, the activities that some people choose to participate in may have negative effects on the environment and the planet. It is important to ensure that when occupational th …

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Sustainable occupational therapy playbook by CASCADES, Canada. 

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Sustainable occupational therapy playbook by CASCADES, Canada. 

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Council of Deans AHP guidance for Education for sustainable healthcare (UK)

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Council of Deans AHP guidance for Education for sustainable healthcare (UK)

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Council of Deans represents UK universities that teach/research nursing, midwifery and allied health professions. This guidance provide a model for educating AHP about sustainability and highlights five foundations and six principles.

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New guidance, Education for sustainable healthcare within UK pre-registration curricula for allied health professions, sets the groundwork for the next generation of health and care professionals. It will support future AHPs to understand the relationship between health and the environment, to deliver sustainable healthcare and be advocates for environmental sustainability.

This guidance was produced in collaboration with an advisory group across the four United Kingdom (UK) home nations: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It was developed jointly with parties with a direct interest in the development and provision of AHP curricula, including NHS England, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Health Education Improvement Wales (HEIW), Public Health Agency Northern Ireland, AHP Professional Bodies, the Health and Care Professions Council, the Council of Deans of Health, and student representation from the #150 Leaders Student Leadership Programme alumni.

Read the guidance: Education for sustainable healthcare within UK pre-registration curricula for allied health professions

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Guidance: Education for sustainable healthcare

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New guidance, Education for sustainable healthcare within UK pre-registration curricula for allied health professions, sets the groundwork for the next generation of health and care professionals. It will support future AHPs to understand the relationship between health and the environment, to deliver sustainable healthcare and be advocates for environmental sustainability.

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https://www.bmj.com/podcasts/planetcentredcare

A series of podcast (with a medicine lens) that discuss sustainable healthcare's impact on staff, service users and how to talk to others about green stuff which could still be relevant to occupational therapy.

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Medicine takes care of people, but we also need to take care of the planet - and The BMJ is committed to helping make medicine sustainable

In this podcast from The BMJ, doctors Florence Wedmore, and Loren De Fritas, meet people from around the world who have made changes in the way they provide healthcare. Each episode will delve into how they reduced their impact on the planet, and will provide inspiration and advice for you to make changes in your own clinical care.

Episodes
Greening the Gaze:
This is the first episode of a new podcast series for the BMJ exploring issues related to environmentally sustainable healthcare, aimed at all clinicians, and anyone working in healthcare, who want to make sure they can continue to help patients while not harming the planet.

In this episode we'll discuss that first radicalising moment. That moment where you start to see all the things you can do to make healthcare more sustainable and how it is hard to unsee that. For everyone, that moment may come from a different place, or different perspective.

Our guests for the episode:
Gareth Murcutt who was at first reluctant until he saw the size of the impact he could make; Gwen Sims whose eyes were opened by moving health systems (and continents) and Alifia Chakera who didn't expect to find a huge sustainability saving so close to home when she took up a new clinical role before the pandemic. We'll also discuss what you do next with this realisation with some tips from our guests as to how you get started on the path to action.

Hosts: Loren De Freitas and Florence Wedmore, the BMJ

It's all about working together

Healthcare is a complex system, and if we want to make changes such as those needed for sustainable healthcare, we need to work across multiple teams, and make sure we hear everyone's voice, including our patients';. In this episode we'll discuss how we can communicate and work with those different groups, and some novel ways of getting the message across from T-rexes worth of plastic gloves to art made out of surgical waste.

Guests for this episode: Nicola Wilson, lead clinical educator Great Ormond Street Children's hospital and Maria Koijck, artist and former patient.
You can read more about the Gloves are Off project https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/news/gloves-are-off/ You can see Maria's film here: https://www.mariakoijck.com/
Sustainable healthcare is better for patients
Acting on climate change is often framed as having to give stuff up, to cost more money, to make sacrifices. Yet in healthcare we find the opposite can often be true: there are many actions we can take which reduce the carbon footprint of healthcare which actually end up with better outcomes for our patients. In this episode, we hear from two examples of that. Singing for breathing is a type of social prescribing to help people with chronic lung disease manage their breathlessness, reducing their need to be reliant on healthcare to do this, while also finding joy and a sense of community. Stephen is one patient who has benefited from this service, and will tell us more about the impact it had on his life. In another example, Lynn Riddell, an HIV consultant will tell us how a change in their clinical pathway helped a cohort of patients reduce the amount of travelling to and from the clinic, still manage their condition safely and give them back precious time and control.
And it's better for staff too
In a system where healthcare workers are continually described as overworked and burnt out, how can we expect them to find the time to act on the climate? In this episode we turn that assumption on its head, and, in fact, how acting to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare can help staff find joy in their work again. Our two guests today are Tracy Lyons, founder of Pharmacy Declares and medicines optimisation pharmacist in Dorset, UK and David Smith, general surgeon at North York General Hospital in Toronto, Canada.

The very worst thing is sometimes to have a problem you feel you can't solve, and action mitigates anxiety: these are just two of the many lessons that came out of today's episode. We'll also touch on the different levels that you can start to take action at: from the small and tangible to influencing change at a system level.

Why doing less can be hard

One element of sustainable healthcare is simply reducing the amount of healthcare you're doing by not doing the things that are of no value to patients. However, how do we do this in practice? And why is it often so hard? What is the role of fear in this discussion? These are all questions we will discuss in this episode.

To help us with this we'll be joined by Prof Ben Newell (cognitive psychologist from University of New South Wales, whose research interest includes judgement and decision making), and Dr Lucas Chartier, emergency medicine physician at the University Health Network, in Toronto

How to talk about the green stuff

We've heard throughout the series from people who have a passion for sustainability, and have successfully made changes in their organisations to reduce the planetary impact of their work. In doing so, they will have recruited other people who have a similar outlook - but they will have also convinced people who aren't prioritising sustainability.

In this last podcast of the series, we're delving into that - how to talk to colleagues and patients, in ways which connect with their own needs and preferences.

We're joined by David Pencheon, director of the Sustainable Development Unit for NHS England, who's been successfully talking about these issues for years, and Kate Wylie, executive director of Doctors for the Environment Australia.

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Medicine takes care of people, but we also need to take care of the planet - and The BMJ is committed to helping make medicine sustainable

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The carbon literacy project has pages on courses individuals and organisations can take to become carbon literate (certification can be applied for through them).

Students can look through courses as 'individuals' and choose ones that helps them either as an individual or as health professionals (warning: will need NHS email address or open athens access).

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Educating for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Schools and Universities

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Educating for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Schools and Universities

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online free course for educators

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Austrialian Podcast on the Hess & Rihtman (2023). Moving from theory to practice in OT education for planetary health

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Austrialian Podcast on the Hess & Rihtman (2023). Moving from theory to practice in OT education for planetary health

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Discussed the sustainable and environemntal reasoning. Good as pre-seminar material for learners who enjoy listening or to balance amount of reading.

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109 - Planetary Health and Occupational Therapy: Bridging Theory and Practice ft Ka Yan Hess - The OT Lifestyle Movement

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In this episode we are talking all about sustainability, the environment and planetary health with Ka Yan Hess. We discuss: - why we need to question the current underpinnings of the profession including person-centered practice (yes, you read right!) - how we can broaden person-centred health care using bidirectional questioning -...

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An ongoing collecting of tools, frameworks and resources available to designers to help them address the climate emergency. Reviewed quarterly to keep links relevant/working.

Curated by AlexDS Chief Design Officer at the Design Council.

Have any comments or feedback? Reach out to her on Linkedin.

Last changes made on Feb 28th 2023.

General

Listen to something

Calculate your carbon emissions

Learn on your own

Learn with others

Learn with your team

Work with others

Change jobs

Service and Systemic design

Architecture, Landscape & Infrastructure

Interior design

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An ongoing collecting of tools, frameworks and resources available to designers to help them address the climate emergency. Reviewed quarterly to keep links relevant/working. Curated by AlexDS Chief Design Officer at the Design Council. Have any comments or feedback? Reach out to her on Linkedin. Last changes made on Feb 28th 2023.

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For comparison/ideas - Sustainability in the Australian HE curriculum

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For comparison/ideas - Sustainability in the Australian HE curriculum

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The Australian Curriculum places emphasis on Sustainability as a priority for study that connects and relates relevant aspects of content across learning areas and subjects.

Cross-curriculum learning is fundamental to:

understanding the ways social, economic and environmental systems interact to support and maintain human life

appreciating and respecting the diversity of views and values that influence sustainable development

participating critically and acting creatively in determining more sustainable ways of living.

Through the priority of Sustainability, students develop the knowledge, skills, values and world views necessary to contribute to more sustainable patterns of living.

The Sustainability cross-curriculum priority

Sustainability addresses the ongoing capacity of Earth to maintain all life.

Sustainable patterns of living meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Actions to improve sustainability are individual and collective endeavours shared across local and global communities. They necessitate a renewed and balanced approach to the way humans interact with each other and the environment.

Education for sustainability develops the knowledge, skills, values and world views necessary for people to act in ways that contribute to more sustainable patterns of living. It enables individuals and communities to reflect on ways of interpreting and engaging with the world. Sustainability education is futures-oriented, focusing on protecting environments and creating a more ecologically and socially just world through informed action. Actions that support more sustainable patterns of living require consideration of environmental, social, cultural and economic systems and their interdependence.

Learning area statements

All Australian Curriculum learning areas have a potential to contribute to the sustainability cross-curriculum priority. Sustainability is included in each learning area in ways that are consistent with the content and purpose of the area of study. Each learning area contributes differently to the Sustainability cross-curriculum priority, its key concepts and organising ideas. For example, some have content that enables students to work with ecological and human systems and to appreciate their interdependence. Others contribute to the development of world views necessary for students to act to create a more socially and ecologically just world. There are others that provide content that challenges students to consider sustainable futures and to design and take action that recognises projected future economic, social and environmental impacts.

While some learning areas do not address sustainability directly in their content descriptions, they may still contribute to learning that is essential for understanding sustainability issues by providing the analytical, measurement and persuasive skills needed to advocate effectively for sustainability.

Across the Australian Curriculum, content descriptions and elaborations tagged with the sustainability symbol illustrate how content might be taught in relation to the Sustainability cross-curriculum priority.

English

The Australian Curriculum: English helps students develop the skills necessary to investigate, analyse and communicate ideas and information related to sustainability, and to advocate, generate and evaluate actions for sustainable futures. The content in the language, literature and literacy strands is key to developing and sharing knowledge about social, economic and ecological systems and world views that promote social justice. In this learning area, students may interrogate a range of texts to shape their decision-making in relation to sustainability. They develop the understanding and skills necessary to act responsibly and create texts that inform and persuade others to take action for sustainable futures.

Mathematics

In the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics, students can develop the proficiencies of problem-solving and reasoning essential for the exploration of sustainability issues and their solutions. Students apply spatial reasoning, measurement, estimation, calculation and comparison to gauge local ecosystem health and can cost proposed actions for sustainability. Mathematical understandings and skills are necessary to measure, monitor and quantify change in social, economic and ecological systems over time and statistical analysis enables the prediction of probable futures based on findings and helps inform decision-making and actions that will lead to preferred futures.

Science

In the Australian Curriculum: Science, the Sustainability priority provides contexts for investigating and understanding chemical, biological, physical and Earth and space systems. Students explore a wide range of systems that operate at different time and spatial scales. By investigating the relationships between systems and system components and how systems respond to change, students develop an appreciation for the interconnectedness of Earth's biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. Relationships including cycles and cause and effect are explored, and students develop observation and analysis skills to examine these relationships in the world around them. In this learning area, students appreciate that science provides the basis for decision-making in many areas of society and that these decisions can impact on the Earth system. They understand the importance of using science to predict possible effects of human and other activity and to develop management plans or alternative technologies that minimise these effects.

Humanities and the Social Sciences

The Australian Curriculum: Humanities and Social Sciences helps students develop the ability to question, think critically, solve problems, communicate effectively, make decisions and adapt to change. Students respond to the challenges of sustainability requiring an understanding of the key historical, geographical, political, economic and societal factors involved, and how these different factors interrelate. The learning area provides content that supports the development of students' world views, particularly in relation to judgements about past social and economic systems, and access to and use of Earth's resources. It gives students opportunities to integrate their study of biophysical processes with investigations of the attitudinal, demographic, social, economic and political influences on human use and management of the environment. The curriculum prepares students to be informed consumers, to act in enterprising and innovative ways and to perceive business opportunities in changing local, regional and global economic environments. Students explore contemporary issues of sustainability and develop action plans and possible solutions to local, national and global issues which have social, economic and environmental perspectives.

The Arts

The Australian Curriculum: The Arts provides engaging and thought-provoking contexts in which to explore the nature of art making and responding. It enables the exploration of the role of The Arts in maintaining and transforming cultural practices, social systems and the relationships of people to their environment. Through making and responding in The Arts, students consider issues of sustainability in relation to resource use and traditions in each of The Arts subjects. The Arts provides opportunities for students to express and develop world views, and to appreciate the need for collaboration within and between communities to implement more sustainable patterns of living. In this learning area, students use the exploratory and creative platform of The Arts to advocate effective action for sustainability.

Technologies

The Australian Curriculum: Technologies enables consideration of preferred futures. When students identify and critique a problem, need or opportunity; generate ideas and concepts; and create solutions, they give prime consideration to sustainability by anticipating and balancing economic, environmental and social impacts. The curriculum focuses on the knowledge, understanding and skills necessary to design for effective sustainability action taking into account issues such as resource depletion and climate change. The learning area gives students opportunities to explore their own and competing viewpoints, values and interests. Understanding systems enables students to work with complexity, uncertainty and risk; make connections between disparate ideas and concepts; self-critique; and propose creative solutions that enhance sustainability. Students reflect on past and current practices, and assess new and emerging technologies from a sustainability perspective.

Health and Physical Education

In the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education, students explore how they connect and interact with natural, managed and built environments, and with people in different social groups within their social networks and wider communities. They consider how these connections and interactions within systems play an important role in promoting, supporting and sustaining the wellbeing of individuals, the community and the environment as a whole, now and into the future. Students develop their world view by exploring concepts of diversity, social justice and consumerism as these relate to the promotion and maintenance of health and wellbeing. Through movement experiences, students are provided with opportunities to develop a connection in and with environments and to gain an appreciation of the interdependence of the health of people and that of environments.

Languages

The Australian Curriculum: Languages contributes to students' capabilities to investigate, analyse and communicate concepts and understandings related to sustainability in broad contexts, and to advocate, generate and evaluate actions for sustainable futures. Within each language, students engage with a range of texts focused on concepts related to sustainability.

In this way, students develop knowledge and understanding about sustainability within particular cultural contexts. This is crucial in the context of national and international concerns about, for example, climate change, food shortages and alternative ways of caring for land and agriculture. Through developing a capability to interact with others, negotiating meaning and mutual understanding respectfully and reflecting on communication, students learn to live and work in ways that are productive and sustainable.

Work Studies

The Australian Curriculum: Work Studies provides opportunities for students to observe and reflect on ways individuals apply workplace practices that value and protect environments as well as the health and welfare of themselves and other workers. In reviewing work-related experiences, students reflect on personal behaviours and practices that contribute to more sustainable enterprises. Students recognise the relationship between social and environmental sustainability and how one is necessary for the other. Through study of the operation of organisations, students appreciate the interdependence of economic, social and environmental factors in moving towards more sustainable industries. When applying their skills and knowledge to solve problems or implement projects, they take into account sustainability as a key factor in realising solutions. They recognise the need for respecting diversity and social justice to achieve outcomes that lead to a more sustainable future.

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Sustainability in Occupational Therapy Practice, Education and Scholarship

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Sustainability in Occupational Therapy Practice, Education and Scholarship

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Toolkit for codesigning curriculum for environmental sustainability

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Toolkit for codesigning curriculum for environmental sustainability

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On this site, there is the toolkit and cases on how to codesign curriculum for ES.

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CoDesignS Education for Sustainable Development

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About Our Project

The CoDesignS ESD project is focused on supporting educational institutions from all disciplines embedding Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in curriculum design and delivery supported by learning technologies. The project collaborators comprise academic staff, students and educational consultants working for different organisations of The United Nations. They represent an extensive global network of ESD champions.

The CoDesignS ESD Framework and Toolkit were featured at UNESCO ESD-Net 2030 Learning Webinars in March 30th:

UNESCO - Greening Education Partnership

We're honoured and delighted to receive a letter of acceptance from UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Ms Stefania Giannini with regards to our expression of interest to join the ' Greening Education Partnership: Getting every learner climate ready ':

"Please allow me to congratulate your Organisation on its leadership on the promotion of climate change education, which is a critical enabler to tackle, adapt to, and mitigate the challenges of our planetary crisis. I express my sincere gratitude on our close partnership and collaboration on this topic, in particular on your expression of interest to join the 'Greening Education Partnership: Getting every learner climate ready'.
UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Ms Stefania Giannini

" Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) empowers learners of all ages with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to address the interconnected global challenges we are facing, including climate change, environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, poverty and inequality. Learning must prepare students and learners of all ages to find solutions for the challenges of today and the future. Education should be transformative and allow us to make informed decisions and take individual and collective action to change our societies and care for the planet. "

The CoDesignS ESD Framework provides an easy to implement pedagogic method for embedding Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the curriculum using a co-design and co-creation approach. The CoDesignS ESD Toolkit is based on UNESCO's key competencies for sustainability (UNESCO, 2017) , the recent ESD guidelines published in the UK by QAA and Advance HE (2021) and the original CoDesignS Learning Design framework (Toro-Troconis et al., 2019; Lewis, 2020).

CoDesignS ESD is proudly supported by

© 2021 CoDesignS ESD
CoDesignS ESD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial - Noderivatives 4.0 International License. Privacy notice

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About Our Project The CoDesignS ESD project is focused on supporting educational institutions from all disciplines embedding Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in curriculum design and delivery supported by learning technologies. The project collaborators comprise academic staff, students and educational consultants working for different organisations of The United Nations.

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Environmental & Sustainability reasoning suggested to help SusOT practise

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Environmental & Sustainability reasoning suggested to help SusOT practise

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Moving from theory to practice in occupational therapy education for planetary health: A theoretical view by Hess & Rihtman (2023).

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Consideration of the environment is integral to occupational therapy models and interventions, yet if we are not addressing the issue of climate change and the probable impacts on service users and ourselves, are we being truly holistic?

The World Federation of Occupational Therapists, College of Occupational Therapists and Swedish Association of Occupational Therapists have all produced papers exploring sustainable OT practice. The COT code of ethics encourages OTs to 'expand our clinical reasoning about occupational performance to include sustainable development', and service users can benefit from this incorporation of a sustainable healthful approach to practice.
Want some Sustainable Occupational Therapy Resources? Check out our resource map here.
What Is Sustainable Occupational Therapy?

Common occupations already explored by OTs with service users such as gardening, cooking, craft and exercise could all be viewed through a 'sustainable lens' and are known to promote psycho-emotional well being, often resulting in 'peak' or 'flow' experiences. The co-benefits to service users are likely to include better health awareness, cost savings and improved quality of life. A brief overview of sustainable occupational therapy practice is given in this consensus statement from a networking day at the COT.

There are also other ways that Occupational Therapists can utilise a 'sustainable lens'. Smith (2015, p31) suggests that OT's can:

Raise awareness locally about sustainability with TLC (turn off, lights out, close doors and windows

Use proactive prompting to decrease do not attends, and time waste by using technology e.g. text and email

Monitor history of prescribed equipment to avoid duplication and reduce waste

Allocate referrals to staff so they are clustered by geography to decrease waste from travel

Introduce single MDT visits as a more efficient alternative to repeat home visits and equipment delivery

Encouraging staff to accept suitable recycled equipment

Ensure durability of equipment purchased and efficient collections to enable longer term recycling

Address waste in time, travel, and cost

Use social media as a tool to promote sustainable OT actions

Promote the OT role in reducing challenging behaviour and PRN medication

Smith, G. (2015). Saving resources, Improving health. Occupational Therapy News, 23(1), 30-31.

How To Be A Sustainable Occupational Therapy Practitioner

The WFOT (2018) Sustainability Matters, Guiding principles for Sustainable Occupational Therapy Practice publication has outlined 5 principles for Sustainable Occupational Therapy practice:

Principle 1: Understanding Sustainability - An Occupational Therapy Perspective. Occupational therapy practitioners shall be encouraged to educate themselves about issues of ecosystem sustainability as it impacts ability to pursue chosen meaningful occupations and subsequently human health and well-being.

Principle 2: The role of Occupational Therapy in contributing towards mitigation of environmental damage due to unsustainable lifestyles. Occupational therapy practitioners shall work with interested service users and communities to help them explore ways of participating in healthy, meaningful occupations in such a way that they contribute towards mitigation of environmental damage due to unsustainable lifestyles.

Principle 3: Helping Occupational Therapy service users adapt to the consequences of environmental damage due to unsustainability. Occupational therapy practitioners shall be encouraged to work collaboratively with service users to help them adapt to deleterious and health-impacting effects of environmental degradation due to unsustainable lifestyles so that they can continue to participate in meaningful occupations in a sustainable manner.

Principle 4: Community sustainability in the face of environmental catastrophes. Occupational therapy practitioners shall be encouraged to develop competences for empowering communities to find ways of facilitating meaningful occupations in a sustainable manner among community members, taking into account the need to maintain equitability and occupational justice.

Principle 5: Developing professional competence for administering occupation-based interventions to address sustainability issues. Occupational therapy practitioners shall be encouraged to develop and maintain competence in administering occupation-based interventions to help interested service users and communities address ecosystem sustainability issues.

Sustainable Healthcare Courses

Foundation Courses

For Occupational Therapists looking to learn more about sustainable healthcare, we recommend starting with one of our 3-part multidisciplinary or specialty-specific foundation courses which includes:

4-6-hour interactive online package

4-hour small group online workshop facilitated by national experts

two-hour sustainable healthcare cafés to build networks and receive/offer advice from experts and peers on sustainability projects

Introduction to Sustainable Healthcare

This multidisciplinary foundation course offers an overview of the relationship between health, the health sector and the climate and ecological crises. How is the health system both vulnerable to and contributing to climate change and ecological degradation? What would a sustainable health system look like? What might the wider benefits be and how can we achieve this? Learn more

Sustainable Mental Healthcare

This mulitdisciplinary foundation course is specifically tailored to health and social care staff working in mental health. It offers an overview of the relationship between health, the health sector and the climate and ecological crises; explains how the health system is both vulnerable to and contributing to climate change and ecological degradation; explores what a sustainable mental health system looks like, what the wider benefits could be and how we might achieve this. Learn more

Green Space and Health

'Green' prescriptions are increasingly being used by healthcare professionals to deliver health benefits for patients. This course explores the evidence base and its implications for healthcare and the design of clinical settings. It showcases examples of green prevention and therapy and illustrates how you can integrate these into your own practice. Learn more

Technical Courses

These in-depth courses build skills for planning and measuring projects. They include:

4-6-hour interactive online package

4-hour small group online workshop facilitated by national experts

work in progress follow up session

Carbon Footprinting for Healthcare

This course helps health professionals, quality improvement leads and medical students to become carbon literate. You will gain an understanding of what a carbon footprint is, how it can be used in the NHS's endeavor to go net zero and how it is measured. You will also learn about different carbon footprinting studies in healthcare and what can be learned from them. Learn more

Sustainable Quality Improvement

This intensive course introduces health professionals and educators to the concept of 'sustainable value' and the 'SusQI' framework for integrating sustainability into quality improvement. Learn more

Sustainable Occupational Therapy Network

OT Susnet started life in 2009 when Tamara Rayment, an occupational therapist who had seen what we were doing to create a community of people and practice in Green Nephrology, approached us with the determination to do the same in OT. Tamara worked with us entirely on a voluntary basis and helped the Green Occupational Therapy network to grow to over 250 people. Ben Whittaker joined her later that year and together they wrote papers, presented at conferences and created an energetic network.

Ben is now the lead on this specialty and works for CSH one day a week alongside his job as a mental health occupational therapist. The Occupational Therapy Sustainable Practice Network ( OT Susnet) now numbers over 600 and is inspiring international accolades as well as local action. Ben is exploring the clinical reasoning underpinning sustainable OT practice*, as well as linking in with the College of Occupational Therapists, the World Federation of Occupational Therapists and research collaborators.

View the Occupational Therapy Network

Sustainable Occupational Therapy Resources

To read articles relating to sustainable occupational therapy and other areas of sustainable clinical practice please visit our publications page. More discipline-specific resources are listed below:

Occupational Therapy Sustainability National and International Association papers

Sustainable Occupational Therapy Journal Articles:

Key OT Susnet Posts

* Whittaker B (2012) Sustainable Global Wellbeing: a proposed expansion of the occupational therapy paradigm. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 75(9) 436-439

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Consideration of the environment is integral to occupational therapy models and interventions, yet if we are not addressing the issue of climate change and the probable impacts on service users and ourselves, are we being truly holistic?

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https://journals.healio.com/doi/10.3928/24761222-20200116-02

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This is a UK guide from HE sector on how to include Education for Sustainable Development

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Jointly published by QAA and Advance HE, this guidance provides a framework and guidance to help staff in UK higher education institutions incorporate Education for Sustainable Development within their curricula. It has been produced by an expert group drawn from across the sector, with the aim of supporting students from any discipline to acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills necessary to develop values and take actions to transition society towards sustainable futures.

Advance HE Members can download the full guidance below.
A recording of the launch webinar for this guidance, along with the transcript and Q&A session can be found here.

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Education for Sustainable Development Guidance

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Guidance intended to assist staff in UK higher education providers seeking to incorporate Education for Sustainable Development within their curricula.

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Minimum Standards for the Education of Occupational Therapists.

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Minimum Standards for the Education of Occupational Therapists.

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Minimum Standards for the Education of Occupational Therapists 2016 | WFOT

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WFOT is the global voice for occupational therapy and the standard bearer for its practice. We represent occupational therapists worldwide.