With September being the traditional month to start Uni and many professional courses. This months blog will explore the whole issue about professionalism, what it is, and how to be a professional occupational therapist.

In my previous blog we discussed the impact of appearance, hair colour, tattoos and piercings. While appearance is one thing attitude is completely another.

As an occupational therapist we are mostly working with vulnerable service users/clients/patients. One of the most fundamental core abilities of a therapist is to be non judgemental and empathetic.

So let’s just look at both of those concepts that can be glibly trotted out by therapists.

Starting with empathy, for me this is the crucial skill for any therapist, especially a client centred OT.

We are so often starting with quotas, targets and bed blocking that we can forget that we are actually working with people.

Empathy is about observing and listen to the concerns of another person. Imagine for a moment that they were you and you were them, actually longer than a moment if you wish carry out a reflection on this.

So you have actually swapped roles? How would you want them to speak to you? How would they show you they were listening to your concerns. Stay in their shoes, sometimes it’s uncomfortable but highly necessary. What is their story? How have they got to this point? This is the beginning of becoming empathetic and client centred in your practice. Seeing the world through someone else’s perspective rather than your own.

We like to think everyone’s world is a bit like ours, but take any task and break it down and ask three people to describe what they do and you will see how slightly differently everyone does something mundane like boiling an egg, a morning routine, including going to the toilet, brushing teeth, getting dressed.

These are some of the many the crucial components to independent living. Goals are vital as OTs we can identify with the clients the most valuable one to them. Then you can to start the whole process of developing a therapeutic relationship with them. Not goals we think will be useful or valuable.

This is where empathy and non judgemental attitudes come in. It’s vital to remember those attitudes all of your working day, week and year is not about you, the process or the system it is about a person. A person who could be you!

Try that reflection today and write down where you were empathetic and non judgemental with each person you came in to contact with.

A great exercise and clear evidence of Standard 4 of the HCPC requirements.