Occupational Therapy Week 2025: Meet Shelley Hill
We’re celebrating Occupational Therapy (OT) Week (3-9 November) and this year’s theme is ‘Right support, right time: Unlocking the power of OT’ – with a focus on prevention and early intervention.
As part of the week, we’re sharing stories about our fantastic occupational therapists within the Trust and how they make a difference every day.
Hello my name is… Shelley Hill
I work in… the Kirklees probation team.
How my role supports the shift to prevention and early intervention… I see anyone who is referred from probation if there are concerns about mental health or they are not engaging with services. I often work with people who struggle to access services with professionals. My role involves signposting, carrying a small case load and consultations. By providing services early and reducing health inequalities and barriers, it helps to prevent mental health issues from deteriorating and becoming more serious, resulting in people needing second services.
An example of someone I have recently worked with and has benefited from occupational therapy… One of my clients has an acquired brain injury (ABI) and memory issues and are working with the police and probation. They struggle to remember appointments, are low in mood and are chaotic with their presentation. Services perceive that due to their criminal history and drug use that the lack of engagement and concerns are lifestyle choices. As an occupational therapist I started to engage with them in the community to understand their needs further. With the support of the police, we prescribed them anti-depressants and completed a memory assessment using the Addenbrookes cognitive examination. Consequently this highlighted significant deficits and concerns so we were able to gain social services support, and they are now waiting for supported accommodation. As they are getting the support they require, their offending and drug use has reduced.
Thank you Shelley for everything you and our occupational therapists do to make the lives of the people in our care better.
