Furthering Occupational Therapy

28 October 2020 We’re pleased to update that the Trust has commissioned Article Consulting to support the Board as we consider the strategic implications of the challenges and opportunities for change arising from the Black Lives Matters movement and a welcomed societal, sectoral and organisational refocus on equality, diversity and inclusion. This work is now underway and we aim to release our initial plans to address this in January 2021. We envisage this work as on-ongoing as we look at impact and change in our profession. If you would like to share any thoughts, we welcome you to contact us (Pam or Dee) or Cedi Fredrick who is facilitating this work.

16 October 2020 In the next days we will begin to request data from visitors to our website. The aim is to learn about the diversity of our visitors and our reach across the profession. A pop-up will appear after arriving on the site – it is your choice to participate or not and the pop-up can be easily closed if you prefer not to answer any questions. For those who do, please be assured that the data is anonymised and will be held securely in accordance with GDPR requirements.As organisations and individuals nationally are being asked to pause and reflect on their diversity and equality the Trust is also responding to this call and embracing the opportunity.

27 August 2020 The Elizabeth Casson Trust remains committed to inclusive support, with and for occupational therapists, in our shared pursuit of advancing our profession and practice.

Our trustees want to be assured that we are taking all possible steps to deliver on our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusivity therefore we are commencing a programme of work to examine our activities specifically from this perspective.

Our initial goals are to involve, listen and learn. We will commission input support from colleagues from diverse and minority groups so that trustees can gain understanding, consider recommendations, take required action and make any adjustments to the work of the Trust.

We are confident that this work will inform and strengthen our future plans as we deliver the strategic intentions and objectives of our charitable trust which aims to support and develop all registered occupational therapists and the profession.

19 August 2020 Currently the Elizabeth Casson Trust gathers very limited data concerning visitors to our web pages or applicants for funding. As a first response to understanding our reach to minority groups we will soon start collecting demographic data on visitors to our website and on individuals applying for funding support. The questions we will ask will reflect those asked by HCPC of all registrants.

HCPC is currently analysing their data and, once published, the Trust will benchmark its data against our profession’s profile with regards to diversity. The results will help to inform our future engagement strategy to ensure as many occupational therapists as possible are aware of the Trust, the work we do and the support we offer.

For all questions visitors and applicants will be able to choose not to participate in sharing their data or to opt out of responding to individual questions. Data from applicants will be pseudonomysied, as defined by the Information Commissioner’s Office, and held in accordance with GDPR requirements. For individuals applying for funding, the questions will not be part of the application form itself.

This is the first of a number of plans that the Trust is making so that we can develop our diversity, equality and inclusion work. Further updates will be published in due course.

July 2020 Over the next weeks the Trust will be examining its values and beliefs with regard to diversity, equality and inclusion of minority groups in the work that we do towards our charitable purpose of the furtherance of occupational therapy. This will also include looking at how our values align to our actions in the support we offer, how we are perceived by minority groups and how accessible we are to those individuals. We will update this webpage with our progress on this important work over the coming weeks.

If you would like to share your experience of us, in confidence, please email Pam at secretary@elizabethcasson.org.uk or Dee at chair@elizabethcasson.org.uk