Creative Practice

Myself and another student OT brought the Five Ways to Wellbeing to pupils at a deaf school, via a variety of weekly classes.

www.theothub.com

Experiences included designing and facilitating group sessions on resilience, to a secondary school for deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

The Kawa Model

We decided to use the Kawa Model of occupational therapy practice, to engage students in a creative activity. We wanted each person to consider the personal challenges they currently face and the skills and supportive structures to help overcome them.

We designed a basic river template (left) and laminated a copy for each child - to write on with wipeable ink. We felt that the visual element could be supportive to learning. Objects to place in the river and write on were then cut out and laminated. This formed a blank canvas for each pupil to map out their life flow! This would be a changing picture...

KEY Rocks = circumstances that block life flow and cause dysfunction or disability

Driftwood = skills and resources that support and enhance daily living

Fish = personal qualities that help to overcome challenges faced

River bed = the social, physical, cultural and institutional environment (a hinderance or help)

Each student could experiment by placing objects in different places within their river, to assess how one could support or hinder another aspect of their life. Check out my example river at the top of this post.

Why not utilise the Kawa Model in your work with clients/patients? It's a tool that works across ages and cultures.

Jamie Grant

Occupational Therapist

Director, The Occupational Therapy Hub