President’s Report

This is my last Connections article as OTA President and I have mixed emotions but mostly pride in the ongoing development of OTA, and heaps of optimism for the future. My four years as president have flown and it is time for renewal. My first year as president was in 2020, which was a year of much uncertainty as the global pandemic started. There were many phone calls with our CEO Samantha Hunter about what we should be doing and speculation about what might happen. Firstly, we needed to support our members and try to give them as much information as possible in an environment that was changing by the minute. I reached out to the presidents of occupational therapy associations in other like countries and WFOT to see if we could share resources, and this group met regularly and has become particularly important for both peer support and sharing of resources.

I would like to congratulate the successful nominees elected for OTA Board positions and thank the outgoing board directors for their significant contribution. The work of the OTA Board may not be fully recognised; however, the responsibility to ensure we are delivering the services members need and making strategically sound decisions is not a responsibility taken lightly. We are fortunate to have high calibre members who want to volunteer their time, not only for board director positions but also for divisional councils, special interest groups and other OTA volunteer work. Please take the time to read the Annual Report and note the very pleasing achievements of the past financial year, particularly our financial position.

Recently we celebrated OT Week and World OT Day with the theme of Unity Through Community. Reading the social media posts from WFOT, OTA and members of the profession celebrating in various ways highlighted what a broad church we are. Not only are our areas of practice expanding, but recognition of our worth and value has also increased. We are our own most effective marketers. It’s what we do every day, to make a difference for not just the individuals and families we work with but also the impact we have on communities. Focusing on wellbeing and health promotion, working as a community to advocate for opportunities for everyone, but particularly those experiencing occupational injustice and deprivation, is presently even more important. A shout out to the Bendigo occupational therapists who year on year for OT Week put together a feature in the local newspaper highlighting local occupational therapy services and the profession.

Another recent celebration was an awards ceremony at Government House in Adelaide where Marilyn Pattison AO was conferred as an Officer of the Order of Australia by the Governor General of South Australia. This is second highest award in Australia and recognised the long-standing voluntary work by Marilyn to her local occupational therapy community as well as OTA and WFOT. Congratulations Marilyn and also to the other Australian award recipients.

The increasing number of students and graduates joining OTA and renewing their memberships gives us a solid foundation to build an even stronger association and profession for the future. The leadership from experienced occupational therapists to guide not only the association but also our early career therapists is also essential. As we look forward, work on the finalising the next strategic plan for OTA is nearing completion and part of one of the current strategic projects is the rebranding of OTA. Moving into 2024, there is much look forward to, and many exciting developments that will give OTA more impetus for further advocacy and marketing, building a strong occupational therapy profession that has contemporary relevance and sound values.