John Payne

John is lecturer and course lead for the BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy degree. He joined the team in 2018 directly from clinical practice.

John has worked in health and social care for 25 years. He started his career as a care assistant and nursing assistant in a variety of settings including learning disabilities, child and adolescent’s mental health, dementia and mental health adult acute inpatient and community settings. John worked as an occupational therapy assistant from 2002 until 2010 in an inpatient therapy suit for acute mental health and then in a specialist older person mental health unit. During his time working in mental health older persons service John was nominated for the Tees Esk and Wear Valley NHS Trust making a Difference awards for his work around life story for people diagnosed with dementia.

John commenced his Occupational Therapy BSc (Hons) degree in 2010 at Teesside University. He qualified in 2013 with first class honours and received the Elizabeth Casson Rose Award for his commitment to study.

John worked as a community occupational therapist in Mental Health Older Persons Service from 2013 to 2017 and then as a specialist occupational therapist at the Intensive Community Liaison Service from 2017 to 2018.

John started working at Teesside University in 2018 following several years of delivering voluntary teaching sessions around dementia to occupational therapy students. He is the lead on several modules and became the course lead in December 2020. John has helped developed occupational therapy programs and is currently completing his Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.

John’s specialist interests are dementia practice, mental health, life story work and the influence of the self upon occupations. He is also passionate about improving the student experience and utilising his extensive and varied clinical practice to aid learners in linking theory to practice.

Course Lead

Pastoral support

Course planning and development

Module Lead

1^st Year BSc

Occupational Being

2^nd Year BSc

The Occupational Voice

3^rd Year Bsc

Meeting the Challenges for Occupational Therapy Practice

Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education – 2019-2021

BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy 2010-2013 – 1^st Class Honours Degree

Access to Health and Social Care 2009-2010 – Distinction

Occupational Therapy Models

Psychological Theory

Therapuetic use of self

Dementia Practice

Learning

Online learning

John is the founder of Essential Tremor UK. This is a social media based support group for people diagnosed with Essential Tremor or other movement disorders. The group currently has approximatly 2000 members from across the globe. 

John is also a qualified junior football coach. He is the current manager of an under 12s team which he formed in 2015. John is in the process of starting a new under 7s team.