John Payne

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

John has worked in health and social care clinical practice and education for almost 30 years. He started his career as a care 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 was the BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy course lead from December 2020 until September 2023. John was an active member for the approval events for both the BSc (Hons) and Apprenticeship in Occupational therapy courses in 2020. . He also received the student nominated Teesside University award for Outstanding Teaching in the same year.

John completed his Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education in 2021

John is currently the lead for modules across both the BSc (Hons) and Apprenticeship Occupational Therapy programs. He teaches across a variety of subject areas on both course from anatomy and physiology to psychological theory and its impact upon occupational performance.  

John is the admissions lead for the BSc (Hons) and MSc program at Teesside University and is actively involved in promoting the profession into local schools and colleges.

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 2020-2023

Pastoral support

Course planning and development

Admissions Lead 2023 – Present

Recruitment and Marketing

Admissions

Module Lead

1^st Year BSc

Lifespan, Living and Health

Occupation for Wellbeing

2^nd Year BSc

Facilitating the Occupational Voice

Apprenticeship in Occupational Therapy BSc 2nd Year

Facilitating the Occupational Voice

Occupational Success

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

Teaching and Learning

Clip Thinking

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 over 2500 members from across the globe. 

John is also a FA Level 1 qualified junior football coach. He is the current manager of an under 10s team and under 16s teams. John has 11 years of voluntary coaching experiences. He has co-developed a six-week rolling curriculum for both teams that adheres to the FA 4 Corners Model. He has actively aided in fundraising for the teams in excess of £2000 and also has aided the club with planning events such as award days.