Occupational therapy within the Probation Trust: a role emerging placement

Within a role emerging placement at the Probation Trust, an area for occupational therapy intervention was identified. An assessment tool was created in order to help identify the needs of service users, enhance their well-being and help them to integrate back into society through achieving goals, furthering the aims of the Probation Trust. Evidence was gathered through interviews with offenders, identifying areas that they considered to be beneficial to them. Once we had advised the offenders that the information would be confidential and outlined the groups to them, positive feedback was gained. Information was collected anonymously to allow for honest opinions and was incorporated into the assessment. Activity groups were developed with the aim of reducing re-offending through decreasing risk factors such as boredom and allowing them to re-assess what is important to them, resulting in them making the decision to give up crime (McNeill et al., 2012, p.3). Following a presentation outlining the role and need for occupational therapy to the Probation Trust, the audience feedback provided positive evidence for the concept to be implemented. The incorporation of occupational therapy into the Probation Trust would enable a new perspective and add an ‘occupational’ dimension to service user intervention.