At the conference, we had the pleasure of meeting several passionate occupational therapy students, each with unique perspectives and fresh ideas. Our conversations with them were not only inspiring but gave us a glimpse into the future of the field. We’re excited to share these insights and unique perspectives with our community.
Dive in and enjoy the inspiration!
Review of the OT-Congress in Krakow by Lara (OT-student from Austria)
Hi, my name is Lara and I study occupational therapy at the University in Vienna. Because of my engagement in the MiniSpot Vienna, I and seven other spot-members had the pleasure to attend the 1st OT-Congress in Krakow. We were looking forward to four days full of connecting and exchanging information and ideas with many OTs and OT-students.
On the first day of the congress, our group arrived at around half past eight in the ICE congress center. We were pleasantly surprised by the kind and matey atmosphere which was spread all over the place through all the people. After a quick coffee the congress started with a solemn opening ceremony followed by the first keynote by Agnieszka Smrokowska-Reichmann. After that, we listened to many interesting parallel sessions, visited the poster exhibition and I took part in the workshop held by Agnieszka. Despite the busy schedule, there was still enough time to get in touch with many interesting people while having a coffee break and enjoying some dessert.
The second and third day pretty much looked the same as the first one. Many parallel sessions, a lot of connecting with other OT’s (students) and countless interesting discussions in the workshops. On Thursday I attended two workshops held by the amazing team of SPOT Europe, which dealt with the topics “Ethical problem-solving in OT practice” and “internationalization and mini SPOTs”. We talked about how we could improve the internationalization in the different countries with the help of miniSPOTs. Furthermore, students who are part of a miniSPOT shared tips on how to implement a SPOT at a university and we also collected advantages of having miniSPOTs. In the second workshop, we discussed ethical dilemmas in small groups. Afterwards, we shared our opinions and possible solutions with all of the workshop participants.
On Friday evening we had the possibility to attend the social event and of course we didn’t want to miss that. It was such a lovely evening with many nice people, good food and a lot of dancing and singing (and of course some glasses of beer and wine😊). This event allowed us to get to know the OTs and OT students on a more informal basis and it perfectly rounded off the three days at the congress. It also showed me that OTs are not only experts in occupations but also experts in partying.
The congress ended on Saturday with the last parallel sessions and the last keynote held by Beata Cichy, a young woman who has arthrogryposis. She gave us an impressive insight into what her everyday life looks like and she underpinned her speech with many private pictures from journeys and even from her childhood. After this amazing last keynote, the congress finished with the closing ceremony and of course with saying goodbye to all of the people who we got to know in the last four days.
All in all the congress was such a cool experience which I definitely don’t want to miss!
Review of the OT-Congress in Krakow by Kato (OT-student from Belgium)
As the closing ceremony of the 1st OT Europe Congress came to an end, I watched all the participants dancing together to an acapella mash-up of Michael Jackson. In that moment, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude to be part of this vibrant community. For me, it was not just dancing; it was a celebration—a celebration of our shared experiences and the connections we had forged over the previous days.
My name is Kato, I am a third and last-year occupational therapy student at HOGENT, Belgium. From Tuesday, October 15th to Saturday, October 20th, I had the opportunity and honour to attend the 1st OT Europe Congress in Krakow, Poland. It was the first collaborative congress between COTEC, ROTOS and ENOTHE. The theme of this year: ‘Future Proofing OT’.
A community
For four days, over a thousand occupational therapists from Europe and beyond gathered at the ICE Krakow Congress Centre. From students to researchers and from practitioners to professors. Each of us with a different story to tell but all of us with lots of enthusiasm and a profound love for our profession. Getting to be part of this congress was both a privilege and an honour, especially as a student.
We spent four days together, following sessions, participating in workshops, networking, going to diners and most of all sharing our stories with each other. We had created a little bubble, one I knew we had to get out at some point, no matter how unfortunate it was. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to stay a little longer.
Running around with a little ball
If you were at the congress you probably saw me running around with a little ball at some point. The task related to it was to get as many people as possible in front of my camera to show me how they use a ball in either therapy or in their spare time. It was an initiative of the Flemish Occupational Therapy Association in order to promote OT and strengthen the bond between OT’s in Flanders on World OT Day. What I hadn’t imagined beforehand was that it would also lead to surprising conversations. It was a medium to start a conversation, either initiated by me but also by others with the curious question ‘so, what’s the ball for?’.
The European Master
As this was my first congress, everything felt new, and I approached it with minimal expectations. However, I was eager to gather information about the European Master in Occupational Therapy, which I am hoping to pursue next year. Attending the congress allowed me to speak with professors, students, and alumni of the program, helping me gain a better understanding of what the program entails. It made me excited for the future and I’m even more sure now I want to join the program one day!
Course of the day
Each morning began with a keynote speaker. For an hour, all of us would gather in the main conference room. Afterwards, we would split into various sessions and workshops for the remainder of the day. Following sessions led by researchers from around the globe gave me a better understanding of the OT I want to be, what research can look like and how different our profession can look like in different parts of the world. There were topics ranging from stroke fatigue to working with AI and community-based work. Depending on the day, we followed between 5 and 8 sessions a day, each of them featuring 3 speakers.
During the breaks there was the opportunity to chat with colleagues, networking to put it with a ‘professional’ word. It was yet another opportunity to learn from each other and build connections.
Poster exhibition
In addition to the sessions and workshops, there were posters to visit, every day rotating so there was something new to explore every day. If you were lucky, you had the chance to talk to the publisher and ask all your questions.
The people – what made it all worth it
And all through the sessions, workshops and posters were great, it was the people I met that will stick with me the most. I got the chance to connect with fellow students from across Europe and even someone from Bangkok. In the SPOT-organized workshops on Thursday, I had the opportunity to interact and work with them. We talked about creating and running a mini-SPOT in one workshop and about ethical dilemmas in another. Coming from different countries and cultures, it was nice to hear the different takes on these topics.
Not a goodbye but a see you later
It may have been the 1st OT Europe Congress but it will not be the last! In the closing ceremony, the organizing committees announced that the congress would take place again in 4 years. It is crazy to think that I most likely won’t be a student anymore by that time but a professional working full time. And even though I have no idea of where I will be then, I am excited about what’s yet to come and to keep working on ‘future proofing OT’!
Review of the OT-Congress in Krakow by Sara (OT-student from the Netherlands)
My name is Sara van Boldrik. I am a Dutch OT student at the Rotterdam University of applied sciences. I am coming to the end of my education as occupational therapist. The first time I heard about OT was about 6 or 7 years ago. I think that in that moment, hearing about it, made me fall in love with the occupation. That was also the moment I decided I was going to study that. The first time I heard about a congress for occupational therapists I got really interested. Last year I went to another congress for OT’s, this was an ENOTHE congress. This was my first congress. And to be honest I do not really remember much about the presentations at that congress. I guess mostly because I was more busy talking to other OT students.
Together with a classmate, I went to the first Occupational Therapy Europe Congress in Krakow. And I will be telling you what it was like to be there as a student. I think as a student, my main goal was to meet other students and talk to them about school and what it is like for them. The congress is a really good place to meet students from other countries and even your own country. In my case, I got to know 5 students who all study in the Netherlands. I really enjoy meeting new people and getting to know them. I don’t really mind if they are students of OT’s or researchers. At a congress, everybody is kind of equal and we all have information to share with others. What also helps I think is the fact that we all have a background in occupational therapy. We are all the same and still so different. It does not really matter where you are from or what you look like or what your name is because it’s all different from each other. That I really like about a congress and also was something you can really feel when you are there.
Another goal for me was to gain new information about my profession. So I could take that home with me. And most of all tell others about that. I also wanted to remember more from the presentations than last year. At the congress, there are a lot of presentations about research conducted by Occupational Therapists. There are also presentations about other things but most are about research conducted by the people presenting. At the beginning of the congress, I hoped to learn new things about OT. But to be completely honest with you, that is kind of hard to do. What most presentations are about is what kind of research is conducted. And of course that is not the only thing they talk about but when they talk about the results of their research we get tables and graphs. They look good and I think when I know better what they are talking about I can get some information out of them. But at the end of the presentation, there are not a lot of presenters that have talked about what the results of their research mean for us practitioners. And I am not working in the field, but some of that new information or a new way of working I can take with me to school and learn other students about. That way more people know about it and we can in that way make the field better and really up-to-date. Because we do not just tell our friends but also our teachers and practice supervisors.
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