Today was a very special episode for me as I had the absolute privilege to interview Dr Elizabeth Townsend, I also had the pleasure of having Dr Juman Simaan co-host the show with me so it was a win/win! Dr Elizabeth Townsend is an occupational therapist adult educator and occupational scientist, who started her career in rural Uganda, East Africa after graduation in 1967 from the University of Toronto. On returning to Canada, she worked in rehabilitation, home care, and community mental health settings in Newfoundland and Labrador, Alberta, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. In the realm of education, Liz has a background that spans almost 35 years of program and curriculum design, program implementation and program evaluation in adult community mental health services in Prince Edward Island and higher education at Dalhousie University. Together Liz, Juman and I will discuss a variety of topics including terminology surrounding the concepts of occupational justice, occupational injustice, and occupational rights which address systemic social exclusion, deprivation and other marginalizing social practices. We consider how OT’s can work for Justice including how this can be achieved using the Participatory occupational justice framework. We find out just how did Liz cross paths with Ann Wilcock, which then led on to the creation of occupational justice.
Liz's recommendations Netflix documentary - There's something in the water (2019) This documentary spotlights the struggle of minority communities in Nova Scotia as they fight officials over the lethal effects of industrial waste.
Wilcock, A. A. (1998)- ‘Reflections on Doing, Being and Becoming’, Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 65(5), pp. 248–256. DOI: 10.1177/000841749806500501. Ana Malfitano - Social Occupational Therapy (book) due out November 2020 full of examples of working with the 'social'.
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