Occupational Therapy workshop

There is only one Occupational Therapist in Ghana, however the three state psychiatric hospitals have large Occupational Therapy departments staffed by Occupational Therapy assistants, some of whom are trained as carpenters or seamstresses. The staff have little knowledge of psychiatry or Occupational Therapy and the departments are largely underused and poorly managed. After meeting the OT assistants they requested a workshop to provide them with some knowledge of OT and mental illness. Emma is a British OT who was visiting Ghana and agreed to facilitate a workshop with me at Pantang, one of the psychiatric hospitals. Here we are with the participants and Rebecca, Florence and Grace, Principal OT assistants from the three psychiatric hospitals. There are plans to introduce OT training in Ghana which might be a step towards providing a more comprehensive psychosocial approach to treatment and rehabilitation in Ghana's psychiatric hospitals.



Meeting Ghana's OT assistants in July at the launch of Ghana Federation of Allied Health Professionals in Accra.