Health & Wellbeing (2017 cohort)
I am a combination of my occupations. My professional goal is to explore the science of occupation: anything we do that informs our roles, responsibilities, needs and dreams. I arrived at this goal through studying BSc Psychology, MSc War and Psychiatry and MSc Occupational Therapy (pre-reg). In addition to study I worked in military mental health research, had a short career within the Royal Naval Reserve, volunteered and worked for charities supporting research and practice. The transition in my thinking due to experience, in particular my involvement with the Armed Forces community and personal occupational changes, have made me determined to understand the bit in the middle; the occupation of change and what that means.
The purpose of the research project is to deepen the understanding of the process of transition from the Armed Forces to ‘Civvi Street’ using an occupational perspective and creative research methods. Photo-narrative is proposed as a tool to document the transition experience and illicit narrative to develop an understanding of transition rooted in the experiences of those who have made this journey.
Normative transition take place throughout the life course, however abrupt changes in circumstance may take place which can lead to alterations within occupational engagements and impact on health and wellbeing (Crinder et al, 2015). An academic occupation based understanding of military transition is limited with in the UK,
It is hoped the exploration of this topic through a social constructivist viewpoint will contribute to the understanding of the occupations which take place throughout normative and unexpected changes. Applications could then be fed into practice, further supporting Occupational Therapists working in this area and initiate the exploration of this transition within wider society.