In December 2025, hoot creative arts worked with the University of Huddersfield to pilot a placement for students studying Occupational Therapy.
Hannah and Ella, second year Occupational Therapy students, joined the team at hoot for 6 weeks to experience creative health in action and discover how being creative makes us feel good. With their placement at an end, they reflected on their time with hoot and how the experience will impact their studies going forward.
What is an Occupational Therapist?
Occupational Therapists work with people to look at all aspects of daily life in their home, school or workplace. They work with people of all ages to understand the activities they find difficult and see if there's another way that they can do them.
They take a strengths-based approach, focussing on what people are able to do rather than what they cannot do; setting small goals to promote the development of skills and increase people's independence.
"Goal setting helps to keeps people engaged. It lets them carve their own path and communicate what matters to them. It's very important for us as Occupational Therapists that we understand what is important to each individual, because everyone's occupations are different," says Hannah.
They started their placement at hoot with some trepidation as it was quite different to previous placements. Ella's last placement was at a school for people with learning disabilities working mostly with older adults with complex needs alongside the school's on-site Occupational Therapist and a Speech and Language Therapist.
Instead of the familiar school environment, Hannah and Ella found themselves taking part in music, dance and visual arts at hoot's base in the community. They joined both Creation Station sessions for learning disabled adults and/or autistic adults and Out of the Blue sessions for adults who want to look after their mental health and wellbeing.
"When I first came it was very eye-opening being in the groups and being involved with the sessions" said Hannah "If you don't have experience working with this client group it can be difficult to know what to expect. I just went in and sat down and realised it didn't feel as different as I thought it would be."
Both students recognised that there are assumptions made about community art and how activities are run. "It's quite unique that hoot uses artists, I was expecting the support workers to take over the running of the sessions," said Hannah.
"It's been interesting to watch how the different artists work. It's not just colouring from a colouring book, you are making something over six weeks, so every week is a bit different as you progress," added Ella.
Both students also worked closely alongside Chris, the Creative Support Worker for Creation Station, to learn more about the role.
"It's been really valuable to see how the Creative Support Workers work in the group because you can see how everyone gets on; how they support them and keep them engaged," Ella said "The service is very person centred, the staff say hello to everyone and they go around to check on each person one to one."
Hannah and Ella quickly settled into the groups and could begin to see how Occupational Therapists could be beneficial in hoot's service.
"People at hoot may have some barriers to participation so adaptations need to put in place. For example, the dance group - people sit down so they can still engage with their arms. Another example is prompts for people who might not be able to understand or follow pattern; this could be hand on hand for a movement so you're not doing it for them, you're promoting them to do it independently," Hannah said.
Whilst attending the Creation Station sessions, both students had the chance to put their skills into action.
Ella took on the task of making brews for people during the session break, but as an Occupational Therapist, she saw the opportunity to work alongside someone to build their skills. One participant had requested a cup of tea due to their health condition that causes shaking. Ella asked him if they could make the drink together instead which they did successfully and have continued to do for the following weeks.
"That is an example of us implementing what we do as Occupational Therapists through a step-by-step process. One of our smart targets would start small with the person making their own cup of tea but the Occupational Therapist carrying it back to the seat. We'd work towards the participant carrying the cup halfway and then eventually to making the cup of tea and carry it to their seat independently," Hannah explained.
But the work wouldn't stop there, "As Occupational Therapists we'd take this success and see how we could now morph it into something else, for example moving from making a drink to making a sandwich. By the end of the whole intervention, you could have someone making their own full meal which leads to them eating better in general."
Their experience at hoot will impact their studies going forward, with a return to the roots of the role.
"Occupational Therapists were originally nicknamed the Basket Weavers for their approach to using crafts and vocational skills in the Second World War to support injured soldiers. I want to push how creative arts actually helps people with poor mental health and it's a good outlet," said Hannah
"We've moved quite far away from creativity, we need to revisit it and start promoting it. Engagement in arts like music, creative writing or painting, also helps physically as well. It helps with dexterity or grip strength which can contribute to making food and drinks for yourself. You can see how different activities can be connected and complimentary. Creativity is something I'll suggest in future."
With support from Faye, Chris and Kelly on the hoot team both students told us how positive the experience had been.
"The support has honestly been brilliant," said Hannah, "We've been given lots of resources and any time we've ever had a question it's always been answered."
"Overall, the placement has exceeded our expectations," they both agreed.
When asked to describe their experience in 3 words they chose Enlightened, Confident and Proud.
"Enlightened is a big one, because it's my almost changed our mindset altogether. We feel proud that we've made a difference to the people in the group and we've made them comfortable enough to chat to us," they said.
From the whole team at hoot, we wish Hannah and Ella the very best of luck with the rest of their studies.
Oakwell Hall, Nutter Lane, Birstall, West Yorkshire, WF17 9LG
