Publish date: 24 January 2025
First Occupational Therapy apprentice to graduate from Northumbria Healthcare
Beth Green has become the first Occupational Therapist to graduate from the apprenticeship programme running at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with Sunderland University.
While the apprenticeship programme has been running in other parts of the country, this is the first time someone has completed the course within Northumbria.
Before starting the apprenticeship, Beth was working as an Occupational Therapy Technical Instructor at Blyth Community Hospital and wanted to progress into the role of an occupational therapist. However, giving up full-time work in pursuit of a university course wasn’t an option so she explored the apprenticeship route.
As this wasn’t something offered by the trust, Beth took it upon herself to reach out to universities around the country to understand how the programme worked and logistically, how this could be set up within the trust.
With the support of the occupational therapy team, the programme was started and Beth began her journey to becoming a fully qualified occupational therapist.
Over the duration of the two-year course, Beth completed placements across the North East to support her learning. The current cohort of apprentices who started the course in September, will be completing all their placements in house with the support of occupational therapy mentors as part of the occupational therapy five-year strategy to grow and develop their own workforce.
Talking about her achievement, Beth said: “I’m extremely proud to be the first apprentice to graduate from the occupational therapy apprenticeship programme through the trust. I’m so grateful to all my colleagues and mentors along the way who have supported me and especially to those who helped get the programme started. This journey has opened my eyes to the number of opportunities available working in occupational therapy.”
Estelle Ferguson, Professional Lead for Occupational Therapy at Northumbria Healthcare said: “The whole team are all so proud of Beth. Over the two years, she has shown determination and an eagerness to learn about the occupational therapy profession and is an asset to our team. We’re all wishing Beth the best for the next chapter in her career.
“Apprentices are valuable members of our team and are key to growing and developing our own workforce which is part of the occupational therapy five-year strategy.”