Be the Spider! Create a Web of Energy or a Community of Practice
Hi all,
Have you every been overwhelmed with all the research out there and trying to keep up with the latest guidelines and evidence? Have you been frustrated because you can't find the evidence you need to support what you do? Do you wish you could share all you have learned from your everyday practice with others and hear about what others who have similar practices are doing? Do wish you could talk to the scientists who are studying your practice area? Wouldn't it be wonderful to dialogue and learn how consumers view practices like yours? Are you frustrated with the system in which you work because it limits your effectiveness and you wonder how you can change the system? Are you tired of others outside of our profession making decisions about how you practice?
Well, if the answers to any of those questions are yes, then you might be interested in the Communities of Practice concept that is part of the Participation Review Ad Hoc Proposal. Communities of practice are a powerful way to change practice and to involve many stakeholders in the process. These Communities would first form around the six areas of the Centennial Vision, i.e., mental health; productive aging; children and youth; work and industry; health and wellness; and rehabilitation, disability, and participation. These first Communities would have elected leaders who would run them. Other communities could form as members have interest, like a community around autism or veteran's issues. An AOTA member could participate in as many communities as they choose and could have different levels of participation in them. The Communities would work with the new 15-member Council that replaces the Representative Assembly. For instance, what if a group of practitioners in the mental health community wanted to tackle the issue of making sure occupational therapy practitioners are qualified mental health providers in each state. Perhaps they would reach out and invite those occupational therapy practitioners who are in states where they are mental health providers. These practitioners share how that state legislation occurred and the strategies they used to put it in place. Perhaps they then develop a state advocacy tool kit for other states to use. Then perhaps they approach the State Association Presidents and invite those Presidents whose states would be open to pursuing this legislation to dialogue about the advocacy process. Then that State President invites all the mental health occupational therapy practitioners in the state to join the community to work on the project. This community might then go to the AOTA Board of Directors to get advocacy support from staff and to see if there could be any budget support to work with states on this issue. Perhaps some of the states also invite consumers from consumer groups who would help advocate for OT in those states.
This is just a small example of how Communities of Practice can grow and can organize around important action of all types. The Council could even ask the Community if they want to take on a project, such as writing a knowledge and skills paper around the MH compentencies needed to be qualified mental health providers. The Communities would decide how they want to work at the Annual Conference. Perhaps they want to have a meeting of the community, maybe they want to host some round tables, or to host a special symposium. Maybe they want to bring in the relevant scientists to share their work and then have a consumer response. There would not be specific functions at Conference unless the Community wanted them to occur and worked with staff to make these happen. Each Community might have different activities at the conference. Not all Communities would have to do the same things. This opens the doors to some really creative thinking and incorporating up-to-date issues at the Conference. The community would have a repository where they could keep track of all their work so there is a history of their efforts.
I see so many benefits in this new proposal. It could be freeing in that people who normally do not participate because they don't know "the rules" and are concerned about doing it wrong, can jump right in! The idea is to break down our silos where we have kept practice, education, and research as seperate activities of the association. Instead these Communities bring together students, educators, practitioners, administrators, scientists, policy experts, and other stakeholders like consumers and interested persons outside of our discipline. Last year in my 2009 Presidential Address, I talked about creating a web without a true spider. Communities of practice are webs of energy linking practice, education, and research to solve the problems and capture the opportunities with which we are faced everyday in this turbulent economic and political times.
Penny Moyers Cleveland
AOTA President