Occupational Therapy MSc (Pre-registration)

Dr. Terri Grant

Terri qualified as an Occupational Therapist from St Loye’s School of Occupational Therapy in 1996, just as the education system adjusted to degree-level education. The vast majority of her NHS career was spent as a specialist Stroke Rehabilitation Occupational Therapist, having found a love for neurology whilst working as a wheelchair therapist in Bristol.

Before leaving the NHS, Terri was one of the founder members of the now well-established and successful Community Stroke Service in Worcestershire. Alongside the clinical work, she really enjoyed working to support the development of students, support workers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists and nurses as one of the clinical team leaders.

Terri started her academic career here at UW in 2014 and then left the NHS to become a full-time Senior Lecturer, the following year. Terri's varied roles at the university include, developing the Practice Education team for Allied Health and she is  currently the course leader for the MSc (Pre-registration) Occupational Therapy course.

Terri completed her PhD studies alongside working in 2024 and finds ways to maintain her occupational balance and seek physical and mental restoration by practicing the Korean sword martial art of Haidong Gumdo. In fact, she was the first woman in the UK to achieve Black Belt status in this art in 2022.

Anneka McGee

Anneka has been a qualified Occupational Therapist since graduating in 2005. She initially worked within in a Physical and Mental Health rotation which gave her a great insight into the various roles of an Occupational Therapist. Following this, she spent 13 years working in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. During this time, Anneka has held both clinical and leadership roles within the team which allowed her to utilise my Occupational Therapy reasoning and clinical skills.

Whilst working in practice Anneka has completed various qualifications in Play Therapy, Sensory Processing, leadership skills and Coaching and Mentoring which has enabled her to integrate her OT skills and promote the profession in many different environments and within the multidisciplinary team. She is very passionate about Occupational Therapy and the opportunities the profession has to make a difference and encourage dynamic, holistic approaches.

Alison Double

Alison qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 1994 and has worked in all sorts of settings and roles since then; inpatient, community, schools, management and abroad.

Her clinical speciality area is the use of sensory based approaches in assessment and treatment; using Ayres Sensory Integration theory.

Emma Clayton

Emma qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 1997 and since then has predominantly worked in the NHS within the area of Neurology. Emma currently works part time leading an NHS neurology Occupational Therapy outpatient service and has also over the years combined her NHS role with other part time roles including disability assessment, working in a 24 hour care private neurological rehabilitation setting and as a principal investigator for 2 research projects. Emma has been a practice educator for many years and particularly enjoys having students on placement and supporting them to link theory and practice.

Emma started as an associate lecturer with University of Worcester in 2014 and has supported a variety of modules over the years before becoming a permanent member of the team in 2022.

Emma was born, grew up and still lives in St Johns, Worcester and spends a lot of time watching her 2 sons and husband playing football.

Annabel Heaslop

Annabel qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 2005 after graduating from the University of Queensland, Australia. She worked clinically in paediatric Occupational Therapy both in Australia and the UK within a range of settings including acute, community and schools. She worked within clinical and management roles and was significantly involved in staff development and support. Annabel has a particular interest in working with children within early years Occupational Therapy.

Annabel joined the team at University of Worcester in January 2017. Annabel has worked both the placements team and now is teaching across both the BSc and MSc Occupational Therapy courses.

Annabel enjoys student support within placements and university modules, and has conducted research into the occupational therapy student experience within role-emerging placements.

Outside of work Annabel spends most of her spare time with her family and loves travelling whenever she can.

Dr Sophie Knight

Sophie qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 1997 and worked in a variety of settings in practice, predominantly in Adult Social Care. In 2009 Sophie made the move to working in higher education and was a lecturer and Placement Education Tutor at Bournemouth University until October 2018 when she moved to the University of Worcester. She is now a Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy and is Admissions Tutor for the degree course. Sophie is working on her PhD part time whilst working full time, the focus of the research is the role and meaning of food for older people. Sophie loves working with students and says that they have taught her a lot over her ten years of university life. Occupational Therapy is one of the most rewarding and exciting professions and being part of the journey for new generations of Occupational Therapists is a privilege.

Mary Archer

Mary has over ten years’ experience working in the NHS. She began her career working in an acute rotational post, which gave her a good foundation for her OT career.

She gained experience of working within stroke rehab, oncology, surgical and general medicine.

In 2014 Mary entered into a specialist Occupational Therapy role, providing assessment and provision of assistive technology for people with severe physical disabilities and/or communication difficulties.

Professor Dez Kyte

Prof Kyte trained as a Physiotherapist at the University of Bradford, graduating in 1996. He went on to work in the NHS for over 10 years, rising to a position as an Extended Scope Practitioner (Trauma & Orthopaedics) at the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust. He moved into academia as a Clinical Tutor at the University of Birmingham in 2007. In this role he was involved in the delivery of under- and post-graduate education within the department of nursing and physiotherapy, specialising in anatomy & physiology and musculoskeletal practice. He completed an MSc in Advancing Practice (Specialist Manipulative Physiotherapy) in 2009. In 2011, he successfully applied for a fully funded NIHR doctoral fellowship, completing the PhD alongside his physiotherapy teaching workload and graduating in 2015.

Anna Billingham

Anna qualified as a Physiotherapist from The University of Manchester in 2005. She has predominantly worked in clinical practice in the NHS, in both inpatient and community settings. Anna is particularly interested in neurorehabilitation and the management of long-term conditions. More recently she has worked in elderly care supporting care homes to enable their residents to have a meaningful quality of life. Anna has been involved in several service development and service re-design projects. This has developed her interest in teamwork, change management and leadership, and she feels strongly about these principles being encouraged from the beginning of a healthcare professionals' career.

Anna has always enjoyed being a clinical educator for students out on placement. This has led her to make the move across to a teaching role at the University of Worcester and she feels excited to join the team in developing and inspiring the next generation of physiotherapists.

Caroline Nelson

Caroline has been an Occupational Therapist since graduating in 2000, working continuously in clinical practice for over 20 years. She initially worked on a rotation consisting of community learning disabilities, orthopaedics and general medical and then went on to spend most of her career working in paediatrics.

Caroline began her paediatric career by working in the community, in schools, homes and a child development centre, helping children who had difficulties with a variety of activities. She then moved to a Special school for children with physical difficulties and sensory needs to complete a project evidencing “The benefits of having an Occupational Therapist based within the school,” the result of which was funding approval for a full-time post.

Following this, Caroline moved to an acute hospital which specialised in trauma and orthopaedics, for just over 13 years.

Lauren Edwards

Lauren is a Specialist Neurological Occupational Therapist supporting clients, families and carers in rehabilitation from neurological injury. When she is not lecturing, she also works within the rehabilitation technology sector as she believes the future of healthcare is not only in adopting technology but in empowering people by giving them the tools they need for rehabilitation.