Adding Value
From Rehabilitate Therapy's earliest days in 2008, adding value beyond the essentials has always felt like more than an ambition — it's been a guiding purpose. Whether supporting clients and their families through difficult times, strengthening the occupational therapy community, shaping the next generation of OTs through education or contributing to charities and good causes, this commitment has run through everything we do. It is a purpose that has inspired countless business developments, initiatives and charitable donations over the years — and these pages offer a glimpse of that journey.
Going further in many and varied ways is at the heart of what we do and how we do it.
RT Educate
At Rehabilitate Therapy, we believe it is important for us to share knowledge not only within our own community but with those in education and wider MDT professionals. This takes many forms:
> Conferences and study days for MDT professionals
> University talks to next generation OT
> Delivering webinars
> Publishing articles
> CPD for external groups
> CPD for Rehabilitate Therapy associates with team away days
> Journal Club for associates
> Rehabilitate Reflections
> Rehabilitate Therapy Client Community with free access to all clients
> Nurturing the next generation of OTs
Our Actions
Charitable Initiatives
We understand that charities are the backbone of our sector and that is why partnership is at the heart of what we do. We are committed to supporting these organisations and their incredible work through meaningful collaboration and shared initiatives. Some of the charities that we have supported are Headway Derby, Yorkshire Air Ambulance, Riding for the Disabled Association, BACKUP North West and Rainbow Trust Children's Charity.
> Fundraising challenges
> Fun runs and marathons
> Fundraising socials
> Event partnerships
Our Actions
In the spotlight
At Rehabilitate Therapy, work with our clients goes beyond more traditional therapy sessions and sometimes, as in the case of Leon and Jake below, leads to defined vocational activities and projects. The client community is an established and brilliant vehicle to really engage clients, progress rehabilitation, and transform lives. We often, affectionately, refer to the client community as a ‘playground’ where clients can engage, deliberately and purposefully, but also more spontaneously and through that gain many and varied powerful outcomes.
Leon Clarkson
Leon Clarkson is our Client Liaison, and he has delivered talks at Headway Lincs conference, SYABIF, Salford University and Lincoln University, not to mention inspiring our clients and OTs/OT Support team members as an integral part of our team. He was also recently awarded the Stephen McAleese award for inspiration at the UKABIF awards in Manchester. He is an inspiring and motivational speaker. Here is a little bit more about Leon and his journey:
In 2010, at the age of 28, Leon's life was turned upside down when he was rushed to hospital due to his airway closing as a result of glandular fever. Leon suffered a hypoxic brain injury and began a long road of extensive rehabilitation to rebuild his life. Leon will tell you that it hasn’t been an easy journey for him, and it took him a long time to accept that he has a disability, but he has overcome and achieved so much. Since then, he has learnt to drive and bought his first home. He now plays a key role in our client community by inspiring and motivating others to keep going. He cofacilitates both the online and face to face groups, co-leads the client steering groups, and meets up with clients on a 1:1 basis or in a group setting to provide them with the support they need. He now dedicates much of his time to raising awareness of the crucial role of neuro rehabilitation and supporting other brain injury clients who are going through a similar journey.
Jake Cooper
Jake, 29, is a passionate advocate for rehabilitation and personal transformation. In 2017, at the age of 21, Jake's life changed forever when he suffered catastrophic injuries in a road traffic collision. The years that followed were marked by intense physical, mental, and emotional challenges, including anxiety, PTSD, and the lasting effects of a brain injury such as fatigue and memory difficulties.
Determined not to let the accident define him, Jake committed himself to rehabilitation — a turning point that ignited his mission to rebuild his body, mind, and identity. Through persistence and dedication, he transformed adversity into strength and purpose.
Today, Jake works with Rehabilitate Therapy, supporting others on their recovery journeys. He is also the founder of Re-Connexion Personal Training and Rehabilitation, a business dedicated to helping people who, like him, have faced life-changing injuries, empowering them to regain confidence, strength, and a sense of self.
Rob Dinwoodie
In March 2006 at the age of 18, Rob sustained a severe brain injury after a car in which he was a passenger lost control, hit a tree and ploughed through the railings of Endcliffe Park, Sheffield. After spending time unconscious in intensive care and undergoing extensive surgery, Rob began the long journey of recovery which included time spent in a rehabilitation unit to help him adapt to the ongoing effects of his condition including fatigue and short-term memory loss.
Now living independently, Rob began to play around with photography, quickly discovering a talent for the art and a particular focus on nature and animal photographs. "I have been lucky enough to find out that hobbies are a great way to keep focus in life," said Rob. "If you had asked me 15 years ago, before my injury, what I'd be doing now it would be nothing like what I'm actually doing. I love photography, it's given me the ability to achieve on my own, learning steadily as I go.”
We're delighted to have worked with Rob, and to feature photographs he has taken especially for the Rehabilitate Therapy website.
