Hello, my name is Ally and I graduated this summer with a BSc Hons in Occupational Therapy. I am currently working within orthopaedics however I have always been interested in working within paediatrics but never got the opportunity to complete a placement within this area of practice. So, over the past year and a half I have tried to attend lots of CPD events, organised shadowing and networked with professionals working within paediatrics to gain as much experience and knowledge as possible to improve my chances of getting a job within this field in the future.
I attended the RCOT Children, Young People and Families (CYPF) conference in 2021 and was introduced to the Breathe Magic Intensive Therapy Programme by Breathe Arts Health Research (Breathe). This programme provides 2 weeks of intensive bimanual therapy to children with hemiplegia through the use of learning magic tricks. During the conference, they showed a video which demonstrated the bimanual improvements the young people made after just 2 weeks of camp, and had a former Young Magician (a previous participant) talk about their experience of the programme. I was amazed by the outcomes of the programme and the research base surrounding it and instantly wanted to know how I could sign up to take part. I made sure to follow Breathe Arts Health Research on Twitter in order to keep an eye out for any opportunities coming up. Luckily, they eventually posted that they were accepting applications for volunteer Magic Trainers for their summer magic camp, and I submitted my application that night and after an interview I was successful!
