Right Support, Right Time – Unlocking the Power of Occupational Therapy
It’s Occupational Therapy (OT) Week (3 – 9th November 2025) - a chance to celebrate the profession’s unique role in transforming lives. This year’s theme, Right Support, Right Time – Unlocking the Power of OT , highlights how early, well-timed occupational therapy can prevent crises, support recovery, and sustain wellbeing across systems.
At the Integrated Residential Outreach Care (IROC) team , part of Toucan, the West Midlands CAMHS Provider Collaborative , our Occupational Therapists work systemically across health, education, and social care to support children and young people with complex psychological, emotional, and behavioural needs - often those described as “challenging systems or challenged by systems.
Our OT team uses various evidence-based approaches and models to help systems understand the “why” behind behaviour. Grounded in the principles of the Pyramid of Learning , we start from the foundations - safety, regulation, and sensory processing - before addressing higher-level cognitive, social, and emotional skills.
This approach helps professionals and caregivers recognise that before a young person can engage, learn, or trust, their nervous system needs to feel safe and organised. By mapping intervention to a child’s developmental stage rather than chronological age, OTs support the system to meet needs more effectively and compassionately.
Through our IROC Framework – Secure Steps , we aim to promote consistent, trauma-informed, formulation driven, evidence-based care, delivered within a whole systems approach collaborate with teams to:
✅ Build relational safety and shared understanding
✅ Develop sensory and regulation strategies that underpin participation
✅ Strengthen system confidence and coherence
✅ Embed sustainable, trauma-informed practices across placements
The result? Fewer crisis episodes, improved stability, reduced placement breakdowns, and better outcomes for young people - while easing pressure across multi-agency systems.
Occupational therapy works best when it’s involved early. In IROC, we see every day how early OT input can help shift services from reactive to restorative - supporting prevention, promoting stability, and helping young people live the lives they want to lead.
Let’s continue to start these conversations across our multidisciplinary teams - how might occupational therapy help you deliver the right support at the right time?