Alice has gone viral

Cancer survivor Alice McGarvie is spreading the word worldwide on the benefits of occupational therapy (OT) – and her message has gone viral.

With more than 30,000 views and 10,000 Facebook shares, the Brighton alumna’s blog is being hailed as one of the clearest explanations of the benefits of OT.

Alice graduated last year with an MSc in Occupational Therapy and now runs her own practice offering OT and ‘harp therapy’, using the ancient instrument to provide “a soothing and calming sound” as therapy.

Her career was boosted when she shared in £10,000 prize money from the university’s enterprise programme beepurple for entrepreneurial students and graduates, a scheme funded by Santander Universities.

Alice last year underwent surgery for breast cancer and afterwards found herself providing OT to herself: “I was unable to run, so I had to adapt and substitute running with walking. I could not reach or lift things so again I had to adapt by placing things in reach and getting help with the heavy stuff. I was fatigued so I had to learn to pace myself throughout the day and I had trouble sleeping so I developed a good sleep hygiene routine.

“I was being my own occupational therapist, making adaptations to the way I do things and to my environment to enable me to live life my way and continue doing my occupations.

“This is what occupational therapists do, we treat the person, not the diagnosis…”

Tania Wiseman, Alice’s OT course leader at the university, said: “Alice has been able to explain OT in a way that has attracted some of the world’s most renowned therapists. She is quite remarkable.”

For more information on related courses at the University of Brighton click here.