And I'm wondering, w- back then, thinking back, why was it that it took thirteen years and didn't get started a bit sooner?

Well, of course, I qualified in 1976, which is eons ago, and at the time I thought, "Well, that's it now.

I'm a qualified occupational therapist.

This is what I'm going to do for the rest of my career." And indeed, uh, for the first few years, that's the way it panned out.

I worked in, um- In mental health, largely, uh, people of all ages including child psychiatry.

Um, at the time it was very much learning on the job.

Uh, didn't read at all, uh, apart from s- an, a publication called Therapy Weekly, which some people will remember from way back when.

If you could put yourself back there and think back to those days, what would the you at that time be most surprised about the landscape for OTs wanting to do research today?

So you've worked on helping people maintain their quality of life as they age, but have there been moments where you felt that the system wasn't ready for this and that this kind of change and improvement wasn't possible?

Thank you.

Just to say it's a real privilege to be here today and to be asked these things about my past career.

Yes, the big question.

Now, I've thought about this a lot.

And over time, it's become quite clear that health promotion and prevention should be the way that our health services function.

should be moving rather than the focus being entirely on acute care and this is of course where i started largely not entirely but largely back in the uh kind of uh turn of the millennium and beyond Yeah, so the big question is how policy and practice will move towards a prevention health promoting model.

Where do you see the real opportunities with technology and where are we kidding