A post-pandemic comeback! SST Directors, Members and special guests gathered once again at the London Heathrow Marriott Hotel for the annual University Forum. But in an exciting addition, for the first time, the event was combined with the AGM and the inaugural President’s Dinner.
A mix of both new and returning faces attended the event, all welcomed proudly by Society Chair Kevin Campbell-Karn, who kicked off an afternoon of informative and thought-provoking presentations. First up to the stage was CEO Sally Steadman, who started by sharing her gratitude for the support received in her first 5 months in post with The Society. She then followed with an outline of some of the key areas for development in which the Board of Directors will be focussing in the new year and beyond.
SST Director Lynsey Northeast then stepped onto stage to introduce her colleague from Solent University, Dr Emma Mosely. Emma, a Senior Lecturer in Psychology, spoke about ‘Assessing the Impact of a Sports Psychology Education Package for Sports Therapy Students’. She shared the results of a small scale study which was recently implemented with Sports Therapy students at Solent University. She concluded that students clearly value sports psychology education, seeing improvements in attitudes towards the role of psychology and the practice of psychological skills via role play scenarios. So why don’t we consider implementing similar training across our education establishments? This certainly provided those in attendance with something to consider.
But the list of ‘things to consider’ didn’t stop there. SST Director Kristian Weaver then introduced Professor Matt Greig from Edge Hill University, who generated discussion on the opportunities for growth and development in research. He posed a number of questions openly to the room, including ‘Do we need to generate a PhD supervisory pool of Graduate Sports Therapists?’ Opinions and suggestions from various members of the audience given in response, prompted much discussion during the break.
The room then re-convened for SST Chair Kevin Campbell-Karn to introduce Andrew Cuff from Connect Health. Andrew took the audience through a journey of development for Connect Health and explained the progress made on the employment of SST Members within the NHS. He proudly stated that all relevant, skilled MSK professionals (whether that be a Graduate Sports Therapist, Sports Rehabilitator or Osteopath etc) will be given the title ‘MSK Clinician’ and assessed on skillset to meet the competencies, as opposed to their original training pathway title. This removal of bias has enabled the best candidates for the role to be employed, improving MSK care for patients. An exciting development for SST Members, opening doors within healthcare.
In addition to this development, SST Director Keith Waldon then introduced Major Stephen Chappell and Warrant Officer 1 Russell Hughes from the Ministry Of Defence (MOD), who had some very exciting news to share. Following a lengthy piece of work and collaboration with The SST, Graduate Sports Therapists are now eligible to apply for roles within the MOD as Exercise Rehabilitation Instructors. They will form part of the care pathway, performing clinical assessments and designing/implementing progressive exercise programmes for servicemen and women. President Graham N Smith followed this presentation with a statement on the value of this development and the future of SST Members working within the Defence pathway.
The programme on Day 2 kicked off with Dr David Rhodes from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) asking the question: ‘Sports Therapy in High Performance Sport: A Profession Struggling to Find its Place in MDT?’ Designed to be provocative and to open up discussion, Dr Rhodes took a look at the current landscape, considering the professional bodies competing for the same jobs and asking if the competencies are preparing graduates for employment. He questioned whether Sports Therapy is still hindered by the differing levels of qualifications and whether there needs to be a mandatory MSc pathway to work in elite sport. Very specifically, he asked should our Graduate Sports Therapists be focusing on rehabilitation as part of the MDT?
Dr Rhodes’ talk led seamlessly into the Hot Topics session which focused on work soon to be carried out on reviewing the current SST competencies. The review process will engage a number of different stakeholders and the purpose of this session was to get some qualitative feedback from lecturers teaching on the programme. Led by SST Vice Chair Kristian Weaver (now Chair of The SST) and Director Dr Lynsey Northeast, the session tackled a number of questions looking at the value of the current content of the competencies, providing both Directors with valuable feedback.
The final session of the Forum fell to Tyrone Cassius, Chair of The Network for Engagement in Equity, Diversity & Social-Structural Strategy (NEEDSs). Introduced by Director Tom Cresswell, who works closely with the group, Tyrone’s session entitled ‘Sports Therapy: A Change In Course’ looked at equity, diversity and inclusion in the profession both from a teaching and member perspective. Tyrone raised many searching questions and urged the audience to have those difficult conversations, to identify barriers in order to find solutions.
It was a fitting note on which to end 2 days of inspired talks, news and discussions. Our thanks to all speakers who took part and to the great number of lecturers who gave up their time to attend, in what we know is an extremely busy time of year academically.
See you all next year.
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