Sharon Coyle

Sharon Coyle is fully qualified and is registered with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC, OT57973) and a member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT). She has provided Complete Care Shop with expert advice.

Sharon Coyle has been a qualified occupational therapist since 2005, having fallen into it as a mature student. She was a support worker in the mental health service supporting people in the community who were being discharged from long stay hospital settings, often institutionalised. This was a very rewarding job and she loved supporting people, helping them get back on their feet within the community.

Sharon was fortunate to be offered a secondment to Northampton university to do an occupational therapy degree, which was a great opportunity and underpinned the work she was interested in. Although studying was a terrifying prospect, as she is not at all academic, she was drawn to the course because of the creativity and problem solving that the wide range of opportunities in occupational therapy offers.

Once qualified, Sharon has had experience working with both adults and children for various Local Authorities. The role of an occupational therapist is to maintain or enhance independence, identifying what is important to that individual and finding ways – sometimes inventive ways – to make it happen. She has worked for a number of years supporting disabled children and their parents/carers, often involving major adaptations to access the things most of us take for granted.