Join the OTS Community of Practitioners
There are several ways of 'joining OTS' as either a full member, a student member, or an affiliate member. As an organisation, we want to find a balance between being inclusive, open to all kinds of practitioners from across the approaches, whilst at the same time needing to emphasise the collaborative and community nature of the organisation to maximise cohesiveness. Very similar to the way we try to match clients with therapists when making referrals, we are looking for a fit between new members and the established culture of OTS. This means we cannot take on every practitioner, but need to go through a process of establishing the fit between yourself and the community.
So depending on your interest - whether for a placement, to become a full community member, or to hire therapy rooms in Oxford or Witney, we have different application processes to go through.
Affiliate Members: are members who either just hire therapy rooms from us in Oxford or Witney, or who receive referrals from us once we have got to know them, but don't take a full part in the life of our community.
Student members: are trainees who may or may not have a placement with us.
Full members: everyone else who is a part of the OTS community!
If you would like to enquire about becoming a member please email us or call us for further information.
The OTS Vision
OTS-Oxfordshire Therapy & Self-Development was set up by Justin Smith, Annalisa Caldon & Michael Soth to develop a more accessible and comprehensive first port of call for therapeutic support as well as to raise the profile of, and grow interest in the work of therapists counsellors and other professional working in the therapeutic, psychological and developmental professions. Anyone unsure about the bewildering multitude of psychological therapies and personal development activities available in the area will find unbiased information, assessment and referral as well as educational events at OTS to help them clarify their needs.
Offering a range of referral routes and therapeutic options which can be tailored to an individual in terms of approach, intensity, frequency, cost and other factors, OTS will provide the one-stop solution for therapy in the region. From free educational events to workshops and ongoing regular groups, from low-cost individual and group therapy to in-depth psychotherapy & counselling, from short-term to long-term therapy within a wide variety of therapeutic orientations, OTS is developing the network and resources to meet clients’ differing needs.
When people first discovered that cleaning your teeth brings with it lots of benefits like longer lasting teeth, a nicer smile and healthier gums, it took off as something most of us now do regularly. This is how we take care of our teeth. But how do we take of our emotional intelligence and wellbeing? How do we take care of that? Engaging in activities that support our experience as human beings in living our lives more effectively, easily, and happily has not yet become as normal as cleaning our teeth. This is partly because other than seeing a counsellor or therapist when life becomes really difficult, most people don’t know what is available. This is why OTS has been set up.
Most people look for some form of counselling or psychotherapy when something goes wrong in life, a crisis, or a desire for life to be better in some way; so, many people now know about the existence and value of psychotherapy and counselling. There are two things however, that people don’t really know about or understand: one is the confusing range of different types of counselling and therapy out there; and secondly, that there are many other avenues which can support and enhance what is for all of us quite a challenge – how to do life well!
Workshops and groups aren’t as mainstream as individual counselling and psychotherapy, but they are often more cost effective for those on lower incomes. They can also be very useful alongside and as an additional support for people already having individual counselling or therapy. That is why one of the main parts of out vision is to support the creation of a wide range of groups in our region, to meet a variety of needs.
OTS are building a network and community of excellence - professionals who can offer a broad range of services to both members of the public, and fellow professionals.
The Charity Initiative 'OTS Therapy Groups'
It is not news to most of us that the mental health services are inadequate and extremely narrow in the range of options they make available. Waiting times are long (many with more complex needs are waiting up to 2 years for support), and some of services on offer are inadequate for the kinds of issues that many people struggle with. The feedback on the CBT-dominated Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme which the government has been rolling out suggests that 51% service users reached recovery, so they are making a difference. There was no long term data available in terms of relapse, and the 51% figure suggests that there are many people who need something deeper than the shorter term and/or CBT approach.
In the last two years, OTS has been running a therapy group in Witney, the outcomes of which clearly support our aim to provide a wide range of therapy groups in the region. Group therapy has been shown to not only be very effective when compared with individual therapy in many cases, but is also comparatively cost effective.
Our aim is to set up a separate charity - 'OTS Therapy Groups' - which can both train practitioners and offer group therapy on a much lower cost basis. To do so effectively will take some time and planning, and we are still gathering people and resources to be able to develop this initiative. If you are interested in any capacity, let us know!
Financial Structure
OTS has a philosophy of transparency, so each year all accounts have been published for members to view and discuss. On the face of it, it is a very simple system, but one that is easier to understand once you are working within it. Here are the essential points:
What happens to these funds? Here are the essential points of what the funds are used for:
So far, no-one has been paid anything for the work done in developing OTS. We are developing it as a community resource and vision for what needs to happen in the field of mental health and wellbeing. As we grow, we are incurring more costs to develop for example on an online system to handle our monthly reporting and payments systems. We anticipate that at some point, we will be in a position to pay more people for the work they take on for the different roles in OTS. For example:
Joining OTS
There are several ways of 'joining OTS' as either a full member, a student member, or an affiliate member. As an organisation, we want to find a balance between being inclusive, open to all kinds of practitioners from across the approaches, whilst at the same time needing to emphasise the collaborative and community nature of the organisation to maximise cohesiveness. Very similar to the way we try to match clients with therapists when making referrals, we are looking for a fit between new members and the established culture of OTS. This means we cannot take on every practitioner, but need to go through a process of establishing the fit between yourself and the community. As a community member there will be many opportunities to grow and be supported your development, without any obligations to take on responsibilities unless desired.
So depending on your interest - whether for a placement, to become a full community member, or to hire therapy rooms in Oxford or Witney, we have different application processes to go through.
Affiliate Members: are members who either just hire therapy rooms from us in Oxford or Witney, or who receive referrals from us once we have got to know them, but don't take a full part in the life of our community.
Student members: are trainees who may or may not have a placement with us.
Full members: everyone else who is a part of the OTS community!
If you would like to enquire about becoming a member please email us or call us for further information.
Training & Supervision at OTS
OTS is committed to providing rich and diverse ways to support the development of local practitioners. We run various supervision and development groups as well as regular trainings and regular member led meetings.
The events pages in the main menu will give you further information about what we offer, but if you are looking for something specific which is not there, let us know!
