Emily Hirst

VOLUNTEER

My name is Emily Hirst and I am 27. I am an occupational therapy student at the York St John University, England and I undertook my final year practice placement at CRP.

During my eleven weeks stay at CRP, I spent the majority of my time working in the inpatient unit, supporting the rehabilitation of people with a spinal cord injury. I hope that I treated patients with care, compassion and respect during their rehab. I tried to help students and staff with the English language skills also. With another student I designed a fall preventative tool for people who climb coconut trees, a prototype is currently being built in the CRP workshop.

I decided to come to CRP because I wanted to challenge myself, learn about a different country and culture whilst helping to make a difference and supporting a meaningful cause. I enjoyed my time at CRP as the people are really wonderful and made me feel extremely welcome. It is a great environment to live and work in, like one big family.

I will remember this experience forever, especially the wonderful people.