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Babra

Occupational Therapy BSc (Hons)

  • Adult learner 
  • Studied Access to Higher Education programme prior to starting degree
  • Placement helped secure a job after graduating
Babra Msekiwa profile image

Occupational Therapy gives you the opportunity to empower people, to help them regain their independence and quality of life. It's so satisfying and fulfilling to work with people and to help people, it's my passion.

Babra Msekiwa

What made you want to be an occupational therapist?

Before studying, I worked in a hospital as a domestic assistant.

Initially, I wanted to be a nurse, but I saw the occupational therapists doing their assessments and assisting people when they were getting ready to go home. I wanted to be more involved with people, one-to-one, so I asked what I should do to become an occupational therapist. 

I was advised to study the Access to Higher Education programme as I had been out of education for a long time, and after completing it I was able to start this course.

Why did you decide to study at Bradford?

A colleague at work had studied here. He explained to me how supportive the staff are, and how easy it is to gel with fellow students in the small cohorts.

Did you do any placements?

Yes. The placements have done a lot to help me develop.

My most recent one was nine weeks and was the highlight of my time as a student. It gave me the chance to say that I can go out and work on my own initiative.

It was at a special needs school with a diverse range of educational needs. We shadowed the teachers in the classroom, and in the afternoons we would work with the students and teachers in activities. 

We also gathered information through observation and questionnaires and discovered that the teachers lacked motivation and sleep. That's how we discovered that they deserved to have some health and wellbeing intervention.  

Occupational Therapy student Babra Msekiwa profile

What are your ambitions for the future?

I have a job lined up already and yesterday I got an email asking me to start very soon. 

In the future, I want to do a master's. I've managed to get to this stage, so there's nothing to stop me doing the next stage. I would like to come back to Bradford to do it, because of all the support here.