Emma Yarwood

I qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 2000 from University of Derby. Since qualifying I have worked in adult mental health, older adults mental health (dementia care), neurology and acquired brain injury in the NHS.

In 2005 I specialized in the clinical area of acquired brain injury. I worked in the regional Community Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre with clients and their families who had complex needs. During my work there I was a member of the Brain Injury Rehabilitation and Research Partnership and contributed to a service evaluation with service users. I worked with Speech & Language Therapy colleagues to develop a joint assessment of executive functioning after brain injury for use at the centre, which was based on nationally published research.

In 2009 I took the post of Training & Development Consultant in brain injury. This combined my clinical skills and knowledge with my enthusiasm for facilitating the development of others. In this post I was the course leader for an accredited training programme in brain injury, for support workers.

I now work as the Dementia Clinic Project Manager at the Department of Human Communication Sciences, University of Sheffield. The Dementia Clinic aims to bring speech and language therapy and nursing students together to undertake life story work with people with dementia and their family carers. I believe it is important to inspire future generations to work with people who have dementia and to offer those students and people with dementia and their carers a fulfilling and rewarding experience. I am interested in developing this mutually beneficial service to enhance the lives of people in Sheffield and increase student’s skills and confidence in this area of work.