kate sherry
Role: policy advocacy
Occupational Therapist, UCT
Kate is an occupational therapist, who earned her rural stripes (scars?) at Zithulele in the Eastern Cape (back when no-one had heard of it and the other staff didn’t think she’d have anything to do). Having persuaded them otherwise and lured other therapists to the site (as well as completing a handy distance masters in International PHC from UCL), she moved on to setting up a home-based maternal and child health program in the same area, and also joined a UCT OT research project underway near Mt Frere. Around the same time, she was involved in engineering the first ever rehab track at the annual RuDASA conference in Rhodes, and RuReSA was born. Kate served as chair of RuReSA from January 2011 until April 2015, while working on her PhD, which was about how rural people with disabilities at the Mt Frere site interact with PHC services (handed in February 2016). Over the past five years she feels incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to do a mix of research, policy work, advocacy, clinical and teaching, which she strongly believes is the best way to do each effectively (“although my psychiatrist and bank manager may disagree”). Her jobs for RuReSA this year include helping with the Rural Mental Health Campaign and writing large and hopeful funding proposals.
Occupational Therapist, UCT
Kate is an occupational therapist, who earned her rural stripes (scars?) at Zithulele in the Eastern Cape (back when no-one had heard of it and the other staff didn’t think she’d have anything to do). Having persuaded them otherwise and lured other therapists to the site (as well as completing a handy distance masters in International PHC from UCL), she moved on to setting up a home-based maternal and child health program in the same area, and also joined a UCT OT research project underway near Mt Frere. Around the same time, she was involved in engineering the first ever rehab track at the annual RuDASA conference in Rhodes, and RuReSA was born. Kate served as chair of RuReSA from January 2011 until April 2015, while working on her PhD, which was about how rural people with disabilities at the Mt Frere site interact with PHC services (handed in February 2016). Over the past five years she feels incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to do a mix of research, policy work, advocacy, clinical and teaching, which she strongly believes is the best way to do each effectively (“although my psychiatrist and bank manager may disagree”). Her jobs for RuReSA this year include helping with the Rural Mental Health Campaign and writing large and hopeful funding proposals.
