Celebrating the 20 years of COTEC

April 2000 – March 2003. Maeve.H. Groom President

I first came into contact with COTEC during the W.F.O.T conference in London in 1994 and was afterwards selected by the British Association to be their mandated U.K Delegate. In the autumn of that year I was duly dispatched to Athens with sharpened pencils and a rubber having been told that it had been agreed at the start of COTEC that the U.K delegate was always the executive secretary! I am pleased to say that things have changed a lot since then. I served six years in this position on the executive and was honoured to be elected president at the spring meeting in Amsterdam 2000 at a time of great change for the then Committee.

Highlights 2000 -2001

I was privileged as one of my first tasks to represent COTEC at the WFOT council meeting in Japan. We were able to cement excellent working relationships and to understand that although the organisations were different, particularly with COTEC needing to respond to European legislation, that we could compliment each other and work in harmony. The major event of the year and a wonderful success was ERGO 2000 which was held in Paris in September. It was attended by over 1000 delegates who commented positively on the high quality of the papers and excellent organisation. The hosting French Association and its conference working party were deservedly congratulated on the successful culmination of five years work all achieved within the self financing budget. The Spring meeting held in Zurich celebrated  the fine tuning that had been made  to the constitution by adopting an “inclusive approach” and opening up membership to European Countries signed up to the ‘Oporto Agreement’ or with national associations accepted by WFOT.

Highlights 2001-2002

Apart from all the ongoing work the autumn meeting held in Helsinki was particularly memorable because following consultation with all member associations it was agreed that the Committee had ‘come of age’ and should be constitutionally renamed Council of Occupational Therapists for the European Countries. The Ethos behind this change was to recognise the enlargement of Europe and the fact that the council had already increased to include 22 member countries.

The spring meeting took place in June to coincide with WFOT council meeting and Congress which was held in Stockholm further establishing our close cooperation and organisational links.

Highlights2002-2003

The autumn meeting took place on the beautiful Greek island of Santorini. The meeting was hosted by the Greek Association as much work was to be done in preparation for the next European Congress which was to be held in Athens. During this meeting it was resolved to adopt the ‘Lisbon Strategy’ to form the next four years strategy for COTEC. It was felt that the language of the document was so congruent to the thinking and work of the Council and that the influences of this policy would clearly impact on all European citizens.

The year 2003 was designated the “European Year of people with Disabilities” and it was agreed as a European organisation to sign up to the “Madrid Declaration” with all its principles beliefs and content and to encourage our individual associations to do the same.

The final meeting of my term of office took place in Slovenia. It was devoted to reorganising the Council in line with the European enlargement and discussions for the necessary re-structuring which would need to take place to encompass over thirty member countries and ensuring the ongoing viability of the organisation.

I can’t possibly finish this Birthday report without praising the national delegates, their alternates and the executive committee who steer and formulate the ongoing work of the council. I was so fortunate to work alongside the most amazing group of European and international occupational therapists who all gave of their own time throughout the years producing Annual Summaries of the Profession, creating web sites, providing support to new member countries, working with ENOTHE, preparing and hosting conferences,  creating responses to E.U consultations on legislation and Higher Directives and a myriad of other tasks. This ongoing work was and is to harmonise and improve our standards of education and practice across Europe so that European citizens should receive the same level of ‘state of the art’ intervention or treatment from an Occupational Therapist in which ever country they reside.

                                                                                                                  M.H.G March 2006

20th Anniversary

Many associations have been holding special celebrations with and for their COTEC delegates.

The Finish association is publishing articles by occupational therapists from other European countries in each of their journals throughout 2006.  Other journals will be following up on this idea so that some of the articles will appear in a number of journals during the year.

In the United Kingdom a birthday cake provided at the association's council meeting and a picture and article about COTEC were published in 'OT News'.

Malta made a special presentation about COTEC at the AGM and published an article.

In the Netherlands all past delegates had a special celebration together.

At the AGM in Greece there was a presentation about COTEC with the vision for the future.  One journal has been entirely devoted to COTEC and all past delegates were presented with a silver plate at a special reception.  The association has also produced special promotion material to mark the event.

 Fotini Zografou, the President of the Greek association, awards Maria Skouroliakou, the President of COTEC, with a silver plate to comemorate the anniversary.

At the annual congress in Leipzig the German Association of Occupational Therapists held a reception for all the past COTEC Delegates who enjoyed the chance of a get together and discussion of the developmets COTEC has made over the years

from l.-r. Pip Higman, Albrecht Konrad (current delegates) Ute Steding-Albrecht, Susanne Plöghöft-Lühr und Barbara Dehnhardt (first delegate)

In France there was a special presentation at the AGM

Denmark has had special flashes on their website throughout the year reminding visitors of the 20 years' celebration.

Switzerland published an article with information about COTEC in one journal.

Italy devoted one newsletter to the work of COTEC and very kindly contributed to the celebratory dinner the Delegates enjoyed in pleasant surroundings during their meeting in Milan in November.

A celebration in the Netherlands for 20 years of COTEC

Austria published information about COTEC in their newsletter and gave information to members at the AGM.

In Ireland the AGM was enlived this year with the COTEC Quizz which recieved much appreciation from the members.

For further information about the last 20 years, plese see the history of COTEC.