Special Interest Groups
How to send a message to your SIG
Accessing the documents stored in your SIG
Confirmation that you have succeeded in joining a SIG
How to start a new special interest group
Objectives
NZAOT has a growing number of national Special Interest Groups (SIGs) – the purpose is to provide a network throughout New Zealand of occupational therapists with a special interest in a particular practice area
The object of a SIG may include:
- To facilitate the sharing and distribution of ideas and resources within the group
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To be an identifiable resource for NZAOT Council and Executive Director for issues pertaining to a particular practice area
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To provide a forum to discuss occupational therapy issues in a particular practice area about concerns which affect the profession locally, regionally and nationally.
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To provide the opportunity to facilitate consistency on policies procedures and issues nationally.
Each group has its own identified area of special interest and varies in how it carries out its main activities.
Guidelines
SIGs are a safe place for questions and discussion to take place. A safe place means that all questions and discussions are valued and discussed in a professional, respectful and supportive manner. Debates and altering perspectives are encouraged as this is a sign of mature profession which values growth and is comfortable in self reflection. SIGs are not a place to put down, abuse or ridicule another member or their viewpoint, whether on-line or off-line. If you feel that the SIG forum has been abused in any way please direct your concerns to the national office nzaot@nzaot.com or phone 04 473 6510.
Courses, products, vacancies or one’s services to other members can be advertised via a number of other opportunities such as the OT Insight, our website, email marketing etc. Advertisements must not be sent out through SIG postings. Please contact the national office nzaot@nzaot.com to discuss your advertising requirements.
Current SIGs
For a complete list of SIGs, click here.
For more information about any SIG, see the Related Links section to the right of this page.
If you would like any links added to an individual SIG page of our website, (e.g. minutes, course information, practice tips etc) - Send a request to national office
How to join a SIG
1. Request invitation
Members are invited to join any group(s) they have an interest in – membership of groups is inclusive in the membership subscription rate. Contact us at the national office and indicate which group(s) you would like to join (full list).
NZAOT uses an online LISTserv (Google groups) for email discussion for all special interest groups.
2. Activate each SIG membership
Once your request has been received, you will be sent an invitation to join the SIG (you will be sent an invitation for each SIG seperately). To activate these SIG memberships, you will firstly need to open a Google account. This is free and a link to open the Google account will be included in your email invitation.
Detailed instructions (pdf) on how to activate your SIG membership
Once your membership has been activated you will be able to receive, and send posts to the group.
Editing your Google account
You can make changes to the number of emails you receive from the SIGs, the email address you have registered for your SIG messages, your public profile etc.
Firstly you will need to sign into your Google account. See instructions (pdf) .
Now you can make changes to your Google account. See instructions (pdf)
How to send a message to your SIG
You can either send an email to your SIG (the email address for each SIG is written at the bottom of the SIG homepage) or you can log into the SIG homepage and post a discussion from there (from the homepage you can also view historic discussions). See instructions on how to access the SIG home page (pdf).
If emailing the group you will need to do so from the email address that is registered for your SIG. Emails can only be sent tot he group by SIG members.
When posting a message to the group (or replying to one) remember that your email will go to everyone in the group, so don't send personal messages this way.
Accessing the documents stored in your SIG
To share documents with members of your SIG, or to access archived documents, you will need to log into your Google account. See instructions on how to access Google Documents.
Confirmation that you have succeeded in joining a SIG
Follow the instructions for sending an email to the SIG. Then - introduce yourself to the group; telling something of your back ground and special interests and perhaps even pose a question or share some recent experiences.
When you post to a SIG LISTserv - the sender automatically also receives a copy of the message. Receipt of this message is confirmation that you have successfully joined.
Some organizations appear to have a block on receiving group emails - if this is the case you can sometimes get the IT department to set you up with a different email address which bypasses the block.
How to start a new special interest group
If there is not a special interest group to meet your needs – consider setting one up through NZAOT.
Refer to the Regulations for guidance and forward an application to national office.
- Post a Expressions of Interest notice in the OT Insight – giving a little detail of the area of special interest and invite those interested to correspond with you
- When you have the names of at least 5 Full NZAOT members – write an application to the NZAOT Council and include:
- Focus of specific area of occupational therapy practice or activity
- Groups aims and objectives (see the standard ones above) – must include a national remit which can usually be achieved by setting up a LISTserv discussion group
- Names of inaugural members
- Name of inaugural convenor
Special Interest Groups
“Ma te whakaatu, ka mohio
Ma te mohio, ka marama
Ma te marama, ka matau
Ma te matau, ka ora
By discussion, comes understanding
By understanding, comes light
By light, comes wisdom
By wisdom, comes wellbeing
Whakatauki - Maori proverb
”
