Eleanor Ronchetti

I’m Eleanor Ronchetti. I’m an Advanced Occupational Therapists working across all the Eastern Devon Community Health and Social Care teams.

When did you start at Devon County Council (DCC)?

I started working here at Devon in December 2019.

What made you choose to work for DCC?

I chose to work for Devon County Council because I wanted to explore social care and develop my skills within this area. In addition, I knew that working for Devon County Council had good work benefits, a good salary, lots of different career opportunities and I knew of several OT’s who worked for the council already. I was also aware that they provide you with lots of different training opportunities, to develop my skills within my Occupational Therapy career.

Can you give an overview of your role?

I’m excited to be one of the first Occupational Therapists to be employed into our new Advanced Practitioner roles, which is an important addition to our OT career pathway at Devon County Council. And, a role that is all about supporting our Occupational Therapy workforce and ensuring that we’re bringing an Occupational Therapy practice lens to all we do in Integrated Adult Social Care Teams in Devon.

There are three main parts to my role. One is to provide professional supervision to the OT’s within the Eastern Devon Community teams. So, this includes supervision sessions, one-to-one discussions, some joint visits with complex cases and exploring the Occupational Therapist special interests and how we can help to develop these to improve the quality of our services. And also, benefit the people of Devon. Secondly, I work alongside Team Managers to support with any complex OT issues and support with triaging work to Occupational Therapists. I share any issues that I have with our Principal Occupational Therapist and our various Senior Leads, who I’m lucky to link in with frequently. And thirdly, I’m able to develop the role that I am in and work with other Senior Leaders and Practice Leads to be able to influence and improve the quality of our services we deliver in Devon.

How did you come to be in this role?

I came into this role from travelling in New Zealand. I wanted to work in Adult Social Care and I began my first role in the Transitions team, then called Preparing for Adulthood team. From there, I was able to gain a role within the Commissioning Service using my OT skills, to work as a Business Change Manager. And from there, I have my brand new role as the Advanced Occupational Therapist Practitioner.

I think we have so much opportunity, working in Devon, to develop our career.

What’s your favourite part of what you do?

My favourite part of what I do is supporting others. I love supporting others, I love watching them grow through developing supervision sessions with them, one-to-one sessions and providing peer support. I also really love and enjoy doing joint visits with all of our Occupational Therapists and being able to put our heads together and think creatively. I also love having the opportunity to go into a work office with my peers, to work alongside them, and also having the opportunity to work from home.

I also love working with individuals in their own home environment. I love my role because I feel that I have so much freedom and ability to be creative, so I’m able to think outside of the box. I’m able to present new ideas to my managers who are always really receptive to this and also, challenge my ways of thinking. I love having lovely work colleagues who are so skilled and experienced and who I learn from everyday. I love exploring with other Occupational Therapists how we can develop the service more positively, to benefit the individuals who we work alongside.

In addition, because this is a role development opportunity, I’ve been able to network and link in with other Occupational Therapists across the country.

What else do you enjoy about your job?

I love working in an autonomous and independent way and I love working with people within their own homes, in their own home environment and supporting them there. I love helping other individuals, I like helping them work with their families to explore better ways to do things and live more positive, healthy and independent lives.

I’m really blessed to have this unique role and hopefully will be able to change the lives of people who we work with in a positive way.

What do you enjoy about living and working in Devon?

I have travelled all over the world but for me I just love Devon. I love being able to be close to my family and all my friends. But, I love how beautiful Devon is. We often go to the beach, after work, and do some surfing. We also, are lucky enough to have waterfalls here. Lots of pubs and countryside walks and lakes, and it’s very peaceful. It’s easy to be alone in Devon, in a field, and not see anybody else. Which is one of the reasons I love living here.

If you are thinking about joining us here, at Devon County Council, please don’t hesitate to contact me or anybody else.