This autumn there will be an election for a new member to the iO Council as Ben Katz, our Past President, steps down after 10 years of dedication and service to both the profession and to the Institute.
I invite you to consider standing for Council at this important time for the Osteopathic profession. The Institute is our professional body, in existence to support osteopaths but also to ensure that the profession thrives and grows.
The Institute has gone from strength to strength in the last few years. We are driven by the need to raise the profile of Osteopathy, to develop a wider range of career opportunities, and to collaborate with other healthcare professionals, so that people know who osteopaths are and what they are for.
We have nurtured the Osteopathic Development Group, working with all the colleges, NCOR and GOsC, since 2013. In 2017, we were appointed the representative body for osteopaths as Allied Health Professionals by NHS England and became the guardian of the Osteopathic Foundation. We work openly and transparently with our colleagues across the profession – indeed, on iO Council, there are two voting representatives from the undergraduate and post-registration osteopathic colleges.
The last few months have been traumatic for all of us, yet the profession has demonstrated its resilience. I will take this opportunity to extend my thanks to those of you who have expressed your appreciation of the iO’s work, as we sought to inform and guide the profession through the pandemic crisis – I know the team continues its commitment to this support.
Membership has grown over the last year, and even more so in the last four months, which gives us the strength to speak for the profession, and the financial strength to continue to support and develop the profession in this uncertain reality.
It is an interesting and important time to join the iO Council. If you would like to contribute to the breadth of development of this profession which means such a lot to us all, in private practice, in the NHS, in multidisciplinary care or specialist osteopathic care, I would encourage you to consider standing for election – we need you!
If you are interested but want to know more, join Maurice and myself at an interactive webinar session on the 27 August. To register for the webinar, read more on the role of a council member, and the process for election, visit this page.
We hope to see you on Council soon.
Susan Farwell
iO President