Specialisms
Experience working with children and adults of all ages with a range of disabilities including:
- Physical disability including multiple trauma.
- Head injury including traumatic brain injury.
- Neurological conditions.
- Spinal injuries.
- Chronic pain.
- Cerebral Palsy (Adult).
- Visual loss impairment.
- Mental health and psychological trauma.
- Internal injuries.
- Associated brachial plexus lesions (inc erbs palsy).
- Associated burns.
- Associated respiratory complications.
- Associated cancer, terminal illness/palliative care.
- Associated hearing loss.
Other experience includes:
- Loss of services in fatal accident claims.
Clinical Currency Statement
As at June 2020, I am engaged in the role of Clinical Director for Novo Therapy & Care Ltd for an average of 20 hours per month. I also work as a Case Manager and Occupational Therapist for Novo Therapy & Care Ltd for an average of 40 hours per month and as a CBT Therapist for 15 hours per month.
Signed
Specific Injuries Experience
Helen is an independent expert witness, having completed almost 500 reports over 20 years, both in Scotland and England. This depth of experience, covering a wide range of multifactorial injuries, puts Helen in a unique position to deal with the most complex of cases.
Helen owns Novo Therapy & Care Ltd, and as clinical director she provides hands-on case management for clients across a wide age spectrum. Her experience includes brain injuries, spinal injuries, cerebral palsy, visual impairment, amputations and mental health conditions. Helen can handle all aspects of care, from recruitment and supervision to coordinating other professionals, adaptations and the supply of equipment. Helen also has a regular occupational therapy caseload.
Helen has considerable case management and OT experience with people who have primarily a visual injury but also other issues including brain injury and mental health. For several of her recent clients, she has carried out rehabilitation aimed at getting them back to work.
Helen is completed her 2-year post-graduate diploma in cognitive behavioural therapy at the University of the West of Scotland. On completion in July 2020, I am an accredited psychotherapist with the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies.
Employment Profile
Helen has worked as an independent Expert Witness since 1998, completing in around 500 reports. She has experience of Scottish and English legal systems, pre-trial conferences and experts’ meetings. Helen has given evidence under cross-examination in court in both England and in the Court of Session, Edinburgh.
As an independent occupational therapist and case manager, she has been in private practice since 2005. Helen assesses, treats and supports clients with complex needs and disabilities over a wide age range from infants to older adults, coordinating multidisciplinary professionals and carers. Her experience includes working with people with multifactorial and complex injuries, brain injuries, cerebral palsy, psychological conditions, spinal injuries, general orthopaedic/traumatic injuries, amputations and visual impairment. Helen’s dual training as a cognitive behavioural therapist gives me a unique understanding of the relationship between physical and psychological trauma/symptoms and a range of tools she can use to provide effective, holistic rehabilitation.
In 2015 Helen set up ‘Novo Therapy & Care Ltd’ providing case management and occupational therapy services in Scotland. Her current caseload includes clients both going through the litigation process and those whose claims for damages have settled. She is responsible for planning, setting up and resourcing rehabilitation and care packages and has experience of both directly recruiting/managing staff, and working closely with a complex care agency who recruit specifically to meet the needs of her clients. Helen is able to design and provide individually tailored occupational therapy programmes for adults for brain injury, working with a multidisciplinary team, and is trained to provide advice to clients and architects on issues to do with housing design and adaptation. She has specific training as a Functional Capacity Evaluator, assessing clients’ abilities to return to work after injury, and in manual handling training for carers. Long-term intervention with one client over a 9 year period has enabled Helen to develop specific skills in managing the dynamics of a large team of carers over time, including a complete restructure due to the changing needs of the client.
Helen regularly undertakes occupational therapy assessments to assist tribunal hearings in the appeal of statutory disability benefits. With the changeover from DLA to PIP there has been a significant increase in the number of appeals. For many cases the critical issue has been mental health and her role is to assess the impact of mental health conditions on everyday living activities.
In all her areas of work, Helen uses a range of standardised tools and assessment protocols to subjectively and objectively measure clinical outcomes.Helen has previously worked in the NHS for nine years after qualifying in 1990, gaining general experience including hand injuries, neurological conditions, back/spinal injuries, amputation and visual impairment before developing specialist skills in assessment and rehabilitation of people with orthopaedic injuries. Subsequently Helen took up a post as a clinical research therapist within a multidisciplinary team during which time she gained a Master of Science degree with distinction and spent three years as a senior lecturer in the School of Health and Social Care at Sheffield Hallam University.
She regularly reviews articles for publication in the British Journal of Occupational Therapy and has been published in international peer-reviewed journals. As an independent practitioner, Helen is highly organised and able to work under pressure. She is a confident communicator, having presented at conferences and lectured to students.
Qualifications and Membership
- DipCOT, St Loyes School of Occupational Therapy (1990).
- Post-graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching (2000).
- Post-graduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (2020).
- MSc Health Sciences (Occupational Therapy) (1999).
- Member of the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
- British Association of Occupational Therapists (BAOT).
- Member of the British Association of Brain Injury Case Managers (BABICM).
- British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP).
Career History
Present
Care Expert
Jacqueline Webb & Co Ltd
2015-Present
Clinical Director
Novo Therapy & Care Ltd
2007- 2015
Case Manager
Headstart Rehabilitation Services Ltd
2005-2007
Case Manager
Phoenix Therapy & Care Ltd
2004-2005
Locum occupational therapist
Community Older People’s Team, Glasgow
2003-Present
Independent Occupational Therapist
1999-2003
Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy
School of Health and Social Care, Sheffield Hallam University
1996-1999
Research Occupational Therapist
University of Newcastle and then as a Research Associate at the Institute of Rehabilitation, Northumbria University.
1990-1996
Occupational therapist
Teaching hospitals in Leicester, Coventry and Sheffield
Publications
Helen has five publications in peer-reviewed journals and a book chapter.
- Buri H. A group programme to prevent falls in elderly hospital patients. British Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation: 4 (10): 550-557 (1997).
- Buri H, Shaw FE, Dawson P, Kenny RA. Preventing falls in cognitively impaired elderly patients: effectiveness of environmental modification by an occupational therapist. Age and Ageing: 28 (supp 1): 17-18 (1999).
- Lowery K, Buri H, Ballard C. What is the prevalence of environmental hazards in the homes of dementia sufferers and are they associated with falls? International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: 15: 883-338 (2000).
- Buri H, Picton J, Dawson P. Perceptual dysfunction in elderly people with cognitive impairment: a risk factor for falls? British Journal of Occupational Therapy: 63 (6): 248-253 (2000).
- Buri H, Dawson P. Caring for a relative with dementia: a theoretical model of coping with fall risk. Health, Risk and Society: 2 (3): 283-293 (2000).
- Dawson P, Buri H. Physical activity and falls prevention in older people with dementia in Interventions for Mental Health by Everett, Donaghy and Feaver; Butterworth Heinmann, (2003).