Speaker Profile
Stephane Saenger

Stephane Saenger

Occupational Medicine
Kitzingen, Bavaria, Germany

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Stephanie Saenger is an occupational therapist who started her career in mental health. She founded 3 Occupational Therapy (OT) departments in psychiatric hospitals and developed and implemented effective OT-programs for acute, mid- term, day care and outpatient units in mental health.

Since her graduation in 1978 she has been an active volunteer for the Dutch Association for Occupational therapy (EN) and represents EN in many committees and governmental advisory boards on health and education. She was for many years, board member of EN, was co-author of the first Professional Profile of occupational therapy and the Code of Ethics for Occupational Therapists in the Netherlands. In 2014 was she honoured with the Astrid Kinébanian award for her outstanding contribution to the profession.

Since 2000 she has been involved in the Council of Occupational Therapists for the European Countries (COTEC) as delegate of the Netherlands. She was board member of the European Network for Occupational Therapy in Higher Education (ENOTHE) and member of the TUNING working group. She is co-author of the COTEC Guidelines for an Ethical Code and the TUNING competences. In 2013 Stephanie Saenger was elected as president of COTEC. COTEC is the European organization for all Occupational Therapists through their National Associations, with the purpose of ensuring an adequate number of high quality occupational therapy practitioners and services in Europe. COTEC is a non-profit organisation and represents 30 European Occupational Therapy Associations and more than 120,000 Occupational Therapists.

As president of COTEC Stephanie strives to make the profession Occupational Therapy recognised, visible, valued, available and accessible for all citizens in Europe and to have one strong voice for OT in Europe. She finds cooperation with other organisations and client groups essential as she is convinced that only respect for each others (professional) skills and organising people centered, coordinated and integrated care can provide the best health- and social services - for citizens.
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