Michaela Otis

Background

About Michaela Otis

I am committed to promoting person-centredness in healthcare delivery, system strengthening and workforce wellbeing. In my full time role, this involves evaluating quality of care and psychological capability, especially in integrated hospital settings. I apply mixed methodology, implementation science and coproduction to promote equitable, inclusive, humanistic, comprehensive, and responsive healthcare. I honed most of my theoretical pedagogy during my PhD in health policy evaluation at the Institute for Health and Human Development in East London. There, I developed an evaluation framework for promoting psychological capability in healthcare policy. This work expanded on my training in health psychology - where I studied philosophy for person-centred care, which brought many of my life experiences and ambitions into focus. My clinical experience proudly began working in adult forensic psychology, in a psychodynamic therapeutic community for personality disorder. Since focussing purely on a research path, I had missed clinical work, and trained as a reflective practitioner at the Institute for Group Analysis. I began facilitating reflective practice for healthcare teams in spring 2024. I continue to be humbled by the complex role of healthcare workers, in this challenging political and institutional context.