Alice Constance Owens, , MBE (22 August 1906 in Arrington, Cambridgeshire-4 November 1976 in Liverpool) was the first English, Diploma qualified Occupational Therapist. She was a pioneer, leading the professionalisation of an emerging profession in the United Kingdom. Owens was one of the founders of the Association of Occupational Therapists and the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. She chaired Council and committees that established the profession and set educational standards. Owens represented the World Federation at the World Health Organisation General Assembly for twelve years. She was the inaugural Principal of Dorset House, the first training school in the United Kingdom and founded the Liverpool School of Occupational Therapy. Owens is considered to be one of the most influential pioneer researchers. She was awarded the highest honours for her outstanding contribution to occupational therapy. Her legacy continues through scholarships supported by the Constance Owens Trust.
Early life, education and family Alice Constance Tebbit was born and baptised on 22 August 1906 in Arrington, Cambridgeshire. She was the first of two children of Frank Oswald Tebbit (1879-1957) and Alice Elizabeth Tebbit, (1883-1962). Her father was a 4th generation farmer in South Cambridgeshire. Her mother was from a family of butchers in Birmingham and an active member of the Conservative Party. Oswald William Tebbit (1907-1979) her brother was born the following year.
Constance or Conn, as she was known by family and friends, attended the Perse School for Girls in Cambridge. She was awarded the Upper III prize in 1920.
She started an English Honours Degree and a Diploma in Education at Birmingham University, but stopped when she was "brought face to face with the harsh realities of the life of a patient (a friend) in a mental hospital in the 1920's … (and) developed a consuming interest in psychology, psychological medicine and in the hospital care of the mentally ill.":7
Introduction to occupational therapy Owens returned to Cambridgeshire and secured a temporary job with the Student Christian Movement (SCM). At a SCM meeting in London, she met Elizabeth Casson, who was Medical Officer at Holloway Sanatorium (1921-1929). She was "infected by Casson's enthusiasm to improve psychiatric treatment and to start occupational therapy" in England.:359 Casson invited her to visit the Sanatorium where she tested her ability to form relationships with chronically and acutely mentally ill patients. Owens passed and became a resident volunteer for three months: she was 19 and too young to be employed.:359
Between 1926 and 1928, Owens worked at three mental hospitals.:8 After Holloway, she was resident 'Occupations Officer' at Severalls Hospital, Colchester on a salary of £50 a year. She held a non-resident post at Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum / Friern Hospital for three months, before travelling to America to study at the Philadelphia School of Occupational Therapy.:359
Philadelphia School of Occupational Therapy Owens learned about occupational therapy training from Casson who visited the Boston School of Occupational Therapy in 1926.:121 She wrote to the Philadelphia School and was offered a scholarship. It was one of the first schools in America, opening in October 1918 offering a four month course for Reconstruction Aides to work in military hospitals. In the 1920s the program was extended and the curriculum covered anatomy and physiology, kinesiology, neurology and orthopaedics.:296
On 6 September 1928 Owens sailed on the George Washington, part of the United States Line, from Southampton to New York. She was a 21 year old student, enrolled on the Diploma program led by Mrs Samuel H Paul.:1-2 Helen S Willard recalled that Owens was an exceptional student, who stood out in a class of 30 that included Spackman.:7-8 Owens was awarded the Diploma of the Philadelphia School of Occupational Therapy in 1929 and her name was added to the American Register of Occupational Therapists.:8
Owens was first English person to qualify as an occupational therapist. Margaret Barr Fulton was the first person from the United Kingdom. She qualified from the Philadelphia School in 1924, five years before Owens. Fulton was born in England to Scottish parents. She lived, worked and died in Scotland and identified as a Scot.:106
In the summer of 1929 Casson appointed Owens Principal of the Dorset House School of Occupational Therapy. Casson founded Dorset House, a residential clinic for female psychiatric patients in Clifton, Bristol in 1929. Owens returned to England in November, gathering teaching material for her new role before she left America.:14
Family Owens meet her husband at a Christian Club in Chester when she was working at the Cheshire County Mental Hospital (1933-1934).:360 George Glyn Owens (1898-1989) was a chartered accountant. He was born in Liverpool and served in the Royal Field Artillery during World War 1. They married on 14 December 1934 at the Parish Church of St John, at Hampstead, London.
They had two children: Elizabeth Tregaye Glyn Owens (1936-2021) born in Liverpool and adopted Ilse Renee Heinemann (1924-2006), a refugee from Czechoslovakia. She was one of the children rescued by Nicholas Winton. In 1940 Owens took her youngest daughter to stay with her godmother, Clare S Spackman in America to ensure her safety during the Liverpool Blitz.:362
Both daughters became occupational therapists. Heinemann was one of six students who studied under Owens at Upton Hospital, Cheshire. In 1947, Heinemann worked at St Loyes College for the Rehabilitation and Training of the Disabled in Exeter. Later that year, she joined the teaching staff at the Liverpool School of Occupational Therapy where her mother was the Principal.:27 In 1949, Heinemann was leading a team working in hospitals and camps for displaced persons in West Germany.:9 Tregaye studied at Liverpool in the early 1950s, as part of Course 16.:366 In 1953 Heinemann was at the Phelps Centre in Washington DC having received a Smith-Mundt and Fullbright Award.:49 She stayed in America, married M.R Achter and was working at District of Columbia General Hospital when Owens visited in 1961.:21
Career
Principal, Dorset House Dorset House was the first training school for occupational therapists in the United Kingdom. It opened on 1 January 1930 at a "Nursing Home for the treatment of patients suffering from neurotic and psychotic disorders" founded by Casson.:14 The school was in one room, there were two students (Paddy Goscombe and Nancy Ross). Owens was only teacher.:23
Between 1930 and 1933 the Dorset House clinic and school was a community, where patients and staff "whether the Medical Director, Nurse, Kitchen Maid, Secretary, Student or Principal" contributed to daily activities and the wellbeing of the home. Casson gave lectures on anatomy, physiology and medical subjects. Owens taught crafts and theory, supervised the students’ work and ran the occupational therapy department at Dorset House. She started clinical training by setting up "small subsidiary departments and supervising the students herself".:2 Owens and Goscombe instigated Guide Companies for children at Frenchay Sanatorium and Winfield Orthopaedic Hospital which students helped to run.:136
In early 1933 Casson, Owens, students and staff were invited to join the Royal Medico Psychological Society (now the Royal College of Psychiatrists) visit to Santpoorte, Holland.:15
Cheshire County Mental Hospital
County Mental Hospital 1933-1934 Owens left Dorset House in April 1933 to establish occupational therapy at the Cheshire County Mental Hospital (Countess of Chester Hospital) at Upton-by-Chester. She returned to mental health practice following the introduction of a new grade of staff: "occupational therapist, who should work with, but independently of, the matron and chief male nurse, will carry on therapeutic treatment by occupation under the doctors".:360 :15
She retained a position at Dorset House as Director of Mental Health Practice, arranging clinical experience and lecturing at the School.:8 :15
After her marriage to George Glyn Owens in 1934, she was required to leave due to the marriage bar which prevented the employment of married women.360
Upton Emergency Hospital 1941-1945 In 1941 Owens was invited to return to Upton Emergency Hospital Service as the Occupational Therapist in Charge. The Emergency Medical Service was an independent facility providing services for war casualties, on the site of Cheshire County Mental Hospital. Owens supported assistants and others who wished to work within occupational therapy.
She secured the support of Dr G.H. Grills the Medical Superintendent, to train six students including her adopted daughter, on a shortened war emergency course in 1944. At the end of World War 11 the Emergency Hospital Service closed. Owen tried unsuccessfully to find a School where the students could complete their training. Instead, she set up private enterprise, purchased three large dilapidated Victorian houses in Huyton and in 1946 opened the Liverpool School of Occupational Therapy.:362:524
Founder, Liverpool School of Occupational Therapy Owens founded and was the Principal of the Liverpool School for sixteen years (1946-1962).:5 It was the seventh school in the United Kingdom.:524 The first cohort, started in 1946 and comprised the six, final year students from Upton Hospital.:9 There were two teachers, Mrs 0, as Owens was known and Miss Adshead for a twice yearly intake and the building work on the houses was unfinished. :363
She scheduled a 48 hour working week with clinical experience in local hospitals and theoretical study at the school. Wednesday afternoons were reserved for both cohorts to attend a medical lecture, meet an overseas visitor or participate in a debate. Owens was "an informative teacher and her sessions were full of anecdotes: she could hold her audience and convey to them her conviction that you could achieve anything if you tried hard enough".:363
Owens developed close links with Liverpool hospitals, the school grew and become financially viable. She provided occupational therapists for local hospitals, paid their salary and pension and in return, they taught at the school one day a week and supervised students on clinical placements. Owens was appointed to the Mental Health Committee of the new Liverpool Regional Hospital Board.:363
Research pioneer Owens wanted to be "academically respectable".:9 In the mid-1950s she approached Professor L. S. Hearnshaw at the University of Liverpool about enrolling on a higher degree. First, she was required to pass the University entrance examinations. Owens then commenced studies as a part-time student. She researched the efficacy of the psychological selection tests used at Liverpool and was awarded a Master of Arts in 1960.:364
She was determined to pursue a doctorate but the University regulations did not allow a part-time route. In 1961-1962 Owens converted the School into a Trust, a Limited Company and the School was re-named the College of Occupational Therapy (Liverpool) Ltd. She became a member of the Board of Governors and resigned as Principal to be eligible for a full-time PhD.:364 Hearnshaw, her supervisor, said Owens was "one of the most remarkable mature students that I ever had in the Department of Psychology. When she came to me she was nearly 50 years old and had not had any university training".:9
In 1963 Owens was awarded a PhD. It was "pioneer effort", she was the first British occupational therapist to do so.:297 Owens investigated whether imagery was of value to students learning anatomy. Hearnshaw noted that "this is now widely recognised but at that time her ideas were regarded with scepticism by many psychologists".:9