About
Research
Email: elaine.saunders@stmarys.ac.uk
Biography
I am an occupational therapist with 15 years experience working in a variety of practice areas including child and adolescent mental health, paediatrics (school age disability team), and adult mental health. I have worked in Ireland, New Zealand and the UK as an occupational therapist.
For the last six years I have been working as a clinical specialist occupational therapist in perinatal mental health. As part of this role, I set up the occupational therapy service for the east London perinatal outpatient teams and continue to develop the occupational therapy pathway, through supporting specialist occupational therapists in their clinical practice.
I am passionate about supporting parents and babies to participate in their shared activities, enhancing the wellbeing of both the parent and baby through their meaningful activities.
I have been working in higher education since 2021 and joined St Mary's in 2025 as Senior Lecturer and Course Lead.
I am research-focused with recent publications in the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal.
Qualifications and accreditations
- MSc (post-reg) Occupational Therapy Research
- PG Cert in Clinical Education
- BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy
Membership of professional bodies
- Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT)
- The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
Research
Research profile
Publications
- Teoh, J.Y., Lai S.M., Sudhir, G., Fatimehin, M., Otermans, P., Horton, A., Saunders, E., Ludhra G., Barbosa Bouças, S. (2024) ‘Colour-evasive racial ideologies underpinning the hidden curriculum of a majority-minority occupational therapy school in London, England: An analysis of minoritised undergraduate students’ experiences’, Oxford Review of Education. DOI:10.1080/03054985.2024.2379912
- Honey, A., Almomani, F., Chen, Y. R., Codd, Y., Kim, J. A. J., Kunishige, M., Morrison, R., Mara, V. O., Peterson, J., Pituch, E., Rider, J. V., Romli, M. H., Rozen, D., Sabbah, R., Sarsak, H. I., Saunders, E., Sim, S. S., Tan, H. L., Wong, W. T., Yunus, F. W., … McGrath, M. (2025). Supporting parents with disability and other challenges through occupational therapy: What is needed?. Australian occupational therapy journal, 72(3), e70026. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.70026