Eva Duggan Award Winner 2026

Congratulations to our 2026 winner

Eva Duggan Award 2026 - We are delighted to announce our Award Winner

Making Waves: Inclusive Beach and Ocean Experiences for Children with Complex Needs

Winner: Katie Stack, Senior Occupational Therapist | CDNT Donegal North

‘Making Waves’ — a pioneering collaboration between the CDNT Donegal North and Liquid Therapy, a surf therapy charity based on the Wild Atlantic Way — exemplifies Occupational Therapy’s core commitment to enabling meaningful participation in everyday life. Rooted in family-centred practice and the Occupational Therapy belief that all children deserve access to the occupations that matter to them and their families, Making Waves demonstrates what becomes possible when participation and inclusion are placed at the heart of service design.

Background:

For many children with a disability, everyday experiences — playing on a beach, feeling the ocean, sharing moments with family — remain out of reach. Occupational Therapists working in paediatric disability services consistently hear from families that participation in childhood occupations is one of their greatest challenges and priorities. Occupational science reminds us that engagement in meaningful, joyful occupation is not a luxury — it is central to health, identity, and quality of life. Making Waves was born from a determination to bridge this gap.

About the Project:

In summer 2025, five children and their families participated in two wheelchair-accessible beach sessions at Rossnowlagh Beach. Crucially, this programme was not designed for families — it was designed with them, with restorative respite for the whole family unit recognised as a clinical and human necessity from the outset.

Two co-designed pathways ensured no child was left at the water’s edge:

● Early Years Wheelchair-Accessible Beach Pathway: Specialist beach equipment — including beach access mats, a beach wheelchair, and a seated surfboard — provided safe, supported access to the shoreline for children at the start of their wheeled mobility journey.

● Ocean-to-Child Pathway: For children whose medical complexity prevented direct ocean access, the sensory richness of the beach was brought to them through saltwater, sand, seaweed, and shell exploration — enabling full family participation in a meaningful, joyful experience.

Yet within these sessions, the true power of occupation-based practice was evident. Children who had never felt the ocean propelled their wheelchairs to the water’s edge. Siblings played together in the sand. Families exhaled. Occupational Therapy goals — including independent wheelchair mobility skills, applying energy conservation strategies in meaningful activities, and immersive sensory play with siblings — were identified collaboratively with families using an occupational performance framework and woven naturally into joyful, meaningful experiences. This is occupation-based practice at its most powerful: purposeful, person-centred, and grounded in what matters most to each family.

Impact and Outcomes:

All participating families reported improvements in physical, social, and emotional wellbeing, a strong sense of belonging, and restorative respite — outcomes that speak directly to Occupational Therapy’s holistic view of health and participation. Families described sessions as a space where they felt seen and valued as equal partners in their child’s care, reflecting the collaborative, strengths-based approach at the heart of Occupational Therapy practice. One parent simply called it ‘one of the best days our family has ever had.’ Systems-level advocacy delivered lasting change: beach access mats are now integrated into Liquid Therapy protocols, and a partnership with the local authority is established to work together for longer term accessibility solutions at Rossnowlagh Beach. Funding has been secured for Liquid Therapy to deliver the programme to five families in summer 2026.

“In the water there are no looks of pity, no staring at walkers or splints or wheelchairs. In the water we are the same as everyone else — and in a world where you feel like you are always standing out, it is just so nice to fit in.” — Participating family

International Recognition:

The project’s findings were presented at the European Academy of Childhood Disability (EACD) Conference in June 2026, bringing innovative Irish paediatric Occupational Therapy practice to an international audience. This platform enabled Katie to contribute to the growing evidence base for occupation-based, family-centred community intervention — demonstrating the impact that OT-led community programmes can achieve when grounded in strong clinical reasoning and authentic partnership with families.

Next Steps:

How the Award Will Be Used: The €1,000 Eva Duggan Bursary will be directed across two workstreams:

● OT-Led Clinical Training: OT led training for the Liquid Therapy team, building on their already exceptional practice to further enhance the clinical knowledge base underpinning programme delivery — raising the standard of inclusive outdoor therapy in Ireland. Key areas will include postural management and sensory processing in the beach environment.

● Outcomes Measurement and Evaluation Framework: Commence development of a formal evaluation framework, beginning with the selection of a validated wellbeing outcome measure to capture programme impact across child and family domains. If future funding is secured a next step will be contextualising findings within the F-Words for Child Development (Rosenbaum & Gorter, 2012) — an internationally recognised, strengths-based framework grounded in the ICF.

Together, these workstreams will deepen the clinical integrity of the programme, extend safe participation to children with the most complex needs, and build the evidence base required to influence national policy and support sustainable scale-up across Ireland’s CDNT network — ensuring that occupation-based practice continues to lead the way.

This project is a proud reflection of what Occupational Therapy stands for — placing occupation, family-centred practice, and inclusive participation at the heart of service design. It is a reminder that when Occupational Therapists truly listen to families and lead with the power of meaningful occupation, we create something extraordinary.