Staff Profile
Stephen Wey
Senior Lecturer
I trained as an occupational therapist in the early 90's after having worked as a nursing and then occupational therapy assistant for a number of years. After having worked in a variety of settings, mainly adult and older people's mental health and learning disabilities, I began to specialise in working with people with dementia. I was involved in pioneering initiatives to reduce hospital admissions and provide community based support and rehabilitation for people with dementia and carers, as well as in setting up services and creating pathways for people who have experienced falls and in early telecare pilots in my region. I have offered consultancy to UK based and EU initiatives to develop assistive technology and spoken at numerous conferences on person centred assessment for assistive technology, particularly for people with dementia.
I initially started working at York St John in a part time CPD focused job role and contributed to a number of projects related to enablement including a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with the City of York Council Re-ablement service offering workforce development training and support, and a project in collaboration with Trent Dementia Services Development Centre, Innovations in Dementia and people living with dementia to develop an interactive guide to assistive technology for people with dementia. I am also a Dementia Friends Ambassador and helped setup and remain involved with a community based dance project (Moving Minds) for people with dementia and Parkinson's.
Academic qualifications
- BSc (Hons) Behavioural Sciences, Huddersfield University
- BHSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy (health sciences), York St John University
- Post Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice, York St John University
- School – School of Science, Technology and Health
- Email – s.wey@yorksj.ac.uk
- Phone – 01904 876 790
Further information
Teaching
I contribute as a senior lecturer on the OT programme to teaching at all undergraduate levels including leading on research modules, a module focussed on occupational justice, decolonized practice and environmental justice, and a module on theory underpinning practice. I have taught on most subjects at some point though. I also contribute to a couple of Physiotherapy modules as guest lecturer.
Research
My main research interests have been:
- Assistive technology and telecare for people with dementia
- Dynamic assessment as a new paradigm of OT assessment
- Transactional and co-occupational approaches to enabling people with dementia and carers
- The lived experiences of stigma for people with dementia
- The experience of the COVID lockdown for people with dementia and carers
- Developing a transactional model of occupational co-performance
Publications and conferences
Journal articles
Wey, S. (2001). Looking after Well-Being: a Community Perspective. Journal of Dementia Care. 9 (1) 18-20
Bruce, E and Wey, S. (200). Looking after Well-Being: How it Works in Practice. Journal of Dementia Care. 9 (4) 27-30
Wey, S. 2002. Intensive Home-Based Dementia Rehabilitation. Journal of Dementia Care. 10 (3) 28-33
Wey, S 2010. Identifying and re-engaging orphaned skills to maximise the function and well-being of people who have dementia: expanding the scope of dementia rehabilitation. OT News, April.
Savitch, N, Brooks, D and Wey, S. 2012. AT Guide: developing a new way to help people with dementia and their carers find information about assistive technology. Journal of Assistive Technologies, Vol. 6 I: 1, pp.76 – 80
Book chapters
Wey, S (2004). One size does not fit all. In Perspectives on Rehabilitation and Dementia. Marshall, M (ed). London, Jessica Kingsley
Wey, S. (2006). Working in The Zone - A social ecological framework for dementia rehab in Assistive Technology in Dementia Care, Woolham, J (ed). 2006. Hawker publications
Wey, S (2006) George – thinking with his feet - walking as embodied cognition. In Dementia: Walking not Wandering – Fresh approaches to understanding and practice. Marshall, M and Allen, K (eds). Hawker publications
Practice Guideline
Wey, S (2023) Assistive technology and dementia. Practice Guidance. Community Care Inform [online] https://adults.ccinform.co.uk/practice-guidance/assistive-technology-and-dementia/ [accessed: 11 September 2025]
Conference presentations and workshops
Wey, S. (2001). Redefining the Possible: Occupational Therapy in the Treatment of the Person Experiencing Dementia. Proceedings of OCTEP Dementia Clinical Forum – Conference 2000 - Papers and Workshops.
Wey, S. (2002). Occupational Therapy, Transitional Phenomena and Dementia. Proceedings of OCTEP Dementia Clinical Forum national conference, July 2002
Wey, S. (2002). Occupation is Our First Language. Proceedings of OCTEP Dementia Clinical Forum national conference, July 2002
Wey, S., Brewster, C., Tuffs, J., Williams, K., Egdell, K., Dennehy, A., Theocharous, E (2017) Working Together: Shared Occupations of people with dementia and carers, presented at RCOT Annual Conference 2017.
Wey, S, Gallighan, K, Crisford, A, Rivers, E, Hill, L, Edwards, L (2019) Playing Together: Analysing the co-occupation of a person with dementia playing Scrabble with his family, presented at RCOT Annual Conference 2019
Wey, S (2024) Workshop: Assistive Technology: Person Centred Practice with People with dementia and their carers, Community Care Live Conference, London, October, 2024
Wey, S (2025) Workshop: Structuring co-occupations to empower and enable people with dementia and carers, Community Care Live Conference, London, October, 2025
Professional activities
I am the undergraduate programme Admissions and Induction tutor.
I also have a role working with experts-by-experience to support programme development and recruitment.
