Scotsman Obituaries: Heather Hunter, Scottish occupational therapist and lecturer who specialised in mental health issues

Heather Hunter brought a punk aesthetic to the corridors of hospitals and social work departments

Heather Hunter was a distinguished occupational therapy (OT) academic and clinician, specialising in mental health of children and families, volunteering, and participatory action research.

Born in Edinburgh to Iain Crawford, a quantity surveyor, and his wife Isabella (nee Murray), a legal secretary, Heather attended James Gillespie’s High School and then Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, where she completed a diploma in occupational therapy in 1980.

Heather had a lifelong interest in mental health and worked for the best part of two decades at almost every hospital in the Central Belt of Scotland before moving into academia, lecturing at her alma mater, Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, for 25 years and becoming a champion of applying psychoanalytic thinking to occupational therapy.

Her first job was as an occupational therapist in the social work department at Lothian Regional Council (1980-83), after which she spent the next 16 years as a senior OT in hospital settings, at Royal Edinburgh hospital (1983-90), the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow (1990-92), St John’s Hospital in Livingston (1992-95) and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh (1995-99). Mainly she worked in mental health units providing acute services for children and young people.

While in the last of those posts she also began lecturing at Queen Margaret, and in 1999 she joined it full-time as programme leader for its occupational therapy degree programme.

Heather taught at Queen Margaret University for some 25 years, eventually becoming Programme Leader of the Occupational Therapy programme. She championed psychodynamic psychoanalytic thinking in OT through her teaching.

Heather’s academic work was practical and thoughtful. She gained a PHD in 2020. In 2005 she was appointed a member of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland, which hears applications for, and appeals against compulsory treatment orders. She fulfilled that role until her death.

A clear thinker with big ideas, Heather taught her students with imagination and rigour. She was an open person who gave of herself in all that she did. Colleagues describe her kindness and generosity in sharing her knowledge and expertise to nurture the next generation of OTs.

Her passion for OT, energy, sense of purpose and commitment to advocating for the fair and equitable treatment of those struggling with mental health, are a loss to the profession.

Always stylishly dressed in a punky aesthetic, with red lipstick and black Dr Marten boots, she cut a bodacious figure wherever she went, whether striding through the corridors of NHS hospitals or academic institutions. A mischievous smile frequently crinkled up her eyes and she had an infectious laugh.

Heather’s family was central to her life and heart and her reason for being. She is survived by her husband, Craig Hunter, whom she married in 1991, their children, Murray and Marsali, her mother and her sister Gillian.

Obituaries

If you would like to submit an obituary (800-1000 words preferred, with jpeg image), contact [email protected]