As an occupational therapist, you’ll empower people to carry out everyday tasks or occupations with more confidence and independence in order to improve their health, quality of life and wellbeing. Tasks often relate to self-care, work or leisure.

You’ll work with:

• babies, children and young people
• children and young adults with physical disabilities
• children and young adults with learning disabilities
• children and young adults with mental health issues

You’ll create individual treatment programmes and suggest changes to the person’s environment, whether that be at home, work or school, and may introduce the use of equipment which will help with some activities. You’ll review the treatments periodically, evaluate progress and make changes as needed.

Responsibilities

As you’ll be working with a range of people who will all have different requirements, you’ll need to understand each client’s lifestyle so that you can create the best treatment plan for them.

As an occupational therapist, you’ll need to:

• take a ‘whole person’ approach to each patient’s physical and mental wellbeing by considering all their needs – physical, social, psychological and environmental
• assess, plan, implement and evaluate treatment plans in hospital and community settings
• establish realistic goals with the patient with meaningful outcomes
• liaise with other professionals, such as counsellors, patients’ families & teachers
• keep up-to-date written and electronic records
• write reports and care plans and attend multidisciplinary case meetings to plan and review ongoing treatment
• organise support and rehabilitation groups for carers and clients
• contribute to the analysis, planning, audit, development and evaluation of clinical services
• train students and supervise the work of occupational therapy assistants
• manage a caseload, prioritising patient needs and completing administrative tasks such as patient and budgetary records.

Your client case load – whether you’re working with the children, people with mental ill health or living with a disability – will dictate your specific activities. You may need to:

• develop a rehabilitation programme to help rebuild lost skills and restore confidence
• advise on home and workplace environmental alterations, such as adjustments for wheelchair access
• teach anxiety management techniques
• help children and young adults improve in performance of their activities
• advise on specialist equipment to help with daily activities
• coach people with learning difficulties or poor social skills, e.g. in writing or social interaction
• mentor people on how to control their own behaviour.

Skills

You’ll need to have:

• well-developed oral and verbal communication skills in order to develop a therapeutic relationship with your patients
• interpersonal skills to connect with others and develop rapport with your patients
• compassion and empathy
• the ability to explain, encourage and build confidence
• observation skills
• the ability to think outside the box and work under pressure
• decision-making skills and the ability to organise and plan your workload
• a flexible approach to work
• assessment and report writing skills
• problem-solving skills
• good creative and practical skills
• team working skills, as you’ll often liaise with other professionals such as doctors and social workers
• enthusiasm, sensitivity and patience to deal with a range of needs
• computer literacy.

Qualifications

• BOT or MOT degree from an accredited college/university

Experience

• Minimum 3 years of experience working with children specifically
• Working on online therapy will be an added advantage
• Experience in creating Independent Education Plans and resource kits for home use is mandatory