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Occupational Therapist
Occupational Therapist
Occupational therapists help individuals of all ages overcome injury or illness by focusing on rehabilitation. They create therapeutic treatment plans and activities for their patients to help them regain skills that may have been lost, reduce pain levels, or achieve other health goals. This typically includes designing programs for both individuals and communities.
Salary Range
with 2 years of experience
💵
$75K - $125K
per year
Benefits and Perks
Explore the typical benefits you might find in this field
🏥
Health Insurance Discount
🩺
Health Insurance
💪
Physical Health Workshops
🧠
Mental Health Workshops
🚶
Ease Back to Work
Length of Training
How many years of training are required to be a Occupational Therapist?
⏳
7
years of training
What's it like to be a Occupational Therapist?
Occupational Therapists work with a diverse range of people and populations, such as individuals recovering from surgery or accidents, children experiencing growth delays, elderly adults facing age-related challenges. Therapists use evidence-based practices and interventions in this role, while considering both physical and emotional needs.
Key Aspects of the Occupational Therapist role:
- Evaluation: Assessing specific needs and limitations of each patient. Identifying potential barriers and strengths.
- Goal setting: Collaboratively setting personalized objectives with individuals to guide therapy sessions.
- Adaptive activities: Developing and using various therapies such as exercises or specialized activities to address specific goals. Examples include daily life activities such as dressing or using a computer, to recreational ones like swimming.
- Family and social inclusion: Encouraging participation with various social and environmental aspects with necessary resources as a part of an integrated approach
How to enter the job?
Becoming an occupational therapist typically requires 7 years of post-secondary studies, including completing a master's degree program in the field of occupational therapy.
Key aspects of an Occupational therapist's education:
- Completion of a Bachelor's degree typically in science-related fields, such as biology, psychology, or health sciences
- Admission and completion of an accredited Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT) or Master of Science (MS) program, these typically encompass subjects including anatomy, psychology, human development and occupational therapy theory.
- Passing of any required professional licensing exams
Task & Duties
Occupational Therapists carry out multiple duties, some of these include:
Assessment and Evaluation
- Conducting patient interviews to understand individual needs, backgrounds and experiences.
- Utilizing various observation tools and tests for skills, physical strengths or cognitive functions assessment. Analyzing data and interpreting results to comprehend and identify potential strengths or challenges the person may be facing in everyday tasks.
- Setting a treatment plan with measurable goals to enhance a patient's ability to achieve them, taking all aspects like medical history, lifestyle and individual resources into account.
Treatment and Intervention
- Utilize different treatment or therapeutic interventions which can include exercises, assistive equipment training or education to teach individuals how to safely use new aids, as examples
- Adapt daily tasks based on patient needs. Modifying specific routines or tasks to be completed by themselves as independently as possible, with or without an aid, which provides a sense of achievement and empowerment.
Collaboration and teamwork for a holistic approach
- Working closely with colleagues such as nurses, doctors and psychologists. Communication plays a key aspect in the role as information needs to be exchanged in order to give a comprehensive service
- Involving individuals' support networks such as friends, families, or caregivers, guiding and educating on how best to collaborate on the set plan as their role is often very crucial.
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