Ready?
Occupational Therapist — your shift
Change the task before you change the person — and watch them do it before you decide. Read what this person needs, then tap the place that sorts it out.
Full screen — no distractions
What does a occupational therapist do?
You work out what somebody actually needs to be able to do, and then change the task, the house or the person until they can do it.
Also called: OT, occupational therapy practitioner, rehabilitation therapist.
A day looks like
- 1You watch somebody make a cup of tea, and that tells you more than an hour of questions would.
- 2You measure a doorway, because a wheelchair that does not fit through it is not a solution.
- 3You argue for a piece of equipment that costs forty pounds and will keep someone out of hospital for a year.
- 4You persuade somebody to accept a rail they think makes them look old.
Hardest part
People do not want the equipment. Accepting it means accepting something about themselves, and no amount of being right about the stairs changes that.
Best part
Somebody washing themselves for the first time in a year without another person in the room.
How you actually become a occupational therapist
- At schoolAn eye for how people actually do things, and enough patience to watch rather than help.
- TrainingA three-year occupational therapy degree with placements, then registration.
- How longThree years to qualify, then a rotation of a year or two to find your area.
- Your first jobBand 5 rotational OT — hospital wards, community, mental health in turn.
Frequently asked questions
- What does 'occupational' mean here?
- Not a job. It means occupation in the older sense — the things that occupy your day. Washing, dressing, cooking, getting to school, going to work. An OT's business is any of those that have become impossible.
- How is an OT different from a physiotherapist?
- Roughly, a physiotherapist works on the body and an OT works on the task. If you cannot climb the stairs, a physio strengthens your legs and an OT looks at whether a rail, a different technique or a downstairs bed solves it. In practice they work together constantly.
- Do occupational therapists only work with old people?
- No. They work in schools with children who have coordination or sensory difficulties, in mental health, in hand clinics, and with people returning to work after injury. Older people are simply the largest group.
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