Occupational Therapists : An Occupational Therapist

The profession of occupational therapy is often mistaken for a job in which the therapist is a career counselor. This is the exactly what my dad had thought when I told him that I wanted to pursue a career in occupational therapy. I explained to him that occupational therapists are not concerned with career counseling; instead, they are focused on daily activities that give meaning to live. The goal of occupational therapy is to help patients regain or develop skills that are necessary for the activities of daily living. Occupational therapists have the option to work in a variety of settings including hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation centers, schools, and with patients in their own homes.

The occupational therapy profession shares many objectives across the communities, clients, and families they serve. Some of these aims include: “Developing the field of occupational therapy and enhance the professions capabilities to meet the needs of the entire population, providing evidence on the efficacy of occupational therapy. This includes working with organizations and local communities, incorporating education, research, and practices as a complete whole. In addition, developing a team of professionals that innovates and adapts to the developing health needs of the population” (AOTA, 2013). This includes advocacy efforts with policymakers to ensure continued funding to provide care to individuals (AOTA, 2013). Occupational therapy is a distinctive profession that helps

Occupational therapy assistant is my dream career. They help people live a normal life again without any assistance of other people. The help people enhance, improve, develop, and recover the skills use for working or doing daily average tasks. OTA’s usually work under the direction of occupational therapists, and they still get involved with providing therapy for patients. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, occupational therapy assistants help patients do therapeutic activities. For example, they help patients to stretch or do other exercises. OTA’s also help children who have developmental disabilities to play activities that helps stimulate coordination and learn to socialize. They teach disable people to use special equipment,

As an Occupational Therapy Assistant, I will work alongside an Occupational Therapist and work directly with patients. The difference between an OT and an OTA is that OT’s set up treatment plans and perform medical assessments while OTA’s carry out the treatment plans with the patients. In volunteering at rehab clinics, I’ve learned that Occupational Therapists often spend much of their time dealing with paperwork while OTA’s are performing more hands on work with people. Their day includes helping patients in performing rehabilitative exercises within a treatment plan. Occupational Therapy Assistants help people to regain their ability to perform activities of daily living, or ADL’s. These are the core aspects which

social awareness and social skills (See appendix A). The OTS scored 31 on self-awareness. The

Occupational Therapist enables people to engage and participate in everyday activities trough occupation. The latter role is not only applicable for individuals but also groups or populations. Eventually, with the increase of the aging population, expensive health care services, occupational therapists will have to incorporate health promotion practices into their actual roles.To cope with this phenomenon and to better meet older adult’s needs, the occupational therapist 's role would benefit from being enlarged.Expanding their knowledge and their practices in promoting health will facilitate their work in other domains.This will help them to shift from an individual to a population approach. To achieve that transition, therapists should be more involved in decisions taken by politicians regarding health and to develop services and programs that promote well-being, health, and quality of life. Also, collaboration with other fields such as schools, workplaces, industries, deputies and organizations will help them spread strategies that promote awareness and enable the population to control and maintain an independent healthy lifestyle. Also, therapists understand that the environment can be a crucial factor on health population. Therefore ,they can put pressure on the government to make public places more accessible to disabled people such as providing the subway of a wheelchair ramp and adapt crosswalks to the blind by adding pedestrian signals that include speakers at

“What if there was a job that allowed someone to have endless flexibility and creativity; a profession that is respected and is in overwhelming demand... Most importantly, wouldn’t it be nice to find a job in which you could make an impact, big or small, on the lives of each individual person you worked with? I found this job and that is why I decided to pursue a degree in occupational therapy" (Springer, J., 2015). This testimonial comes from a practicing occupational therapist who has found value in his life's work. Occupational therapy is not a job where "one size fits all"; there are many different demographics of people who need occupational therapy in different environments. Although, all occupational therapists have the same skills

My long-term goal is to learn the techniques that are used by patients to help them progress. In addition, I want to explore the different work environments, which the occupational therapists work in such as in hospitals, clinics, or schools.

The name of the society changed in 1923, due to hospitals wanting a national directory of qualified occupational therapists. There now was a minimal standard of training that had to be met before an individual was put in the directory (AOTA, 2009). The name was changed to the American Occupational Therapy Association. The American Medical Association worked with the American Occupational Therapy Association starting in 1933 on getting improved education programs for occupational therapists (AOTA, 2009).

Occupational Therapy is a vital segment of the health care field. Individuals in this profession make a difference in the lives of others by helping their patients function effectively despite their disability, illness, or injury. They help by teaching patients many activities of daily living tasks which can include, grooming, toileting, dressing, eating, mobility, and much more! Along with the daily living tasks, Occupational Therapy helps individuals to be productive and successful in ways they want to be, like going school, taking care of others, managing their homes, preparing meals. Most importantly, they help their patients adapt to their environments and increase their independent function by helping them perform tasks with as little help from others as possible. Without Occupational Therapy, some patients with temporary disabilities could have a permanent disability. If individuals receive the Occupational treatments, they can prevent the loss of function.

Occupational therapy is a profession that is currently growing faster than anyone would have expected. Because of the increase in demands for occupational therapy services, therapists are having larger caseloads, needing the help of more occupational therapists. Occupational therapy in the mental health setting is one environment that has grown in popularity over the last decade. Knowing the benefits of occupational therapy in this setting, and the expansion of clients needing occupational therapy services, more funding needs to be established in this setting.

When asked what I want to do with my life, my answer is simply to help others. Although this answer is one would expect to hear from just about anyone, I have always been encouraged by mentors and parents to do what I love. In my case, helping others brings me a great deal of satisfaction. The human body and how it is able to adapt has always been a fascination of mine, and from a young age I identified the health care field as an ideal fit for my interests in medicine, as well as my passion for helping others. With these two drives in mind, I found myself at the age of sixteen with a career goal in mind: Occupational Therapy.

In this day and age, there are so many health careers out there most people don’t even know where to start when looking for an occupation that truly interest them. I’ve spent my whole life not knowing what I wanted to grow up to be and worrying about not knowing what to study in college. This past year I have recently been looking into Occupational Therapy. This form of therapy is to help those recuperating from physical or mental illness that encourages rehabilitation through the performance of activities required in daily life (What Is Occupational Therapy?, n.d.). People who work in this field are referred to as Occupational Therapist.

Occupational therapy is focused on developing creative ways to resolve problems in order to maximize independence, making these skills essential for the job. I am also goal oriented, self-motivated, and have a strong drive for academic excellence. Through volunteering in a variety of health settings, I have developed a great level of patience, as well as strong communication skills. I have experience in designing adaptive equipment through computer aided drafting and engineering courses. Through focusing my projects for these classes on adaptive equipment, I have gained spatial and visual skills, as well as an understanding of the importance of technology in occupational therapy. In addition, I have a very compassionate attitude and desire to help others. I believe that these traits, skills, and experiences, will contribute to my success as an occupational

An occupational therapist is a trained and licensed health care professional who can make a complete evaluation of the impact of disease on the activities of the patient at home and in work situations. Hobbies and recreational activities are considered when an assessment is made. The most generally accepted definition of occupational therapy is that it is an activity, physical or mental, that aids in a patient’s recovery from disease or injury.