5 answers
Grace
Student
Red Bank, New Jersey
1
Question
Asked
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What different fields of work can you do as an occupational therapist?
Grade 12, interested in becoming an occupational therapist. I am looking at colleges now and trying to figure that side of it out. I love working with children and special needs children but am also interested in what else I can do with this degree.
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5 answers
Taylor Newswanger
Occupational therapist
2
Answers
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Updated
Taylor’s Answer
The beauty with OT is that you can work in almost any area!! Kids, adults, rehab, hospitals, mental health, NICU, splinting, hands, low vision, TBI, schools, outpatient adult and peds, certain niche areas based on how creative you get with showing how your vast skill set can be used. This is a small insight to it but you could reach out to different retirement communities and hospitals and see if they would allow you to shadow an OT to get a good idea of what it is like.
Chinyere Okafor
Educationist and Counseling Psychologist
620
Answers
Port Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria
Updated
Chinyere’s Answer
Hello Grace!
Good question! As an occupational therapist (OT), you have a wide range of fields to choose from, as the profession allows you to work with various populations and in diverse settings. Here are some fields of work you can pursue as an occupational therapist:
1. Pediatrics
- Schools: Work with children in schools to help them improve their fine motor skills, handwriting, sensory processing, and social skills.
- Early Intervention: Provide therapy to infants and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities.
- Special Needs: Focus on children with conditions such as autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and other developmental disabilities.
2. Geriatrics
- Nursing Homes: Help elderly patients maintain their independence by improving their ability to perform daily activities.
- Home Health: Provide therapy services in patients' homes to help them adapt to aging or recover from illnesses or injuries.
- Senior Centers: Develop and implement wellness programs to enhance quality of life for older adults.
3. Rehabilitation
- Physical Rehabilitation: Work in hospitals, outpatient clinics, or rehabilitation centers to help patients recover from injuries, surgeries, or illnesses like stroke, spinal cord injuries, or fractures.
- Neurological Rehabilitation: Specialize in helping patients recover from neurological conditions such as traumatic brain injuries, multiple sclerosis, or Parkinson’s disease.
4. Mental Health
- Psychiatric Facilities: Provide therapeutic activities to individuals with mental health disorders to help them develop coping strategies and life skills.
- Community Mental Health Programs: Work with people experiencing anxiety, depression, or other mental health conditions to improve their daily functioning and quality of life.
5. Hand Therapy
- Specialized Clinics: Focus on rehabilitating patients with hand, wrist, and upper extremity injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, fractures, or tendon repairs.
- Post-Surgical Rehabilitation: Help patients regain strength and function after surgeries involving the hand and arm.
6. Ergonomics and Workplace Health
- Corporate Settings: Design ergonomic workspaces, provide injury prevention programs, and develop strategies to reduce work-related injuries.
- Vocational Rehabilitation: Assist individuals in returning to work or finding new employment following an injury or illness.
7. Community-Based Practice
- Nonprofit Organizations: Work with community groups to support individuals with disabilities in living independently.
- Public Health Programs: Develop and implement community programs to promote wellness and prevent disabilities.
8. Research and Academia
- Research: Conduct research to advance the field of occupational therapy, develop new therapeutic techniques, or study the effectiveness of various interventions.
- Teaching: Become a faculty member in a university or college, educating future occupational therapists.
9. Assistive Technology
- Rehabilitation Engineering: Work with engineers to design, adapt, and provide training on assistive devices and technologies that help clients perform daily tasks.
- Adaptive Equipment: Develop or recommend adaptive equipment such as wheelchairs, prosthetics, or computer-assisted devices.
10. Health and Wellness
- Wellness Programs: Develop and lead programs that promote healthy lifestyles and prevent disease in various populations.
- Chronic Disease Management: Assist individuals in managing chronic conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, or heart disease through lifestyle modifications and adaptive strategies.
11. Animal-Assisted Therapy
- Therapeutic Use of Animals: Use specially trained animals to provide comfort, motivation, and a unique therapeutic experience to clients in various settings, such as hospitals, rehabilitation centers, or community programs.
12. Driving Rehabilitation
- Driver Rehabilitation Specialist: Assess and train individuals who need to regain driving skills following an injury or adapt to using adaptive driving equipment.
13. Travel and Contract Work
- Travel Occupational Therapy: Work on short-term contracts in different locations, gaining diverse experiences across various settings.
14. Acute Care and Hospitals
- Inpatient Care: Work in hospitals with patients who need short-term, intensive rehabilitation after surgery, trauma, or acute illness.
15. Consulting
- Private Practice or Consulting: Provide services as an independent consultant to schools, businesses, or healthcare facilities.
By pursuing a degree in occupational therapy, you'll have the flexibility to work in many different fields, all while making a significant impact on people's lives. If you love working with children and special needs, pediatrics is a great starting point, but there are many other paths you can explore!
When looking at colleges, consider programs that offer diverse fieldwork opportunities, as this will allow you to experience different specializations and determine which area you are most passionate about.
Best wishes!
Good question! As an occupational therapist (OT), you have a wide range of fields to choose from, as the profession allows you to work with various populations and in diverse settings. Here are some fields of work you can pursue as an occupational therapist:
1. Pediatrics
- Schools: Work with children in schools to help them improve their fine motor skills, handwriting, sensory processing, and social skills.
- Early Intervention: Provide therapy to infants and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities.
- Special Needs: Focus on children with conditions such as autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and other developmental disabilities.
2. Geriatrics
- Nursing Homes: Help elderly patients maintain their independence by improving their ability to perform daily activities.
- Home Health: Provide therapy services in patients' homes to help them adapt to aging or recover from illnesses or injuries.
- Senior Centers: Develop and implement wellness programs to enhance quality of life for older adults.
3. Rehabilitation
- Physical Rehabilitation: Work in hospitals, outpatient clinics, or rehabilitation centers to help patients recover from injuries, surgeries, or illnesses like stroke, spinal cord injuries, or fractures.
- Neurological Rehabilitation: Specialize in helping patients recover from neurological conditions such as traumatic brain injuries, multiple sclerosis, or Parkinson’s disease.
4. Mental Health
- Psychiatric Facilities: Provide therapeutic activities to individuals with mental health disorders to help them develop coping strategies and life skills.
- Community Mental Health Programs: Work with people experiencing anxiety, depression, or other mental health conditions to improve their daily functioning and quality of life.
5. Hand Therapy
- Specialized Clinics: Focus on rehabilitating patients with hand, wrist, and upper extremity injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, fractures, or tendon repairs.
- Post-Surgical Rehabilitation: Help patients regain strength and function after surgeries involving the hand and arm.
6. Ergonomics and Workplace Health
- Corporate Settings: Design ergonomic workspaces, provide injury prevention programs, and develop strategies to reduce work-related injuries.
- Vocational Rehabilitation: Assist individuals in returning to work or finding new employment following an injury or illness.
7. Community-Based Practice
- Nonprofit Organizations: Work with community groups to support individuals with disabilities in living independently.
- Public Health Programs: Develop and implement community programs to promote wellness and prevent disabilities.
8. Research and Academia
- Research: Conduct research to advance the field of occupational therapy, develop new therapeutic techniques, or study the effectiveness of various interventions.
- Teaching: Become a faculty member in a university or college, educating future occupational therapists.
9. Assistive Technology
- Rehabilitation Engineering: Work with engineers to design, adapt, and provide training on assistive devices and technologies that help clients perform daily tasks.
- Adaptive Equipment: Develop or recommend adaptive equipment such as wheelchairs, prosthetics, or computer-assisted devices.
10. Health and Wellness
- Wellness Programs: Develop and lead programs that promote healthy lifestyles and prevent disease in various populations.
- Chronic Disease Management: Assist individuals in managing chronic conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, or heart disease through lifestyle modifications and adaptive strategies.
11. Animal-Assisted Therapy
- Therapeutic Use of Animals: Use specially trained animals to provide comfort, motivation, and a unique therapeutic experience to clients in various settings, such as hospitals, rehabilitation centers, or community programs.
12. Driving Rehabilitation
- Driver Rehabilitation Specialist: Assess and train individuals who need to regain driving skills following an injury or adapt to using adaptive driving equipment.
13. Travel and Contract Work
- Travel Occupational Therapy: Work on short-term contracts in different locations, gaining diverse experiences across various settings.
14. Acute Care and Hospitals
- Inpatient Care: Work in hospitals with patients who need short-term, intensive rehabilitation after surgery, trauma, or acute illness.
15. Consulting
- Private Practice or Consulting: Provide services as an independent consultant to schools, businesses, or healthcare facilities.
By pursuing a degree in occupational therapy, you'll have the flexibility to work in many different fields, all while making a significant impact on people's lives. If you love working with children and special needs, pediatrics is a great starting point, but there are many other paths you can explore!
When looking at colleges, consider programs that offer diverse fieldwork opportunities, as this will allow you to experience different specializations and determine which area you are most passionate about.
Best wishes!
Rachel Fulton
Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant
2
Answers
Helena, Montana
Updated
Rachel’s Answer
You can do anything!!! Our “occupations” as humans can be overlapped with everything! It’s the best career for me, i love helping people, learning about ways to adapt tools, what assistive devices there are to help people and the best part is when they say the simple “thank you”. It’s hard, I’m not going to lie, it gets mentally hard but as long as you keep in mind that your one day of being hard is still helping someone be successful at what could be a lifetime of hard?? It’s totally worth it. Just need to have good support from all the different departments doing what’s in the best interest of the patient. Some places make it harder than others because of the reimbursement aspects but it’s still doable! I love what I do and wouldn’t want to do anything else! I’m only an assistant, but I would not want to be the OTR, they have too much paperwork.
You should job shadow one of each, you will see that the COTA gets the best end of the deal, IMO
Rachel recommends the following next steps:
Zaira Penaloza
Occupational therapist
2
Answers
San Gabriel, California
Updated
Zaira’s Answer
Hi Grace!
As an OT you can work with every population from newborns to geriatric and in any setting such as a hospital, clinic, school, and in- home! It is really nice to have the opportunity to pick where do you want to work. Through your masters or doctorate degree you will get to complete your fieldwork and experience what it is like to be an OT by shadowing therapists from the specific settings you are interested in observing or working at. Hope this helps! You got this!
As an OT you can work with every population from newborns to geriatric and in any setting such as a hospital, clinic, school, and in- home! It is really nice to have the opportunity to pick where do you want to work. Through your masters or doctorate degree you will get to complete your fieldwork and experience what it is like to be an OT by shadowing therapists from the specific settings you are interested in observing or working at. Hope this helps! You got this!
Patricia Currier
Occupational Therapist
5
Answers
Stamford, Connecticut
Updated
Patricia’s Answer
Hi Grace,
Taylor is right about the awesome opportunities to work in multiple areas. During your coursework, you will have the opportunity to do fieldwork experiences in different settings and with different populations which will help with deciding where you want to work as an OT. I also suggest that you shadow OTs in your community in the different settings. It can help you solidify your decision to go into the field. Best of luck to you!
Taylor is right about the awesome opportunities to work in multiple areas. During your coursework, you will have the opportunity to do fieldwork experiences in different settings and with different populations which will help with deciding where you want to work as an OT. I also suggest that you shadow OTs in your community in the different settings. It can help you solidify your decision to go into the field. Best of luck to you!