Occupational therapy, a world I never knew

Occupational therapy: What is it?

Most of us know physical therapy, of course, and might have been lucky enough (or not) to receive it. And we've probably heard of speech therapists, people who help others learn or re-learn how to speak and make the basic sounds many of us take for granted. But what about occupational therapy?

Well, as you might guess, it involves therapy on things that occupy your time, in all kinds of ways. Chores, errands, and social activities are some examples of things that take up a person's time. Anything that we take for granted like buttoning a shirt or making a sandwich are things an occupational therapist helps a patient learn. The job of an OT is to make sure the non-physical aspects of a patient's life (so the mental, social or health aspects) are provided and nurtured to an acceptable standard in society.

Great examples of patients who would need occupational therapy are stroke victims, severely mentally handicapped patients or traumatic brain injury victims. Any of these types of people might need to learn or re-learn how to cook a meal, go grocery shopping or do laundry. Easy stuff, right? But there's so much to do when it comes to starting these most basic tasks.

For example, cooking a meal: What kind of food do you want to cook? Do you need to prepare anything beforehand? What kind of materials are you going to be using? Do you have said materials? Do you need to go shopping (hence the grocery shopping list)? Do you know how to properly use a stove? Or use a knife?

Grocery shopping: What do you need? Do you know where the store is? Can you confidently find everything that you need? Do you know how to pick the best kinds of eggs or fruit? Do you know how to check out of the store?

Doing laundry: How do you sort clothes? What kind of detergent do you need? Will you need stain fighters or fabric softener? Dryer sheets? Money to operate the machines? Do you know how to fill the machine properly? Will you remember to clean the lint trap if necessary? Can you fold clothes? Put them away?

There's probably even more stuff that I didn't think of for those kinds of things. It's a lot of work! But OT's help you through all that and train you so you can get back out on your own. That's what I like best about the field--it gives you the opportunity to help someone become independent.

Another nice thing about occupational therapy: The salary. Median compensation is about $75K per year, according to Salary Wizard. Not bad, right?

So what kind of education does OT require? Well, it's a medical field, so it essentially requires a lot. But it's not as bad as medical school. You'll need a master's degree or higher, and you'll need to graduate from an accredited institution recognized by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education. So no slacking off at the Institute of Rainbows and Clover.

You'll also need to have a license, which you earn after taking the national certifying exam (boards, basically.) Different states have different licensing requirements, so keep that in mind when you're looking for jobs out of state. But you can proudly call yourself Occupational Therapist Registered when you're finished. (It's a mystery to me as to why they have "registered" at the end when it clearly makes more sense to say "registered occupational therapist," but I doubt it's a big concern to anyone in the field.)

There's a lovely article giving more information about occupational therapists and tips to get started in a career here.