Occupational Therapists - What Do They Do?
As an Occupational Therapist, we often get asked, “What does an Occupational Therapist (OT) do?”
Well, the formal answer is:
An Occupational Therapist (OT) supports people of all ages to participate in activities they find meaningful. These activities include taking care of oneself (and others), working, volunteering, and participating in hobbies, interests and social events.
We are person-centred health professionals, interested in your abilities above all.
The other (“messier”) answer is:
Occupational Therapists provide a range of diverse and important supports for people of all ages and abilities. Occupational therapists work with people across the life span with disabilities, injuries and health conditions.
But how do we measure this?
This involves detailed assessments to understand what activities you can do (and those you want to do!), determine any current limitations, barriers and enablers , while exploring your goals, motivations and how the environment around you impacts your independence.
These assessments can be done in a range of environments like at home, school, in the community and in the clinic.
We may then offer advice and provide techniques to help make these activities easier for you to perform and achieve to help meet your goals.
We strive to ensure that you and your goals are at the centre of all we do.
Can my family be included in the process?
We work closely with family members and significant others to ensure that everyone important to you is involved in your care.
This means that Occupational Therapy can look very different for each person and each OT.
Some examples:
we might be supporting an adult with Multiple Sclerosis to access their bathroom and shower safely by providing assessment and home modification and/or equipment recommendations or,
we might be working with a young child with Down Syndrome to help them develop the necessary motor skills to sit at the table with their family to eat a meal or,
we might be working with a teenager with Autism Spectrum Disorder to learn the important social skills required to make and keep friends.
Because of how different Occupational Therapy looks for each person, it can be hard to entirely and completely describe what OT’s do and there is never a one size fits all!
We hope that this snapshot has provided a useful insight.
If you’d like to hear more, click below for a great video that further helps to illustrate what we do:
Do you have questions about how we may be able to help you or your family? Please contact our Amity Health team on 9842 2797 or you may like to view and download our OT brochure.
Guest Author - Darcy Ward (Occupational Therapist) August 2021
Reference: https://aboutoccupationaltherapy.com.au/