You CAN with Occupational Therapy. WORLD OT DAY.
Posted on Tuesday October 25 2016 by RIG Healthcare
Our strap line should be 'You can with Occupational therapy', it's simply the best profession.
Obviously I am a little biased having been an occupational therapist for over 30 years.
Through out this time I have maintained my passion and enthusiasm about the profession and its role in society. With the work I do I am in contact with occupational therapy in all its breadth and depth, on a daily basis. From the undergraduate students tentative first day at University at the beginning of their career, sharing their light bulb moments along the way, to the educator with thirty years experience doing, being, and becoming and my own clinical work with clients I see the unique qualities and value of Occupational therapy.
On World OT day this is the day, if one is needed, to be loud and proud about your profession.
We often work alongside people to explore what they can do, let's just pause for a moment to think about why occupational therapy is such a great profession.
Identify what we can do, write down your own top ten reasons and see how many overlap.
Occupational Therapists can;
- Work with a wide and diverse range of clients because we are dual trained and can be employed anywhere and everywhere there are people.
- As a protected title, register on the Health Care Practitioner's Council assuring the general public we are safe to practice.
- Explore a range of clinical areas on a rotational post and gain a broad grounding in a range of areas
- Specialise from the first day of employment
- Work where ever we like, the list is endless
- Start our own business
- Develop a service from scratch
- Quickly identify service user need
- Assess the environment and occupation and the relationship between the two
- Explore the world from the perspective of another person
I spend a great deal of my working days explaining what occupational therapy is to students, professionals and the general public. I find a great way to do this is to get the person or organisation to identify the top ten challenges they currently have, and then I explain what an occupational therapist can do for them. I often find that occupational therapy is the missing piece of a jigsaw in an organisation or department.
This morning I was exploring the potential for an occupational therapy role between a GP practice and a social prescribing organisation. The missing link between the two organisations was an occupational therapist. A health care professional with an understanding of both the medical and social model of disability. Occupational Therapists are able to assess complex needs, prioritise, identify interventions and measure outcomes.
As occupational therapists we spend our lives exploring other people's potential.
On World OT day take time to shine that light on yourself and celebrate what you can do as an occupational therapist and the potential impact occupational therapy could have not only in your town and country but in every area of the globe.
Drop me a line I would love to hear from you margaret@ot360.co.uk
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