Occupational therapists - what’s your job like

[Priddypuddycat]

Just that really do you enjoy your role what are the good bits and the bad bits
Has anyone retrained to do this ?

Good bits-pay and conditions, pension, hours, variety of work, autonomy, building relationships with patients and families, being able to make a real difference to peoples lives.

Bad bits-nobody has a clue what we do, we are often overlooked when starting up services as management want more nurses, lack of movement in vacancies at the moment.

I’m thinking of retraining there seem to be plenty of entry level jobs and agency work which would equate to my current salary

20 years an OT!

Best bits: diversity of roles within profession
Worst bits: feeling curtailed in what you can offer in the main employers

I retrained at 46 to be an OT . Good points- lots of work out there, good salary, lots of different areas we can work in both physical and mental health, you really get to know all about your clients lives building great relationships, you learn every single day.
Bad points- some employers do not know what we do and will push you into doing roles outside of OT which is okay when you are an experienced OT but not if you are early to learning your craft ( eg just out if uni), it is hard in some jobs to be recognised as people do not understand what we do. Pressure on the amount of cases u hold and can manage.
If you want to help people are a good listener and are good at thinking of solution s i would defo do it

Hi OP I'm not a trained Occupational Therapist (yet), but worked for years as an OT assistant. I have just started my training at the age of 40, if its something you feel passionate about then go for it. Agree with pp's comments on others not having a clue what the role is all about. I originally trained as a nurse but if I knew all those years ago what OT was, I would have done that instead!