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Mature study and retraining

Talk to other Mumsnetters who are considering a career change or are mature students.

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Original poster

Occupational therapy or similar

5 replies

shittypartoftown · 15/04/2023 19:06

Hey everyone

I am from an IT background (think coding etc) and I absolutely loathe it. I've been made redundant thankfully and I'm just trying to find myself and retrain.

I keep coming back to the fact I love working with children and have experience in being a HLTA pre degree. I don't want to do that role ever again but I'd love to become an Occupational Therapist.

Can anyone recommend a route? If not - are there any similar roles?

I already have a degree in IT so not sure how to fund another. I'm 36 and I'm quite happy to do an apprenticeship - however there are none near me.

I don't think working in a nursery would suit me either.

Any help would be amazing :)

OP posts:

Easterfunbun · 15/04/2023 19:10

You would need to either find yourself an apprenticeship, or see if you can get onto a masters with your HLTA experience. I don’t think there’s easy ways around it to be honest as it would require some further study.

SnarkyBag · 15/04/2023 19:17

IME an apprenticeship would be tricky to get into unless you are already or have had experience as on OT assistant or worked in an organisation alongside OT’s. Could you look at OT assistant roles with employers that would potentially support an apprenticeship in the future?

Original poster

shittypartoftown · 15/04/2023 19:23

Thanks both. I have just found an NHS pathway that says any subject degree. So I guess I'll go down that route and see what happens. I may not make it very far but at least I tried

Baby steps!

OP posts:

WineWithAView · 15/04/2023 19:26

There are certain allied health care degrees that you can get funding for (normal student loan) even if you've already done a first degree. I know SaLT is covered, so maybe OT too?

Hairyfairy01 · 17/04/2023 22:50

What appeals to you about OT? Is it just children you want to work with OP? You would be expected to learn / go on placement with people of all ages. Often your degree has to be within the last 5 years to be valid. Everyone talks about these apprenticeships but you would normally need to be established as an OT assistant first, and even then the competition is fierce. OT courses tends to attract lots of mature students from all kinds of backgrounds. But make sure you really understand what OT is.

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