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Occupational Therapist - do my skills transfer?

15 replies

thevampirelestat · 23/11/2021 21:16

I've been looking for a new direction for a while now, and after I kept seeing occupational therapist pop up on Mumsnet whenever posters are suggesting new career directions I thought I'd look into it a bit more...the more I read, the more I thought to myself, hang on, this might suit me! It's not an area I know loads about (but reading and researching lots now!), but I'm hoping you could all give your opinions on whether my skills would transfer/be suitable for occupational therapy, or whether I'm barking up the wrong tree.

My degree is in an Arts/Humanities subject, nothing particularly useful but included areas of ethics, philosophy, etc, so I would say I have reasonably good logical thinking and decision making skills.

Current employment is TEFL/ESL - have taught all ages (young children to adults), experienced in designing lessons and curriculum, developing activities to meet objectives, teaching and explaining, building rapport with students, working as a team, assessing levels of skill and grading activities appropriately, etc. All the usual teaching skills I suppose, plus I think living abroad for a long time has helped me to be fairly adaptable and I can hit the ground running in new situations fairly well.

Personally, I enjoy teaching a lot in the classroom, but most of my work has gone online now and I don't enjoy it to anywhere near the same level. I really miss interacting with students and being able to really feel like I was helping them.

Sorry, long post, but would be incredibly grateful for any advice/thoughts anyone can give!

OP posts:
languagelover96 · 24/11/2021 09:56

good luck

thevampirelestat · 24/11/2021 15:37

@languagelover96 thank you!

OP posts:
thevampirelestat · 25/11/2021 21:29

hopeful BUMP, would really love any advice

OP posts:
alishylishy · 25/11/2021 21:33

I’m an OT and went into the degree having far less transferable skills than you mention! It’s a practical course anyway with 1000 hours of placement so you will have lots of time to hone your skills 😊 any questions please ask

Mummyoply · 25/11/2021 21:35

I'm an OT too Smile, as PP said the course has a strong practical element with long placements. I'd say go for it!

thevampirelestat · 26/11/2021 08:55

@alishylishy @Mummyoply thank you both so much!

what area of OT do you work in? do you enjoy it? are you happy with the work/life balance? is there lots of chance to interact and connect with people? I think those would be my two big problems with working online from home - that it seems to take over my life and there's no space from it, but at the same time being online means it's quite isolated and I don't feel I can connect with students like I used to, so I'm hoping to find something that can be more fulfilling in those areas.

OP posts:
Mummyoply · 26/11/2021 09:36

OT is generally patient facing for the majority of the working day irrelevant of the field you practice in. If you went into management later in your career you would of course have reduced or no direct patient contact and that would be a career choice. Work life balance is of your own making, you can choose to apply for full time or part time posts and hours vary from service to service. I work in a very specialist role, there is only me that does my job regionally so I'd rather not be too specific. Yes I enjoy it, however I do not practice a traditional OT role, although I did for many years before I specialised in what I do now.

thevampirelestat · 27/11/2021 09:57

@Mummyoply that's really good to hear that you still enjoy it after being in the role a long time, and it's good to hear that there is room to specialise or move into management too. I'm cautiously hopeful that I could have hit on something here!

OP posts:
Mummyoply · 27/11/2021 10:24

Have you started looking at Universities?

Mummyoply · 27/11/2021 10:28

The deadline for 2022 intake is 26th Jan so you don't have much time, happy to advise further if that would be helpful.

Willowwarble · 27/11/2021 10:33

There is an Apprenticeship route as well now so you can earn while you learn
www.rcot.co.uk/degree-level-apprenticeship-occupational-therapy?gclid=Cj0KCQiAy4eNBhCaARIsAFDVtI2PN5gJ7E4x47GO9hFyeNwKwuJOmzu_pBG2-YJodDUCoyoc2_G9ZtEaAlFiEALw_wcB

Mummyoply · 30/11/2021 19:44

@Willowwarble that's true but this route isn't the easily available. It requires employee support and most people who are on this programme are working as OT Support Workers at a band 3 or 4 level.

languagelover96 · 02/12/2021 10:17

I'm not a OT but this is my advice, be realistic and open minded somewhat, it will help you when meeting clients for the first time ever etc. Good luck and keep us updated on your achievements too as well.

thevampirelestat · 02/12/2021 10:52

Thanks @languagelover96 I will do!

I've looked at some uni's and asked them a few of my questions - it seems even tho my degree is in an unrelated field, they would still accept it to enter onto the Msc, which is good! But I'm trying to work out finances/loans/grants now... I've been in Ireland the past two years, so I think I would get the tuition fee loan, but not the maintenance one, and not sure about the NHS grant yet. So that's something to think about too.

OP posts:
Mummyoply · 02/12/2021 16:53

Yes if you've got a previous degree you should be able to do the MSc in 2 years full time. Good luck and give us a shout if you have any questions Smile

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