Are you an Occupational Therapist?

[SometimesIHitPeopleWithMyCar]

Im looking to retrain and this is one area I am looking at. If this is what you do as a career,;

Do you enjoy it?
If you could go back in time would you choose the same career path?
Could you share what area of the job you work in and what you do on a day to day basis?

thank you :)

I’ve worked in mental health for over thirty years and also lectured for a while. In mental health I would work individually and in groups to help people to live the life they want to live. Sometimes that’s about coping strategies or confidence / communication etc. sometimes it’s activity based groups sometimes it’s supporting people back into leisure or work activities.

Its a brilliant job, I have no regrets and I don’t think I’ve ever met an OT who doesn’t like their job.

thank you so much for sharing. Thats really great to hear.

exactly what @ShiteRider said, i do love it, however it can be hard work and a lot of responsibilities for 28k a year and I had to do 4 years study and came out with 60K student debt !

I am.

I trained late and did a 3 year degree.

My daughter did her teaching degree but felt teaching was so toxic. After 3 years as an OTA she is now doing her occupational therapy degree because she loved the role so much.

I've worked as a forensic occupation therapist, which I loved, and am now a advanced specialist occupational therapist.

There is also a national shortage of occupational therapists so you won't struggle for a role.

I am, I do enjoy it but if I had my time over I would have gone into something that paid better. The pay is fine but it seems so many people on Mumsnet earn 100k plus that I think I could have followed a different path and had a nicer lifestyle!

Thanks all, this is really confirming to me that is what I want to go into

Before retiring I worked for Adult Social Services and the role mainly involved arranging and planning housing adaptations, stairlifts, equipment, moving & handling assessments, home care etc.
I did mostly enjoy it, more so in the early days, in recent years a lack of funding has been a huge problem and is one of the main reasons I took early retirement so would I do it again for the wages paid? Probably not.

I retrained in late 30s after doing support work then working as a therapy technician (like unqualified OT/PT).

Been qualified a couple of years. Spent a year rotating in big acute hospital which was a great experience- lots of people to assess, and therapists tend to be nice people so nice supportive teams.

Now working in social services as the previous poster has said adapting homes and providing equipment. I really enjoy the job and what we do-it’s very rewarding when a plan comes together and someone can do something they struggled to do before, the timescales for adaptations feels quite painful thoigh and there’s a lot of managing expectations about what can and cannot be provided and timescales.

I think most unis ask for work experience before you do the course so defo do that if you hadn’t before and I can’t say enough how my experience as a rehab assistant in hospital helped me. Also many trusts offer apprenticeship route now so you can work and learn at the same time. I’d definitely try to shadow OTs etc before making a decision as read up/ write ups/ the course don’t always accurately represent OT.

Honestly while my current job isn’t working out so great, I’m still glad I did OT and I’m safe in the knowledge that there are plenty more jobs out there- and my previous hospital trust- to go back to if i so wish :)

Good luck whatever you choose!

Sorry must’ve deleted the bit about current job not working out so well 🤣 it’s hybrid working and have just found I’ve been left to it.

I am, retrained as a second career and am now 6 years qualified. OT opportunities are wide and varied. I weighed up being a mental health nurse at the time and am glad I am an OT as I get to use my transferable skills across different settings.

I agree with above poster that there are lots of OT vacancies, but in my area unless you want to go in to physical health either through adult social care or acute hospital then Band 5/entry level opportunities are few and far between. I only wanted to work in mental health or LD and I was very lucky to land a role in this area in my first role they had led me on to other amazing opportunities.

I also second getting experience with a wide range of people - getting alongside a person snd understanding what makes them tick, what are their motivations is key to OT. I am sure your life experiences will add to this as well!

OT apprenticeships are rolling out, I mentor one at the moment but are fiercely competitive. If you can get in as an OT assistant/tech then that would hold you in good stead.

Good luck, I was told (admittedly some time ago!) that OTs are the happiest healthcare professional!

Medicine and Complex Care. Love it!