Planning for a Career in Occupational Therapy

Final Paper

Introduction

This paper will address the responsibilities and context of working as an Occupational Therapist as well as educational and experience-based requirements needed to successfully practice in this profession. I am aspiring to become an Occupational Therapist and first decided three years ago when I began to observe the special-education schooling my younger brother, who has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, was receiving. The idea of helping individuals rehabilitate and alter their routines in order to live their lives with more ease attracts me to this profession. The MyPlan results demonstrated that I am one-hundred percent Feeler and seventy-three percent Intuitive, which indicates the tendency to apply facts in a creative way. These two characteristics are extremely helpful qualifiers for a career in Occupational Therapy (OT), which requires compassion and the ability to creatively synthesize treatment plans (Whaley, 2014).

About the Profession

An Occupational Therapist is responsible for supporting patients in their occupations, which include paid work as well as one’s daily activities. According to Whaley’s lecture, Occupational Therapists involve themselves in intervention, rehabilitation, and prevention (albeit before or after a crisis), and compensation/modification of behavior and routines in order to restore the patient’s autonomy as much as possible. Occupational Therapists evaluate their patient’s situation and, with a more holistic viewpoint, are imaginative (McCarthy, 2014) in developing treatment plans and strategies to assist that patient in rehabilitation, as opposed to Occupational Therapy Assistants who are the “technicians” and carry out the plans set by the Therapist (McCarthy, 2014). Occupational Therapists can work in variety of settings such as private practices, hospitals, nursing homes, school systems, etc. (Whaley, 2014).

Occupational Therapists work with individuals across the lifespan and can...