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What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational Therapy (O.T) is the use of specific activities to help in the rehabilitation of physical illness, injury, disability or mental health conditions. Occupational therapy’s main goal is for a person to regain their function and independence in daily tasks.
We investigate your life roles and the activities that it requires of you – then we help to train you to do the activities that are important to you again.
Good examples would be; a person who has had a stroke, someone who was in a car accident, or someone who has had an operation on their arms and hands – we look at what you cannot do and help you to do it again.
Occupational Therapy is usually more well-known for working with children with disabilities or developmental delays; however – we are trained to see people of all ages.
What to expect from Occupational Therapy
Occupational Therapy (O.T) works on a minimum of three levels:
- The person: the health condition/ the physical, the emotional and social aspects of the person. As well as the person’s roles and goals.
- The occupation: The activities that the person struggles with is retrained or adapted.
- The environment: We evaluate how changes in the environment could improve the person’s performance or success.
The process of therapy is:
- A client is usually referred by another healthcare professional, but self-referrals are also welcome.
- During the first session, there is a discussion of the medical concern and the client’s goals. Then the client/family and therapist decide what the best plan is for future therapy and then intervention can start.
- Apart from exercises/activities, therapy involves education on how to exercise at home, as well as how to adapt activities to make it easier. Therefore, it is necessary for the client/family to commit to do the exercises at home; as this is the best way to make progress. Rehabilitation therapy is usually not a once-off session, but takes time and commitment.
- During the following sessions the client may be re-assessed, and new exercises provided as the client makes progress.
- Once a certain level of function is reached, the client is discharged from therapy, or referred elsewhere as needed.