What Can I Do With An Occupational Therapy Degree?

Occupational therapy is a vocational degree with a lot of work experience, giving you the skills and knowledge to work in a range of health and social care environments. Occupational therapy can be a great choice if you’re starting out or going back to school for a new career.  We tell you some of our top options in this post.

Job Options
There are lots of job options after completing a graduate degree in occupational therapy, including:

• Care manager
  
• Ergonomist
  
• Health improvement practitioner
  
• Occupational therapist
  

There are other jobs where your degree would be useful, including:

• Advice worker
• Art therapist
• High-intensity therapist
• Life coach
• Medical sales representative
• Play therapist
• Pschyologoica wellbeing practitioner
• Social worker
• Special education needs teacher
• Teaching assistant

Work Experience
All occupational therapy programs have a significant work experience element. Most have a minimum requirement for students to spend 1000 hours on clinical placements while supervised by qualified occupational therapists. This experience allows you to develop the skills that you will need to improve the health, wellbeing, and quality of life of the people you will work with. 

Working in supportive roles with vulnerable groups can help you to further develop communication and problem-solving skills, as well as giving you the experience of different working environments. These vulnerable groups might include elderly people, people with disabilities, children and young people, and those with mental health issues, physical health difficulties, or injuries. 

There are paid opportunities, including work as an occupational therapy or social work assistant, or as a care assistant in a residential home, hospital, or private home. 

There are lots of voluntary options too, including:

• Youth projects
• Daycare centers
• Special schools
• Advisory services
• Disability equipment hire services
• Hospitals
• Homeless shelters
• Charities

Typical Employers
Most graduates move into a clinical career in occupational therapy. Key employers are the government and health services, who often employ occupational therapists within mental health services, hospital departments such as A&E, or social services. 

You will be able to work in lots of different settings, including hospitals, housing associations, schools businesses, community centers, charities, prisons, job centers, and client’s homes. 

There are also opportunities for work in management, education and research, private practice, and social enterprises. There are also several related careers where your degree can help, such as working for organizations that specialize in injury claims, drug rehabilitation, inclusion work, or developing disability aids. 

Skills For Your CV
When you study occupational therapy, you will get in-depth knowledge and understanding of the relationship between occupation, health, and wellbeing. You will gain knowledge of core subjects like human anatomy, life cycle, psychology, and sociology. 

You will also gain a diverse range of skills that could be used in a wide variety of different jobs, including:

• Communication and relationship building with people of all ages
• Data collection and analysis
• Critical thinking
• Creative problem solving
• The ability to manage and prioritize a complex workload
• Teamwork through liaising with professionals and families
• Teaching, mentoring, and coaching
• Self-awareness and the ability to reflect on learning
• A flexible response to change
• Research and report writing

If you have some options for a occupational health expert tell us in the comments!