“I’m studying occupational therapy.”

Anytime I tell someone this, what immediately follows is typically either one of these two things:

-Oh, is it like physical therapy?

-Do you help people with their jobs?

If you’re a fellow OT, you probably cringe at these two questions like I do. No, it is not like physical therapy; both are completely different but incredibly helpful in their own ways. You could say we help people with their “jobs”, but not necessarily the “jobs” we typically refer to. We help people with their daily occupations such as getting dressed, hand writing, and gardening; anything that is meaningful and important to the client, we can help with that.

Did you know that April is National Occupational Therapy Month? All over social media, we have seen promotions for April being National Autism Awareness Month as well as Parkinson’s Awareness Month. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I have seen it mentioned anywhere that April is also Occupational Therapy Month. Personally, I believe the reason for this is because so much of our society is unaware of what occupational therapy actually is.

According to AOTA (American Occupational Therapist Association):

"The practice of occupational therapy means the therapeutic use of occupations, including everyday life activities with individuals, groups, populations, or organizations to support participation, performance, and function in roles and situations in home, school, workplace, community, and other settings. Occupational therapy services are provided for habilitation, rehabilitation, and the promotion of health and wellness to those who have or are at risk for developing an illness, injury, disease, disorder, condition, impairment, disability, activity limitation, or participation restriction. Occupational therapy addresses the physical, cognitive, psycho social, sensory-perceptual, and other aspects of performance in a variety of contexts and environments to support engagement in occupations that affect physical and mental health, well-being, and quality of life."

The wonderful thing about occupational therapy is it can be useful for just about anyone. It is mostly known that occupational therapists help the elderly after they suffer from a stroke or after an injury. It is often unknown by the population that occupational therapists can also help those with a terminal illness, clients who have a mental illness, and children who have a learning or developmental disability. You can find occupational therapists in hospitals, mental health facilities, school systems, day camps, outpatient or inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and even VA hospitals.

While one of the goals for physical therapists is to restore, maintain and promote physical function in their clients, the goal for occupational therapists is to help their client with a physical, mental, or cognitive disorder get the best quality of life possible. Occupational therapy practice is holistic and client centered; this means that occupational therapists focus on the client as a whole. We focus on all aspects of their health: mental, physical, emotional - even if they just come into therapy because of an injured hand.

Occupational therapy is a career that is growing much quicker than most careers out there; unfortunately, the knowledge and awareness of OT isn’t growing nearly as fast. It is important for current occupational therapists to spread awareness of their career. It is important for occupational therapy students to teach others about their careers as they learn about it for ourselves.

It is important for society to become more familiar about the career of occupational therapy and the many advantages occupational therapy can bring to each and every person.

Let's promote occupational therapy together.