What is the occupation in occupational therapy?

Did you know October is Occupational therapy month?

Occupational therapy (OT) is one of those jobs that is amazing and very needed once people know about it, but many people don’t know about it! In my masters degree for OT, we spent a lot of time talking about how to explain OT to people and the different challenges with this. The biggest one I explain is the broadness of our scope/role and how many different OT roles there are! For example, I keep close connections with 7 of my friends from my masters degree and we ALL have totally different jobs!

Occupational therapy basically is the art and science of helping people live their best life (that’s how my wife explains it to people). Essentially we are helping our clients do the things they need to do, want to do and are expected to do each and every day! This is why it is such a broad career because everyone is very different and we take a holistic approach to each client!

“So what occupation do kids get? They can’t work???”

The biggest jargon word we have in our practice is right there in the name … “occupation”. Because I work with kids I’m constantly talking about this, because occupation makes people who have never heard of OT think I’m helping my clients get jobs!

What is the “occupation” in occupational therapy?

In the most simple terms, occupations are the things we do throughout our lives. There are so many different categories we can split them up into and often times we get caught up in these! The most basic break down is self care, leisure and productivity. I find these categories too big, so I’ve found some different pictures online to help – but keep in mind even these are different for everyone!

If you consider your day right now, you can think of the occupations you are involved with each day! Think about your routine to get ready for the day, the way you get around the city, what you eat and how you access it, what you do for a job if you have one, what you do for fun, the chores you have, your social connections…. The list goes on and on! Now consider if you had a challenge come up in your life – some people access occupational therapy because of a life long challenge such as coping with anxiety or navigating the world with sensory challenges, while others may need an OT because of a sudden accident that changes their world. Imagine you suddenly weren’t able to use one of your limbs due to a fracture, how might that change your daily experience? Perhaps brushing your teeth and opening food cans becomes a challenge because you can’t use your dominant hand. Perhaps you broke your leg and can’t do stairs as well, or you have to heavily limit screen time due to a concussion and your job is virtual. These are things that OTs can help you navigate!

For children, their physical growth and development, learning life skills and school skills, play and social connections are big occupations! When I mentor my OT and OTA placement students, I also remind them that OTs often support things that may prevent you from participating in your occupations; for kids a big one is transitions and emotional regulation. While these aren’t occupations in themselves, if you have a hard time with regulating your emotions how can you focus in school or play with friends? If your child has a hard time transitioning from one activity to another, they may miss out on cool opportunities!

Another aspect following this concept that I focus heavily on is with my clients of all ages; mental health. Often times self esteem, low mood, focusing on the negative only, being stuck in an anxious cycle etc can prevent us from doing things that would make our lives better. Many of my sessions involve things like affirmations, working through challenging moments together with problem solving, trying and creating coping strategies that my clients can use to help them push through anxiety to engage in their meaningful occupations!

Each person that we meet in our lives are unique and have their own ideas of what is important to them. Occupations are the activities that people do every day to give their life meaning and purpose. Because everyone is so different, Occupational therapists take time to explore what occupations are important to their clients and build goals around supporting them to be able to engage in their meaningful occupations! Occupations can be done alone or with family members and friends, and can be done at home, at work or school, and in the community. Anything can be a meaningful occupation, any occupation that is important to you can be an OT goal, and in the wise words of my wife “the goal of OT is to help you life your best life” !

If you are interested in OT for yourself or a family member, or have questions regarding it as a career, don’t hesitate to leave them below or connect with me! It’s a bit of a confusing area with so much jargon and vagueness, but it truly is (in my biased opinion) a great one!

Happy OT month xo 🩷