What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational Therapy (OT)
is a health profession that empowers people of all ages to overcome barriers in their everyday lives so they can do more and live better.”
(http://otontario.ca/)
No, I don’t help you find a job, and no, I’m not the same as a Physiotherapist. 
Occupations are the activities people do that occupy their time. OTs enable participation in these occupations.
Some OTs work with Seniors after they’ve fallen, broken a hip and help them remain living at home. They help modify doorways, recommend ramps, and obtain equipment like chair lifts, bath chairs, grab bars and more!
OTs work in hospitals, clinics and schools, in people’s homes, workplaces and in the community. OTs work in physical and mental health capacities and OTs work with people ages zero to 100+.
Play Therapy
The main occupation of childhood is play! Playing is how children learn about their world and all that is in it. Pediatric OTs PLAY! OTs evaluate a child’s skills for playing, school performance, and daily self-care activities and compare the skills with same age peers. Pediatric OT is all about play and is how I engage my clients, learn about them, and how treatment occurs.
OTs are experts in activity analysis
We help people by looking at what they do every day (Activities of Daily Living – ADLs) and find ways to help you continue to do what is important to you.
I help you
- Develop your coping skills
- Adapt your environment
- Modify the activity
so you can participate fully in life.
Why OT?
- OTs view their clients as whole persons (physical, cognitive, emotional and spiritual beings), influenced by their environments (physical, institutional, cultural and social) and having the ability to complete ADLs that provide meaning to their every day lives.
- OTs are trained in physiology, anatomy, neurology and many have backgrounds in Kinesiology, personal training, biomechanics, and more.
- OTs are regulated under the Ontario Regulated Health Professionals Act and have a regulatory College whose standards they are bound to (COTO).
- OTs have knowledge about many disorders and diagnoses and to know where to find information about issues they don’t have experience with.
- OTs do not require diagnoses to work with clients. OTs focus on function and how to help clients participate by modifying the person, the environement or the activity.
- OTs are required to refer clients to other professionals when issues are outside their professional scope of practice.