What is Occupational Therapy

It is important to start off with an overview of what occupational therapy is, to gain a further understanding of the aim of this blog. Occupational Therapy New Zealand Whakaora Ngangahau Aotearoa (2016), states that occupation includes everything we do throughout our day. This can be either in self-care (dressing, showering, feeding etc), leisure (our interests and hobbies) and productivity, which includes unpaid work as well as paid work.

An occupational therapist is a registered health provider, who works to improve an individuals quality of life, health and well-being. Below are links to youtube clips who further explain what occupational therapy is and what an occupational therapist does.

I choose to study OT as I have always known that I wanted to work with people and have always loved helping people and empowering others so they can help themself. It excited me to discover that occupational therapy was about working with activities that people hold high value towards as the basis and end goals of therapy, and that through this I can discover peoples strengths and help them to seek confidence in themseves to acquire a sense of achievement. I feel that occupational therapy for me is a part of who I am and not necessaily a career choice.

References

OTNZ-WNA (2016). Occupational therapy new zealand. Retrieved from http://www.otnz.co.nz/public/