Is Being an Occupational Therapist Worth It? Being happy and financially stable are the two important factors in living a successful life; Being an Occupational Therapist can provide an abundance of content, and supply enough financial support to keep you healthy and attain plentiful enjoyment in life. Growing up kids want to be doctors, lawyers, veterinarians and other occupations that make big money. Until they reach High School and see how many years it takes to attain such a degree. Students don’t want to go through the challenges of furthering their education. Although getting the degree to become an Occupational Therapist can be tough, it provides a substantial income, gives an opportunity to travel, and can be very rewarding at the …show more content…
It takes at least Master Degree to be an OT. Yes, that is a lot of years of extra school, and yes, it is a lot of years to be broke. A master’s degree is the minimal requirement to receive certification, plus clinicals, and an opportunity to go onto doctoral level. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “29 percent of students nationwide have household incomes below $20,000, 79 percent work full time or part time in addition to taking classes, and 35 percent are parents or have dependents” (Fang). Students suffering from financial stabilities end up being forced to drop out of college and get a full-time job. Dropping out of college causes a higher chance of a lifetime in poverty due to a lack of education. There are many websites that try to encourage people living in poverty to reach the millennial goals, give advice on how to get out of poverty, what kind of obligations you have, and resources for better working conditions, living standards, and health outcomes for children (Franco-Zamudio). There are so many people struggling to go through college because it is so expensive. Occupational Therapy school is not cheap. Students have to make many sacrifices and put in numerous hours of volunteering and studying, they do not have time for a part time job. After going through these struggles and learning how to overcome the worst, it teaches you …show more content…
Patients go the therapy for help with disabilities or recover after surgeries. Often, they are at the hardest part of their lives and just need help. Therapist use their skills, knowledge and time to give back to their patients’ life and make it as best as they can. Therapy patients may only take a few weeks to a few months or they may need years’ worth of treatment. An upside and downside to being an Occupational Therapist is they get to grow bonds with their patients. However, when those patients aren’t with you forever and you lose touch with them. That may be a good thing or a bad thing depending on their condition. Being a therapist and making a difference in patients’ lives, you get to go home with a wonderful feeling. A feeling that leaves you feeling helpful and selfless. This field takes a kind heart to do a good job. Occupational therapist are one of the biggest mentors in the world and leave a lot of people in a good change, whether it’s a physical change or a mental change, they help others heart grow warmer and
Becoming an Occupational Therapy Assistant has been an ambition of mine for several years now. After researching, job shadowing, and talking to professionals, I have decided to make Occupation Therapy my career. My passion is to help patients by participating and assisting them in their recovery from injuries and disabilities. My compassionate and caring attitude will be vital assets in pursuing this career. After training in Occupational Therapy, it is motivating for me to know that I will be a part of assisting patients to gain back their independence. Helping others is something that I am passionate about in my career and in my spare time. I have been on several mission trips to Haiti and other places which I have provided care for others in a medical setting.
Some of the most rewarding components of being an occupational therapist are, “helping others reach their needs according to carol smith a licensed OT” (Smith, 2017). There are many benefits to being an occupational therapist. for future as well as current occupational therapist, the market is and will continue to grow tremendously, so therefore jobs will not be hard to find, the starting salaries are great, and as you gain experience your salary will also start to grow. Another plus is you will have a flexible
Occupational therapist and occupational therapy assistances work with a wide variety of populations throughout their career. Some of these different populations can include different types of backgrounds, genders, ages, economic statuses, ethnicities, and more. While working with these populations, occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistances have to be aware of different types of influences that can not only affect the client, but the client’s occupations as well. In this article, “Psychosocial Aspects of Occupational Therapy,” it discusses the different types of psychosocial aspects that are in the field of occupational therapy.
Occupational therapy is projected to be one of the fastest growing jobs in the upcoming years. This job has the potential to be an exciting career for someone interested in a healthcare profession. One of the rewarding things about being an occupational therapist is the ability to help people reach their goals while earning a good salary and benefits. Occupational therapists help people across their lifespan by increasing their range of motion on their joints and helping people get back to their daily lives. Learning more about the origins of occupational therapy, what an occupational therapist does, how to become an occupational therapist, and what the job outlook is for this career may help someone make an informed decision about their potential career path.
Occupational therapy was not one of the services our team was able to provide with myself being the only one in the profession, however I seen many people I felt could benefit from occupational therapy. I feel by furthering my degree and becoming an occupational therapist that I would have the ability to expand my services in this setting through evaluation and providing them the tools and education to positively influence their
My work experience helped me confirm my interest when I got to see the roles of Occupational Therapists first hand. I was able to spend time shadowing an individual from a special needs school, which moved onto being able to run sessions with minimal help in gross and fine motor skills with the children who have a wide range of disabilities. It was a great experience to observe how everyday objects could be used to help build up these skills and how much the children enjoyed the activities. I was also able to shadow an OT within the Early Intervention in Psychosis team, this
I find occupational therapy to pique my drive to teach people valuable life skills as well as learn from those people and their experiences. Being an occupational therapist would allow me to have one-on-one interactions with patients and establish meaningful relationships over the course of time. It would also give me the dutiful privilege and responsibility of instilling confidence in others and helping them realize their full potential in self-suffiency. All of my personal experiences, challenges, educational backgrounds, and professional interactions have guided me toward pursuing my goals of gaining experience working in all populations, enabling patients to thrive in their daily lifestyle, and spread public awareness of what OT has
A career in occupational therapy is challenging, yet rewarding. Someone who is a people person would enjoy the constant interaction with clients and families. After studying this career, it is extremely apparent that all occupational therapists have one thing in common; a love for people and healing.
The first question many people will ask you when it comes to choosing a career is “why did you choose that career?” Debbie explained that she knew she wanted to pursue this career when she was younger she grew up in the same household of her grandmother after she had a stroke. Being an Occupational Therapist is about wanting to help someone gain back their independence and you have to want it as much as they do!
Occupational therapy is the career that I chose as my major and to do my research
Occupational therapy was a career choice I fell into. When I first arrived to Keiser University back in 2009 I was going to apply for the physical therapy assistant program. Physical and speech therapy where the only therapeutic disciplines I had any knowledge of at that time. When I met with the admissions counselor she informed me the waiting list for the PTA program was about two years, I was floored I wasn’t going to wait that long I needed to start school ASAP. The counselor then asked me “ what is your goal?” and my response was “to work with children in the medical field without being too medically involved”. She then handed me an occupational therapy pamphlet and I just signed the paper work to start that month. I honestly
My journey to pursue an education in physical therapy actually originates from my early childhood. I endured a very impoverished upbringing and my family’s socioeconomic status was below the poverty line. At a very young age, money became the central issue of my life. I found myself worrying about mortgages, health bills, and grocery money. As I grew older, I vowed to myself that I would not endure my family’s financial burdens into my adulthood. I knew the best way to accomplish this was by obtaining a college degree and having a professional career. However, I was unsure what career I wanted to pursue. I experimented with many different career ideas, but during my sophomore, I discovered my passion and skill for physical medicine. For my
We are all born to live, not to simply exist. Experiences in life have taught me there is a purpose behind each individual’s existence. Discovering this purpose, has been challenging. My educational and professional background have helped shape my immediate and long term professional goals. Becoming an Occupational Therapist has become both my immediate and long-term goals in life.
field of occupational therapy and how this fit my aspiration to make a difference in peoples lives. At this
Physical therapists are health care professionals that provide therapeutic services to their patients who have temporary or chronic physical conditions that were caused from injury or disease. Physical therapist also provided therapeutic services to patients after they have gone through surgery to help them gain back mobility and manage their pain. They can also work in preventive care by promoting healthy life styles and instructing individual patients or groups on preventing injury by using exercises that stretch and strengthen muscles. To help their patients try to recover they use massage techniques, wellness plans, and different types of equipment. When a physical therapist sees a patient for the very first time they must do an examination, evaluation, diagnosis, and then put together a physical intervention to start the rehabilitation process. They also work as a team with other health care professionals to help with their patients needs. Physical therapist can really make a difference in their patient’s lives by not only providing therapeutic services but also encouraging and motivating them so they can get better. The main goals of physical therapist are to help their patients retain or gain back lost physical mobility, eliminate or reduce pain, increase productivity and help promote a healthy life style so patients can have a better quality of life and become more independent.