Care Development Project

As an Occupational Therapist, you’ll work with people with physical, mental or social disabilities to help them do everyday activities.

You’ll spend time with individuals to find out what they usually do in their day-to-day life and any challenges they face. You’ll then help them find ways to overcome these challenges.

Role overview

• helping people to adjust to their disability
• providing specialist equipment to help with mobility
• supporting people to adapt their home or vehicle to make them more accessible
• helping people to cope with memory or sensory loss
• teaching someone who’s recovering from a stroke how to do things themselves
• advising housing departments on mobility issues.

Skills and experience

Everyone working in social care needs English, number, digital and employability skills including team work and problem solving skills. What core skills do I need to work in social care outlines some of the skills you need and has short activities to help you think about transferable skills from your previous experiences.

There are also some specific skills needed to work in this role. These include:

• planning and organisational skills
• communication skills
• the ability to form good working relationships.

Opportunities

When you start in your role your employer should put you through an induction. This might include training necessary for your role such as health and safety, moving and handling and first aid. You might also receive specific training such as autism awareness, communication skills or working with people with dementia.

There may be opportunities to progress into senior occupational therapy roles and supervise others or work in different services with different people. If you already have an undergraduate degree you could do a postgraduate diploma or masters in occupational therapy to develop your knowledge.