Career choice
Occupational Therapy
Builds the skills for the job of living
A career in occupational therapy
offers you a lifetime of
possibilities that are…
Rewarding
Challenging
Diverse
As an occupational therapist, you may:
• Use advanced technology to enable a young man to
live independently after a spinal cord injury.
• Consult in schools to help children overcome writing
difficulties and other learning challenges.
• Head up a disability management program for a
national corporation.
• Assist an aging couple to care for one another in their
own home.
• Travel to developing countries or war-besieged regions
to help set up rehabilitation programs.
What is occupational therapy?
Occupational therapy builds the skills for the job of living and solves
problems that interfere with people’s ability to do activities or
occupations that are important to them. These problems may be a
result of injury, disease, social disadvantage, or the environment.
Occupational therapists work with people of any age to promote
health, prevent disability, and develop or maintain abilities.
Occupational therapists are often part of a multi-disciplinary team
and work in different settings like hospitals, schools, community
health centres and workplaces.
Occupation refers to the activities and tasks of daily life
that have value and meaning to a person. Occupations can
include:
• self-care (i.e. personal care, mobility),
• leisure (i.e. social activities, sports) and
• productivity (play, school, employment,
homemaking).
Occupational therapists assist a client to:
• learn new ways of doing things.
• adapt materials or equipment they use.
• make changes to their environments.
Trends in occupational therapy
• From hospital to community, schools and workplaces
• From employee to independent practice and consultant
Some examples:
Home modifications
Assistive technology
Ergonomics
Workplace mental health
Learning challenges
Medical-legal assessments
Research
Education
Required education
• Move to professional master’s level entry by 2010
 Minimum of a B average (varies with programs).
 Combination of pure, behavioural and social sciences.
 Expect to do an undergraduate degree plus master’s;
length varies with program.
 Consider community college programs to qualify as
occupational therapy assistants.
• Check specific details with each university program.
Occupational therapy education programs
University of BC, Vancouver
University of Alberta, Edmonton
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg
University of Western Ontario, London
McMaster University, Hamilton
University of Toronto
University of Ottawa
Queen’s University, Kingston
McGill University, Montreal
University of Montreal
Laval University, Quebec City
Dalhousie University, Halifax
Fieldwork education
Part of education includes 1000 hours of supervised
fieldwork training
Registration
Must be licensed by the regulatory body in the
province/territory where you’ll work. Some provinces
require successful completion of the Canadian
Association of Occupational Therapists certification
exam.
Career stars
Meet some occupational therapists...
Community
Practice
Rehab Business
Owner
Facility
Planner —
Accessibility
International
Rehab
Consultant /
University
Professor
Jenny Garden
Community occupational therapist
Chose New Zealand for her second-year fieldwork placement,
where she worked with prison inmates who were preparing for
release.
Jenny now works helping teachers to successfully integrate
children with disabilities into their classrooms.
Occupational therapy offers so much variety. I am so lucky that I
can move to a different area of practice or even a different country
if I decide I need a change. I couldn't be happier with my choice.
Min Kyi
Private Practice Occupational Therapist
Return to work/expert witness testimony
Min Kyi never complains that his job is boring. He's
just about to spend an evening with a rock band
roadie. Min's job is to carefully observe and measure
—yes, literally measure— the amplifiers, the sound
system and the height of the stage, so that he can
assess what impact such physical work has on the
man's body.
I don't think I could have chosen a better field.
I have flexibility with my schedule that really suits my
lifestyle.
I have a level of interaction with my clients that no
other health professional has, and I know my work
really makes a difference.
Pam Andrews
Facilities Project Leader
Facilities Development & Construction
Vancouver General Hospital
Former farmer, geological clerk and
apartment block manager Pam chose
occupational therapy because she likes
figuring out the mechanics of how things
work. Now she is an expert on the
fascinating intricacies of how human beings
move through and function in buildings, and
she couldn't be happier.
I fell in love with occupational therapy
because it took me into the realm of human
behaviour. I also needed to be practical. I
couldn't study something like philosophy —
I needed a marketable skill. I had four boys
to feed!
Rachel Thibeault
International Community
Rehabilitation Consultant
Professor of Occupational Therapy
at the University of Ottawa
When Rachel Thibeault graduated, she had no idea that her skills
would take her to some of the world’s most devastated, war-ravaged
countries.
Despite the suffering she has been so close to,
Rachel remains determinedly optimistic about the
unique potential of occupational therapy to heal
not just individuals, but to contribute to the rebuilding
of civil society in communities traumatized by terror and war.
Occupation is universal and the skills of occupational therapy
can be easily exported into many contexts and situations.
We do not have a limited vision. We don’t get lost in esoteric discourse.
We remain rooted in what makes human life human.
Career checklist
Do you enjoy...
Working and helping people?
Creative problem solving?
Variety?
Are you…
A good communicator?
A team player?
Accountable and responsible?
Adaptable and flexible?
Self-motivated?
A self-starter?
Then find out more about
occupational therapy at:
www.caot.ca
www.otworks.ca
Produced by the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists