Their goals are to promote occupational therapists as leaders in the field of home modifications, develop a lucrative business model for home modification occupational therapists, and increase home modification occupational therapists expertise in home modification techniques, technology, equipment and design.. Whether it involves admissions and/or discharges, having experience as an OT can make working as a case manager a perfect fit. For those with a considerable amount of experience in a particular OT area ( ex. Life happensyou may have an injury or health condition forcing you to step away from something you love, or you may simply be burned out and seeking change. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Weve even featured a few OTs here at My OT Spot who have done this themselves, like Paige Hays, OTR/L of Beyond Accessibility and Maria Lindbergh, OTR/L of Stay At Home Solutions, so be sure to check them out. The best part about being an OT entrepreneur is that you have the freedom to choose what youre most passionate about. Aurora, NE 68818, OT Potential Occupational Therapy Resources. I regret not going back to school for my OTR, but I have to move forward. Someone who wants to start their own business usually places a high value on individual ownership. This is a real issue that we OTs need to address as soon as possible. They would be providing services, but would they need an OTR? What does your job entail? Thank you that means a lot! Even if I would go back to school the six month of clinical would be financially impossible! Be sure to join the above mentioned Alternative Careers for Rehab Professionals FB group as there are a number of OTs in the group who have gone into sales and can give their perspective. Through my work, I have been able to promote the profession as well as take on multiple Level II students even during the pandemic to learn about community based OT. Here, youll get the chance to work one-on-one with individuals, many times veterans, who need help getting back to work. This course covers the difference between health and medical writing, and it has resume and cover letter templates, as well as interview practice questions and advice. Not all unconventional OT jobs require relocation, but many do. and recommendations for how to interview, search for jobs, and more! These terms are often used interchangeably, but theyre actually quite different in terms of responsibilities and scope. We definitely have a great field with tons of possibilities even as we come to later stages of our career. Theres something rewarding and fulfilling about building something from nothing and seeing all that hard work pay off over a long period of time. Also, youll definitely want to take few courses on usability and user experience to legitimize yourself as a candidate. Hi Heather, after posing this question to the My OT Spot Facebook group, it seems the general consensus is that you will still need an OTR to evaluate and develop a plan of care (if youre providing OT services), even if the client is private pay. Liaisons face quotas, so if you hate productivity requirements, you might not enjoy this role. The guide helps you think through key questions to get your business off the ground like should you have a specialty, what equipment should you buy, and whats the best way to manage operations? Learn how your comment data is processed. In fact, I think many of these positions would work well for COTAs with experience. Youll also want to beef up your resume to reflect any research, tutoring, lab assisting, or clinical instructor roles youve held since your student years. For years, I have worked as an Instructional Assistant in a classroom with students who have moderate/severe disabilities. Whether treating or not treating, OTs have so much to offer the world! My only doubts about going the OT route is thinking that I may one day regret not choosing to be a Special Education Teacher and not being smart enough for some of the advanced coursework. I have been struggling for a while to find my just right fit. There are people doing it. SMS professionals are actually specialized ATPs! Its definitely advisable for new grads (or people who have only worked in one setting) to consider whether they should spend a little more time in patient care before switching gears. If you were a career changer, any previous leadership or instructing roles are relevant, too! AOTA offers a Low Vision certification that you can learn more about here. Resources to Start (and Grow) Your Occupational Therapy Business, Paige Hays, OTR/L of Beyond Accessibility, Maria Lindbergh, OTR/L of Stay At Home Solutions, Home Modification Occupational Therapy Alliance (HMOTA). More information can be found on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. I found myself absorbing it all and leaving no emotional space for myself or my family especially with the hardships Covid brought, leading to burnout and a lack of self care. The main issue is that, even though we have the perfect background for these roles, we are not landing them. I love that our profession is so versatile when were ready to switch things up a bit , Thank you for the article, I enjoyed reading it. Explore different options/gain experience before leaving your day job, 8 specific non-traditional OT jobs you can look into, Non-Clinical Jobs and Networking for PT/OT/SLP Professionals, Non-Clinical 101: The Complete Guide to Launching Your Non-Clinical Career (Save $75), You can read more about my own non-traditional journey, including how I built OT Potential, in my spotlight, Here are some sites that sometimes accept high-quality guest posts from occupational therapists, interview on her career path into OT academia, becoming a rehab liaison (or clinical liaison), this inspiring story about a 90-year-old occupational therapist, UX Design and User Experience Design for Beginners, Become a UX Designer Learn the Skills and Get the Job, Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America. Nice! Then, when you apply for the rehab liaison roles, play up your connections big timeyoull need them! Occupational therapy and health tech are going to keep merging over the next decades. Gives me some hope of finding the just right fit as an OT. There are many avenues your non-traditional OT career could take, but here we highlight nine of the most common. Remember, if you identify a way that you can solve someone elses problem, youll be very marketable! Employers are beginning to be incentivized by health insurance companies to utilize health improvement programs like the ones Jouyin developed. I know that this pretty much eliminates most of the jobs available. Some roles (especially with rehab tech companies) may enable remote workbut in some cases, youll be expected to work onsite, which might even mean you need to relocate to a pricey city. Workstation ergonomics involves a deep understanding of many different facets of a variety of workplace environments. Your email address will not be published. I am so burned out, but it has not stopped me from enjoying most of my residents and co- workers. So many interesting ideas here! At this time I need to take care of me, but I might need to try something else to bring in income. , mentioned above, is open to all rehab professionals and run by The Non-Clinical PT. Office jobs, sales jobs, ergonomics/workplace evaluator jobs, telehealth jobs, and assistive technology jobs are all considered non-traditional (or non-clinical or unconventional) in this article. Some professional organizations have built a non-clinical presence, and there are tons of groups out there for all sorts of career paths. Non-Clinical 101 gives lifetime access to a proven four-step system that helps you identify which roles are best suited for you, then walks you through the process of getting there. The desire to change to a non-traditional occupational therapy careerwhether temporary or permanentis normal. Reach out to companies like MedBridge, OccupationalTherapy.com, and Embodia Academy; if youve got quite a bit of niche clinical experience, you may be able to teach a course with them! Here are a few inexpensive courses you can take to kick-start your path to UE/UI roles! Its flexible, you can do it from anywhere, and its really easy and fun if it comes naturally to you. That said, the quotas are usually very reasonable, unlike clinical productivity expectations these days! If you have a knack for writing and can pump out quality articles quickly that are free from errors, this is can be a flexible option that you can do from your own home. Use it on your LinkedIn page, in your bylines, and for your online profile in professional networking groups. This is especially true for any home health OTs who have so much first-hand experience. Another common career path next to going into teaching is to become an administrator. Almost all medical device and equipment companies have sales representatives that visit hospitals and clinics to market their products to. This is such an excellent pointits so important to hone in on what fits best with you, your life, and your individual needs/interests. We hope this article helped you think of some new ways you can reimagine your career! For more on ergonomics, visit AOTAs ergonomics site here. Best of luck to you with whatever path you choose! Thank you so much for posting this. If they work as a cash business, not getting paid through insurance. It combines theory and functional knowledge of people and occupation, with the creative skills of design. In 2011, AOTA identified the low vision specialty as an emerging niche. A big part of the reason for this focus area growing is the fact that the U.S. and many other developed nations are facing a large aging population in the coming decades. OTs can be trained in and administer cognitive behavioral therapy to populations in need. For the purposes of this article, non-traditional refers to anything outside of conventional hands-on patient care roles. I am attempting to research other careers I may fit into but not much success. Some of these options usually require Bachelors degrees or that you are an OTR, but you can certainly still find an alternative path as a COTA. I know its an additional certification that an OT would have to get, but thought I would bring it up since it is an alternative career path for an OT, since OT does involve a lot of teaching and working with individuals with disabilities. Mental health in OT is a much smaller niche than the typical rehab settings, but if your passion is in mental health, you can start looking on Indeed.com for OT mental health settings (you may need to branch out into other cities as these jobs are typically harder to find). Youre going to need to network as much as possible. This is Merediths flagship course. Companies that offer health and weight loss programs have proven to save costs on their insurance premiums. Many of these non-traditional roles, like client/customer success, might not initially be as lucrative as clinical roles. Thank you, Andy! Itll help your case! This is such a perfect role for an occupational therapist! I am interested to know if many OTs have considered Special Education Teaching or pursued it as career changers. If youre interested in technology and the advancing future applications, this may be something to think about pursuing long-term as well. She is also the host of the OT Potential Podcast. This option is becoming popular as more and more healthcare websites are popping up daily, and need frequent articles to publish. Just this week I quit my job from acute care. Writing. Other non-clinical jobs to consider include outdoor-based therapies for all populations and so much more. For me (Sarah), my hobby of writing an OT blog became a career when I switched my mindset. Interesting, how much training did you need for that? Thanks for sharing. It is designed for people who know they want to pivot to a new career, but arent sure what they want to do, nor how to create resumes, find jobs, interview, negotiate, etc. Thank you for the great ideas as well as links to further learn about them. This is one of those times when youll have to get out and volunteer and network as much as possible. These roles are ideal for OTs who have an eye for noticing potential hazards in peoples homes. This means a time commitmentand, yes, a money commitment. ATP professionals create accessibility technology for those with disabilities. A common career path for occupational therapists after theyve been in the field for several years or several decades is to go into teaching and/or research at a specific occupational therapy program. Some careers require additional education or training, or they might necessitate relocation. Looking more towards the future, this is an easy field to get excited about, especially when you see things like this in the news:Prosthetic Limbs, Controlled by Thought. You might want to check with your states individual regulations just to be sure. I graduated last year and have been looking non stop for a position Ive applied to countless places and some respond back while others do not and I have had only 1 live interview and 4 phone call interviews. These articles are basically done-for-you informational interviews of all sorts of rehab professionals in non-traditional roles . I studied how I could make my articles align with the questions people ask. Find your favorites, then watch their career pages to see if one of the positions might be for you! Here are some other ways to explore what is out there. Organize lunches and in-services. There are some clinics that focus solely on occupational therapy, and these are typically in the pediatric and hand-therapy disciplines. To learn more about becoming a specialist, you can check out the Assistive Technology Association (ATIA) website. Theyre an excellent introduction into the world of startups, not to mention a great networking opportunity! If there is anything that I can do here on this website or collaborate with evidenced based research or any type of publication to get this good word out, please do let me know!!! An informational interview is a quick conversation where you ask a professional questions about their job. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. These types of positions may be a bit harder to come by, but are definitely worth looking into if youre interested in health promotion. Rock on, OTs!!! Some require that you take a steep pay cut to enter the field. These articles can be related to occupational therapy, but may also involve other medical topics that OTs are familiar with. Much thanks That said, after youve spent a few years getting your feet wet, you are more likely to catch up to (and often far exceed) what you were making as a clinician. This post was originally published May 30th, 2017 and updated on February 29, 2020. If youre ready to start your own practice, WebPT has put together a great resource about starting a therapy clinic from scratch. If youre a writer, designer, usability expert or anything else, once you have your basic skills established, a great place to start is by picking up freelance work. Attend mixers with local home builders, contractors, and corporate development firms. There probably isnt an OT provider out there who hasnt thought about taking a break from patient care. our interview with Kaia Health Product Manager, Winnie Tsui, OTL, CHT, MBA. Writing is awesome, though. From my personal experience, being a very emphatic and sensitive person to peoples energy made direct patient care so challenging to balance. For other mental health settings to look into, check out this post covering a variety of areas to work in: Occupational Therapy in Mental Health: An Overview of 6 Typical Settings Best of luck in your job search! Occupational injustices present an exciting non-traditional/non-clinical community based setting in which to do holistic OT treatment. Given the number of paths you can take within education, theres really no one set path to get there. For more information about careers in medical sales, check out this post on Monster.com:Pharma, Biotech, Medical-Device Sales: Which Is for You? Many OTs and COTAs have also tied their love of health promotion into starting their own health coaching business that targets people looking to improve their health and well-being. So is there any jobs right now I could look at or apply to to get my foot in the door without having to go back to school or getting another liscence? There are also other holistic avenues you can take when starting your own private practice. Its not just young, tech-savvy OTs going into usability design, eithercheck out this inspiring story about a 90-year-old occupational therapist whos helping design products for older adults at IDEO. Thanks, Geraldine for these great suggestions! To get started, Upwork is a great platform that most businesses hire their writers from. However, being an occupational therapist, we are able to effectively decipher other therapists notes and determine the necessity of the treatments being billed. If anyone can share any additional suggestions for Ashley please do! 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