What is Occupational Therapy?

Your life is made up of occupations – meaningful everyday activities. It can include many roles, such as being a parent, a friend, a spouse, a tennis player, an artist, a cook, a banker or a miner.

We generally don’t think about our daily occupations until we have trouble doing them. Everyone has occupations – from the toddler whose occupations are play and learning to develop important skills, to the adult whose occupations are engaging with family and friends and managing his or her home.

If you are recovering from an accident, incident, trauma or injury, your daily activities (occupations) may be disrupted. OT incorporates these valued daily activities into the rehabilitation process and enable you to participate again in the occupations you want to, need to, or are expected to do, or by modifying the occupation or the environment to better support your occupational engagement.

With occupational services you can:

• Achieve goals, such as helping your teenager with a developmental disability gain the skills to transition from high school to independent living as an adult.
• Stay as healthy and productive as possible, while managing a chronic medical condition.
• Maintain or rebuild your independence, such as using assistive devices so you can care for yourself after a stroke.
• Participate in the everyday activities important to you, such as driving, visiting friends, going to church, and other activities that keep you involved with your community.