Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy is a client-centered health profession concerned with promoting health and well-being through occupation. The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life. Occupational therapists achieve this outcome by working with people and communities to enhance their ability to engage in the occupations they want to, need to, or are expected to do, or by modifying the occupation or the environment to better support their occupational engagement. Occupational therapists believe that participation can be supported or restricted by the physical, social, cultural, attitudinal and legislative environments. Therefore, occupational therapy practice is focused on enabling individuals to change aspects of their person, the occupation, the environment or some combination of these to enhance occupational participation.

Clients are actively involved in the occupational therapy process. The outcomes are client-driven and measured in terms of participation, satisfaction derived from occupational participation and/or improvement in occupational performance. Occupational therapy is practiced in a wide range of public, private, voluntary sector settings, such as the person’s home environment; schools; workplaces; health centers; supported accommodation; housing for seniors; rehabilitation centers; hospitals and forensic services.

Occupational therapists are at the forefront of rehabilitative services and are important role-players in achieving social integration and economic participation for people with disabilities (whether physical or mental).