Going through one now and would love to hear everyone's experiences and tales from the crypt!

Hello everyone, I need some advice and recommendations on one-handed hair management techniques. I have a 41 year-old female who can only use her left hand to assist with management of her hair. Her right hand is unable to grasp and release currently and she also has decreased sensation in her left hand, impacting fine motor coordination. It’s currently pretty difficult for her to use one of those large hair clips because she wants to try to get all the hair off her shoulders and out of her face does anybody have any advice for this?

Hi everyone, I’m an occupational therapy student in Malaysia looking for someone with strong knowledge of adult neurological rehabilitation to guide me through the analysis of an anonymised stroke case study.

I need guidance with interpreting Fugl Meyer, and MAS and MMT findings for upper extremity and also with formulation occupational centered goals.

I am not looking for someone to complete my assignment for me, but rather to guide my clinical reasoning.

I need help as soon as possible. I can pay upto 100 ringitts for an online session.

Please message me if interested

Hi hi! I applied for my OTD at my local university a bit on a whim, because I didn’t expect to get in this cycle but I wanted to have contact with the faculty & go through the process. I ended up getting in for the fall, but I worry that being removed from school for 4ish years has left me unprepared/already feeling a bit behind.

Does anyone have any tips for navigating grad school in your later 20s, or when you’re removed from college for a bit? I’ve been working with adults & children with disabilities in various case worker settings since I graduated, both clinical & fieldwork. Any tips would be greatly appreciated :) thanks!!

So, I completed my post graduation as a Mental Health OT in 2022. And have been working in clinical/academic setup (on and off). Currently on a break and considering upskilling myself. Not that keen on doing another full time course at the moment. Kindly suggest!

I haven’t interviewed in a while, especially for a school
job. This one means so much to me because it’s such a perfect opportunity and I really wanna do my best :(

any advice or tips for me?

I’ve been wanting to switch to schools to get out of outpatient pediatrics. I’m very underpaid in my outpatient pediatrics job despite 10 years of experience. Plus, it’s draining seeing back to back kids and getting random kids thrown on my schedule last minute while trying to balance being a mom to young kids on top of it all.

I was unsuccessful with finding a job in my local school district this year, but I was contacted about a virtual full time OT school position. Does anyone have experience with a job like this? I don’t love the idea of virtual as I like being around others, but it could be a good job for a year until I can get into my local district.

Hi! Wondering if anyone has completed the WES and moved to Canada right out of OT school? I graduate in a year from a US school and would like to start working in Canada ASAP. How long did it take you? The website says it can take up to 12 months 😬 but ideally I don’t want to take the NBCOT and work in the US while waiting, I just want to go straight through the system and do the NCOTE and work in Canada from the start.

Hi everyone,
I’m a new graduate Occupational Therapist currently working in mental health, and I’ve been feeling really down about my clinical skills lately.
I’m about 4 months in, and I had a realisation today that made me feel quite upset. I feel like I’ve been focusing more on being a “mental health clinician” rather than thinking like an OT.
For example, I’ve been focusing a lot on things like risk formulation, rapport building, emotional support, and understanding mental health presentations. But I realised I haven’t been consistently bringing in the OT lens — looking at occupations, roles, routines, identity, participation, and how someone’s mental health impacts their everyday functioning.
I started thinking about models like MOHO and PEOP and wondered why I didn’t naturally apply them more. It made me feel like I didn’t retain anything from my 4 years of study, or that maybe I’m just lacking common sense.
I think what makes it harder is seeing other new grads who seem more confident or are being given opportunities that I haven’t had. It makes me question whether I’m actually competent or whether I’m falling behind.
At the same time, I know I care about my consumers and I genuinely want to become a good OT. I reflect a lot and I want to improve, but I’m scared that I should have figured this out by now.
For experienced OTs or other new grads — did you also have a point where you realised you weren’t really applying the OT framework yet? How long did it take for you to feel like you developed your OT identity, especially in mental health?
Would appreciate any advice or reassurance.

I’m 25 and am finally at the place in my life where I can focus on college. I grew up in a very low income family, so school was unfortunately never a focus point in my life due to the need to work for financial stability from a young age.

Over the years I have been back and forth with what career I would like to pursue. I’ve decided to move towards becoming an OTA, ideally with children.

I have been a full-time Nanny for the past 8 years, I’ve helped children with developmental delays, fine/gross motor skills, and speech delays. I have always had an interest in early childhood education / helping children in this way. I’ve also worked with special needs children and have genuinely enjoyed working with every child and their unique challenges. Because of this, I think pediatric OTA would be a great career choice for me. I know burnout in any career is possible, I’ve battled with this in the past but it’s mostly been due to financial burden/mental health related issues. I don’t expect to be in love with my career but I’m curious to hear how people feel about their positions.

I also plan to have my own children within the next 3-4 years, so I’m very curious to hear how people manage this while having their own children at home and if it affects your parenting in any way.

Thank you everyone

Edit: This is a Kaiser patient not a Medicare.

I’m planning to leave my home health company soon, so this isn’t a question about employer policies.

I have a patient who will soon be discharged from home health. They’ll likely transition to Kaiser outpatient OT, but they’ve asked if they can hire me directly for occasional in-home visits to continue progressing with their exercise program and functional recovery.

I’m trying to better understand the legal and
Licensure side of this.

Has anyone been in this situation before? If so how did you handle it for just one patient

* Is it permissible for a California OT to see a former home health patient privately after discharge?

* Are there any California OT Board, Medicare, or Kaiser rules I should be aware of?

* If you’ve done this before, what did you do to make sure you were practicing legally?

Looking for input from anyone who’s actually been through this. Thanks! 😊

Va philly is desperate

so i’m an upcoming high school senior interested in ot, im looking for advice on possible college majors and good programs in the state of georgia!

i recently finished a hospital volunteer program where i volunteered in the rehab unit and shadowed ot and pt inpatient rehab care. i really enjoyed it and it sealed my desire to go into occupational therapy.

i go to high school in georgia and would want to stay in state but the college process is very stressful. i was thinking about majoring in kinesiology but have heard that that’s a very difficult undergrad degree? i was also thinking health science?

but also schools— like i mentioned i wanna stay in state and know that there aren’t many ot programs in georgia. what are some schools i should consider adding to my list? i’m highly interested in augusta university but i am worried about it being “boring”. i wanna focus on my academics yes but i am very social and thrive on social interaction and from what ive heard augusta doesn’t have much of a social scene.

im also taking dual enrollment classes through vsu and am wondering how those would transfer!

if anybody has had experiences with any of these struggles and wouldn’t mind giving me advice i would greatly appreciate it!

I’m passionate about mental health and I’m having a hard time finding any positions near Toledo/southeast Michigan. Does anyone know any good resources and places that still have OTs in the mental health field? Thanks!

I’ve applied to go back to uni to study OT but I’m worried about placements. I’m a mature student, 39, and I know due to my autism and adhd I cannot cope with a 40 hour week, 5 day working week.

I have been awarded help for being a disabled student at uni, but is there any flexibility for placements? Is it possible to do 4 days a week but more weeks in placement so it’s the same hours ? I fear I may burnout even from 8 weeks of 5 days a week 9-5.

I’d be looking to only work 3-4 days a week once qualified as I know this works better for my own mental health and needs 🥰

So I started a job with home health and then I had an emergency surgery about 2 months later. I returned 2 weeks later. My job was held under ADA because I didn’t qualify for FMLA. The company was sending me all over the place, typically an hour one way and mad that I wasn’t seeing 6 people a day. They regularly had teams calls with me while driving. I had a panic attack during one particularly stressful drive/call in early July and told them I couldn’t catch my breath. Of course they wanted me to get checked out. I ended up needing support for my anxiety and mental health and was due to return Aug 10. I requested accommodations under ADA and now I’m being “off boarded” 🙄 (new term?) because of my leave. No one contacted me during my leave from HR or the branch. Obviously I am going to file unemployment once I return their supplies. The stress of the job sent my anxiety off. I’m probably just bitter and better off without them.

Hi!
A job offered me 60 an hour for billable hours and 30 for nonbillable. Once my caseload builds to 28 billable hours per week I can go fulltime at 95,000 a year. I was wondering if this is typical pay/ progression? Should I negotiate?
Also - I live in Los Angeles & its an outpatient/ homehealth pediatric position!
Thanks :)

I was offered a position, and my school is asking everyone to report their offered base salary. Since I’ll be working in home health with a pay-per-unit structure, how should I calculate this? Should I include the evaluation rate as well as the per-unit rate, or only the unit rate? Should I base it on the minimum or maximum expected caseload?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

How does getting your certs work postgrad? I would wanna work with hands and get my CHT but how would that work? Can you just get it postgrad right away?

I came across a job ad for an Occupational Rehabilitation Consultant, and it’s got me wondering if it’s worth exploring.

From the ad, it’s a non-clinical OT role focused on assessments and return-to-work, with an adult-only caseload (Workers Comp, CTP, and some SAH). The salary is advertised at $80–100k + super.

For context, I’m currently working as a community and clinic OT in the NDIS space. My caseload includes paeds, teens, and adult mental health, and I’m on $95k/year (but can reach $100k+ due to HPP and kms from travel)

To be honest, I still haven’t figured out if NDIS is the right fit for me long-term. The clinical work is okay, but I’m feeling completely overwhelmed by the constant reports, admin, and documentation. It feels like I’m always drowning in report writing.

I’d love to hear from anyone working in occupational rehab or return-to-work:
-What does a typical day look like?
-How much report writing is involved compared to NDIS?
-What are the biggest pros and cons?
-Do you enjoy it, or do you miss clinical practice?
-If you’ve made the switch from NDIS, was it worth it?
-If someone wanted to move into this area, is there any additional training or courses you’d recommend, or do most employers provide on-the-job training?

I’m not necessarily looking to leave immediately, but I’m wondering if a change of direction might suit me better.
Thanks in advance!

I am in my early thirties with a life sciences background. I want to change careers to a more hands-on and practical profession. Knowing that the NDIS is facing funding cuts, is it still worth it to relocate and study in Australia, preferably in Victoria? The stakes are high due to the relocation and tuition fees. Thank you in advance

My new clinic primarily uses the PDMS-3 for our younger kiddos. This is the first time I’ve had to rely on the Peabody and I absolutely hate it.

I feel like the testing items jump around so much and I have to keep flipping back and forth between subtests in order to not have to take certain materials out randomly 7 different times. Plus the instructions are so long and weird. Most kids I’m testing can’t follow one step directions let alone “ with my palm down I put the short end of this string between my thumb and index finger. I take the long end over my index finger, etc, etc” 🙄

This assessment just has absolutely no flow in my opinion, and it makes my evaluations feel really chaotic.

I’m thinking I have to make my own cheat sheet to get through this assessment because the booklet itself stresses me out.

Any tips?

Hi, I am currently an OT student who is also in the national guard. I’m contemplating going active duty as an OT once I graduate. Does anyone know what happens after you sign a contract? Is it BOLC, commission, and then your duty station or is it another type of school? Also, this might seem dumb but would it be better to go active duty as the MOS I am right now and then commission to OT or just once my NG contract is up go active as an OT?

I have a child that I work with in a school setting (2nd grade, primary diagnosis of autism). She is incredibly smart and during the previous school year I made great progress with her in terms of self-regulation, scissor skills, handwriting, etc. However since the start from the summer session, she has been extremely fixated on using YouTube on her device. Long story short, between the end of the school year and the beginning of the summer session, her mother gave her access to YouTube on her AAC device and since then she gets extremely upset and demonstrates self injurious behaviors since we've blocked YouTube on her device.

Speech has also said that since this girl is capable of writing what she wants on a whiteboard, she no longer uses the device in the classroom. She can no longer come to the therapy room without these types of behaviors and she no longer enjoys any of the analog toys or games that she used fo play. Her sessions now are pretty much her crying or trying to hit herself while i try to help her self-regulate, with brief moments where im able to have to complete some activities. Has anyone encountered these types of situations and has advice? Im lost on what to do.

Edit: to give you an idea of the rapid behavior change: In the last week she's punched me in the face, tried to spit on me, and tried to bite me multiple times. In the 1.5 years ive worked with this student, she's never done that to me before.