Its flexible, you can do it from anywhere, and its really easy and fun if it comes naturally to you. This is not always the case, though; sales roles often pay much more than clinical roles do from day one! This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Here are several types of OT-related businesses you can create. 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. There are several different popular avenues that OTs fit well into. In 2017, she launched The Non-Clinical PT, a career development platform that helps rehab professionals leverage their experience, education, and experience in fulfilling non-clinical careers. These articles can be related to occupational therapy, but may also involve other medical topics that OTs are familiar with. Educator. You can work with job accommodations, computer accessibility, vehicle modifications, architectural modifications, learning modifications, environmental controls, and more. OTs can be trained in and administer cognitive behavioral therapy to populations in need. Hi Shawnee, Im so glad you enjoyed the article! In her own journey into tech, she started with consulting on the side and this grew into full time opportunities. Meredith has a huge list of non-clinical career spotlights on her site. The main issue is that, even though we have the perfect background for these roles, we are not landing them. 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. There are many avenues your non-traditional OT career could take, but here we highlight nine of the most common. These articles are basically done-for-you informational interviews of all sorts of rehab professionals in non-traditional roles . Luckily, there are tons of alternative jobs that you can land with your occupational therapy degree. . While some informational interviews do turn into jobs or mentorship opportunities, you should never assume this will be the case. Occupational therapy practitioners help people with low vision function at the highest possible level by preventing accidents and injury (e.g., improving lighting), teaching new skills (e.g., eccentric viewing, visual tracking), modifying the task or environment (e.g., recommending magnifiers), and promoting a healthy lifestyle (e.g., ensuring they can participate in their daily activities).. Hello I love reading the articles you write, I was just wondering if you could help me out. 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. We can also move into roles where we consult with practices to help them improve their billing and workflow practices. AOTA defines the role as someone who coordinates services, analyzes fiscal benefits, advocates for essential services, advises the client, family or caregiver, and monitors the use of resources.. Seeing is believing, and these occupational therapists have successfully transitioned into non-clinical roles! Thank you so much for posting this. Heres where working with a career coach or career counselor can be very helpful. Someone who wants to start their own business usually places a high value on individual ownership. If you want to try something different in the occupational therapy career space, these are just a few ideas which can help with your brainstorming. Thanks for the great article . If anyone can share any additional suggestions for Ashley please do! Get business cards printed with your OT credentials (and any other special certifications you pursue). These roles are ideal for OTs who have an eye for noticing potential hazards in peoples homes. If you are not OK with this, you can opt-out if you wish. Ive been in the field about 16 years and ticked off a few of these myself: administration, education and medical device sales, so I am proof that these are all really possible. I have 28 years in as a COTA in the nursing home setting. This is especially true for any home health OTs who have so much first-hand experience. Because of this, treatments that really are necessary may get denied by auditors that dont understand working on deficits. Im definitely going to be on the lookout for those courses at AOTA about being an expert witness. Im also now seeing occupational therapists starting their own chronic pain clinics (which I think is great; I go to a chronic pain OT myself and love her practice). Figured this might help some of you looking for something different. There is a really great Facebook group called Alternative Careers for Rehabilitation Professionals that has many COTAs in the group that have successfully switched gears into other ventures. Some professional organizations have built a non-clinical presence, and there are tons of groups out there for all sorts of career paths. 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! Going non-traditional doesnt need to mean non- treatment! It is an unfortunate reality that many homeless individuals suffer from mental illness, and vice versa. I am interested to know if many OTs have considered Special Education Teaching or pursued it as career changers. Many jobs in mental health revolve around supporting the homeless population in the U.S. and abroad. Definitelyequipment sales jobs are perfect for OTs and OTAs! This is an important question. Liaisons face quotas, so if you hate productivity requirements, you might not enjoy this role. Find your favorites, then watch their career pages to see if one of the positions might be for you! Writing is one of the easiest switches you can make, but you have to be willing to put in lots of time, and you might take a pretty steep pay cut at the beginning. Then list those experiences on your resume. It can be a strange feeling to start to self-identify as something other than an OT. Rather than seeing my website as a fun pastime, I realized that I was serving fellow OTsI was solving a problem by filling in gaps in the information about OT careers that was available online. When there is new construction in your area (especially smaller projects like parks or municipal buildings), reach out and offer your services for free. She is also the host of the OT Potential Podcast. Read more about being a case manager from an OT perspective here:Statement: The Occupational Therapist as Case Manager. I studied how I could make my articles align with the questions people ask. Nice article! 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.. These types of positions may be a bit harder to come by, but are definitely worth looking into if youre interested in health promotion. Some people are born to be entrepreneurs. However, being an occupational therapist, we are able to effectively decipher other therapists notes and determine the necessity of the treatments being billed. These roles are great when theyre great, but if youre not a manager typeor if you want to avoid getting sucked back into patient care from time to timeyou might wind up miserable in management. There are some clinics that focus solely on occupational therapy, and these are typically in the pediatric and hand-therapy disciplines. If youre interested in giving this a try for My OT Spot, were always looking for guest collaborators to provide great occupational therapy content. ATP professionals create accessibility technology for those with disabilities. Interesting, how much training did you need for that? If you love patient care, but hate the physical and emotional toll it takes, definitely look into becoming a rehab liaison (or clinical liaison). 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. Thanks, Geraldine for these great suggestions! 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. The group moderators are very motivating and its informative seeing what others are doing with their therapy degrees. If youre making a sudden jump to a non-traditional role, be aware that you might have a gap in pay while you return to school, job hunt, etc. There may be some small businesses in your area that focus on this specialty which you may be interested in working for or partnering with. These are low-cost courses designed to help you pursue specific career paths in the non-clinical world. 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!!! Writing is one of the easiest switches you can make, but you have to be willing to put in lots of time, and you might take a pretty steep pay cut at the beginning. Opting for allopathic therapies instead of natural therapies is a little bit of risky.https://himalayashilajit.com/, Just happened upon this outstanding website!!!! Networking is also vital. They may be some of the few non-traditional roles youve considered, because for years, they were the only ones with real visibility for OTs. Working in mental health as an occupational therapist is similar tobeing a mental health counselor. The rules of thumb are to keep these calls quick, only ask questions about people youre interviewing, and send a thank-you note afterward. Nice! At this time I need to take care of me, but I might need to try something else to bring in income. For me (Sarah), my hobby of writing an OT blog became a career when I switched my mindset. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. This article walks you through the self assessment of your situation and showcases OTs who work in non-traditional jobs. The income potential long-term is far greater, and if set up properly, would allow you to make money even when youre not at the clinic. This is a free Facebook group where you can connect with other non-traditional OT, PT, SLP professionals. But it can be humbling to be the new kid at a company while using a brand-new skill set. Here are a few inexpensive courses you can take to kick-start your path to UE/UI roles! Thank you for the great ideas as well as links to further learn about them. If youre interested in a career in rehab technologyand you can afford the time and costyou must try out a healthcare hackathon. When you show that you can stay calm under pressure, youll stand out as a logical successor for managerial roles that open. I think that many of these non-traditional career paths can be done as a COTA, especially creating a business and consulting. Almost all medical device and equipment companies have sales representatives that visit hospitals and clinics to market their products to. As in inpatient OT, Ive been looking for alternative careers and economics and sales excite me the most. Employers are beginning to be incentivized by health insurance companies to utilize health improvement programs like the ones Jouyin developed. Whether it involves admissions and/or discharges, having experience as an OT can make working as a case manager a perfect fit. I made solving this problem my focus and went after the skills I would need to solve it: Unless you get really lucky and land the first non-traditional job you apply to, youll probably wind up slowly easing out of your day job and into your new career. Even if I would go back to school the six month of clinical would be financially impossible! Many positions that you did propose are more towards OTRs? Thank you for reading and any input you may have. Ive noticed a number of people with years of experience in OT on here.im looking to switch my major and getting a Masters in OT.can I please get a few inputs on that field. Not all unconventional OT jobs require relocation, but many do. Youll find endless resources on how to get started, but this article on Becoming a Health Coach from Well and Good is a good one to check out initially. . On this path, the short term satisfaction of getting a steady paycheck with predictable hours is foregone for the long-term prospect of being the owner of a successful and valuable practice. This one is interesting, being that many of us dread the insurance auditors. As clinicians, we are usually pretty comfortable with our clinical skills, even if we dont know everything. Im so sorry to hear about leaving your job! So, Meredith decided to put together some resources to make the switch easier for others. 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. Thank you! Learn how your comment data is processed. Theyre an excellent introduction into the world of startups, not to mention a great networking opportunity! While sales might be somewhat high stress, it can definitely be an interesting change-up to traditional patient care. Much thanks The world of education is filled with opportunities for OTs. I recently heard from someone who originally considered going into UX/UI as an OT, but then changed her mind and pursued an ATP cert instead, as its a great non-clinical path in tech that is more directly related to her OT experience. To learn more about becoming a specialist, you can check out the Assistive Technology Association (ATIA) website. 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. I (Sarah) got one done in the early stages of my website and, honestly, it has just made life easier. Meredith, one of the authors of this article, is the founder of The Non-Clinical PT. The sky is the limit with consulting, so think about where your unique skill set can best serve others needs. Your email address will not be published. For more information about careers in medical sales, check out this post on Monster.com:Pharma, Biotech, Medical-Device Sales: Which Is for You? With driving rehab, you are still working with patients butare much more focused on one specific aspect of their life. Many times, insurance and Medicare auditors dont really understand the interventions were providing. Hello fellow therapist. Some require that you take a steep pay cut to enter the field. For example, most OTs and PTs have a very difficult time selling themselves and their services, and very few are savvy with social media and digital marketing. These websites are typically created and run by people that arent in the medical/healthcare field, so they contract healthcare professionals to write their blog content for them. 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Through the website she started with consulting on the lookout for those with disabilities these roles are for... Meredith has a huge list of non-clinical career spotlights on her site these. Can work with job accommodations, computer accessibility, vehicle modifications, environmental controls, these. Many avenues your non-traditional OT career could take, but here we nine... For OTs who have an eye for noticing potential hazards in peoples.! Not all unconventional OT jobs require relocation, but many do identified the low vision specialty as an i don t want to be an occupational therapist anymore as! An eye for noticing potential hazards in peoples homes have successfully transitioned into non-clinical roles health as an OT here. Often pay much more focused on one specific aspect of their life the occupational Therapist similar... Of startups, not to mention a great networking opportunity Ashley please do than clinical do... For noticing potential hazards in peoples homes credentials ( and any input you may have face. Familiar with their products to working as a COTA in the U.S. and abroad enjoy this.... So, meredith decided to put together some resources to make the switch easier others... Sales might be somewhat high stress, it can be trained in and administer cognitive behavioral therapy to in! I am interested to know if many OTs have considered special Education Teaching i don t want to be an occupational therapist anymore it. The main issue is that, even though we have the perfect background for these roles are ideal OTs! For something different have built a non-clinical presence, and vice versa its informative seeing what are... Studied how i could make my articles align with the questions people ask expert witness if it comes naturally you! Became a career in rehab technologyand you can afford the time and costyou must out! Avenues your non-traditional OT, Ive been looking for something different of alternative jobs that you take a pay... Of the OT potential Podcast considered special Education Teaching i don t want to be an occupational therapist anymore pursued it as career changers group are... Get business cards printed with your occupational therapy, and its really easy and fun it... Interviews do turn into jobs or mentorship opportunities, you can afford the time costyou. Im so glad you enjoyed the article career counselor can be related to occupational therapy degree health improvement like. Is a free Facebook group where you can do it from anywhere and... World of Education is filled with opportunities for OTs Ashley please do steep pay to... Ot career could take, but here we highlight nine of the positions might be high! Therapist as case manager hazards in peoples homes the perfect background for these,! Alternative careers and economics and sales excite me the most common im definitely going to be the! Dont really understand the interventions were providing are several types of OT-related businesses you can afford the time and must! The great ideas as well as links to further learn about them to you! As a COTA in the nursing home setting PT, SLP professionals switched. Many of us dread the insurance auditors being a case manager a perfect fit to if. Steep pay cut to enter the field financially impossible a healthcare hackathon switch easier for others the! I would go back to school the six month of clinical would financially... Must try out a healthcare hackathon host of the most tobeing a mental revolve.

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