Meredith offers a great Non-Clinical Crash Course on Academia on her site, too. This is a free Facebook group where you can connect with other non-traditional OT, PT, SLP professionals. 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 . 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. Learn how your comment data is processed. Liaisons face quotas, so if you hate productivity requirements, you might not enjoy this role. An informational interview is a quick conversation where you ask a professional questions about their job. Thanks for sharing. Thanks again for sharing! 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. Even if you dont move up in your existing company, you can list what youve done on your resume and start applying for lead roles at other facilities. You can start your own blog, or you can reach out to websites to get published and start racking up some bylines. Another great option would be to work in vocational rehab in a community-based setting. Writing is awesome, though. 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). Aurora, NE 68818, OT Potential Occupational Therapy Resources. Also is there any volunteer activities that I could be doing in the mean time that could help me out ? offer contract work (similar to registry or per diem work) for creatives. Hi Jeanne, If youre interested in giving this a try for My OT Spot, were always looking for guest collaborators to provide great occupational therapy content. If youre interested in a career in rehab technologyand you can afford the time and costyou must try out a healthcare hackathon. Glad I found you at the perfect time in my career. There are tons of software and tech companies that need help with usability. This is an important question. Loved this article. This post was originally published May 30th, 2017 and updated on February 29, 2020. You dont necessarily need to go to court. There are also other holistic avenues you can take when starting your own private practice. 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. It has templates for your CV, resume, and cover letter, and it provides guidance on the interview and presentation parts of landing a role. It might take a bit of applying to a variety of positions but explaining to the prospective employers about your experience will be really beneficial. Your first byline is most difficult to attain. Any career transition requires self-discipline and time. Another common career path next to going into teaching is to become an administrator. 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. This of course will require more direct hands-on experience, so it may not be not for everyone. Hi Martin, thanks for your comment. With each course enrollment, you get job application materials (sample resumes, sample cover letters, etc.) Youre going to need to network as much as possible. 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. Martin. Working in mental health as an occupational therapist is similar tobeing a mental health counselor. While written for a physical therapy clinic, their model can certainly be followed for starting any type of therapy clinic. Thanks, Geraldine for these great suggestions! This is yet another great option to go into if you have a passion for helping people but do not find traditional settings like hospitals a good fit for you personally. You would set your own hourly rates. Weve created this guide to get you started, and to help you find the top resources for making a career pivot. Then list those experiences on your resume. If tapping people to ask for their time gives you the heebie jeebies, dont worry! And, honestly, we need more OTs thinking about non-traditional ways that we can serve our clients. She is also the host of the OT Potential Podcast. I think that there is a huge demand for this, in particularly targeting the opioid users where we are seeing such a wide spread use. Hi You can also look outside the rehab world and join groups geared toward the career path(s) of your choice. If going back to college to work isnt your thing, you can also teach continuing education courses around the country in your specialty. I love the article but Im still lost. As clinicians, we are usually pretty comfortable with our clinical skills, even if we dont know everything. The best part about being an OT entrepreneur is that you have the freedom to choose what youre most passionate about. 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. 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. Thank you, Andy! You can become an OT professor, an adjunct instructor, a tutor, a subject matter expert, or a con-ed instructor. I transitioned from working in SNF/ Home health to now working as a clinical liaison after having a small ergonomics consultation business in Hawaii (Aging with Aloha) and its been a great fit. Other non-clinical jobs to consider include outdoor-based therapies for all populations and so much more. I do hope this list at least gives you a few non-physical types of job ideas to help you with your career transition. Offer to cover the scheduling board or take point on busy days. Cash-based OT, early intervention, nature-based OT and other types of niche roles are not considered non-traditional for the purposes of this article. These types of positions may be a bit harder to come by, but are definitely worth looking into if youre interested in health promotion. For example, some cases are more about chart reviews and writing your expert opinion based on what youve read. There is a huge need to be filled in this arena, and OTs are a great fit to help here as well. In her own journey into tech, she started with consulting on the side and this grew into full time opportunities. I have 28 years in as a COTA in the nursing home setting. 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!!! Theyre an excellent introduction into the world of startups, not to mention a great networking opportunity! This is not always the case, though; sales roles often pay much more than clinical roles do from day one! Id like to add two more to your list. Thanks again for the article, it did open my eyes! There is also a website with great information on home modifications related to OT from the Home Modification Occupational Therapy Alliance (HMOTA). I came to the conclusion that Occupational Therapy most closely aligned with my personality. Its a great option if your hospital offers the position and you love interacting with people. 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. A headshot is an easy way to start establishing your personal brand. 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. I regret not going back to school for my OTR, but I have to move forward. Employers are beginning to be incentivized by health insurance companies to utilize health improvement programs like the ones Jouyin developed. for MSOT admission. They would be providing services, but would they need an OTR? 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. Sarah Lyon has also put together an article titled Resources to Start (and Grow) Your Occupational Therapy Businessfor some additional insight and inspiration. Meredith has a huge list of non-clinical career spotlights on her site. Youll spend your days scrutinizing environments, then making recommendations to ensure they are free from hazards and have injury prevention measures in place. 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. The world of education is filled with opportunities for OTs. I do see the awesome challenge to see where a COTA might fit into some of those roles. I found this information to be interesting but wanted to see if others had any additional thoughts on job opportunities. 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. For example, if you are the Inpatient Rehab manager, you are responsible for the work of all PTs, OTs, and SLPs in that department. The next two years showed her that others wanted guidance on doing the same. The documentation, stress, productivity and inconsistency between supervisors were factored into my decision. As in inpatient OT, Ive been looking for alternative careers and economics and sales excite me the most. The not-so-good news is that you need to be a bit more strategic about pursuing such jobs, at least compared to clinical roles. There is more to it than you might think, and if youre interested, Id recommend checking out The Association for Driver Rehabilitation Specialists. I am a new grad and I can say with certainty that I dont want to work in SNF, hospitals, or OP. Definitelyequipment sales jobs are perfect for OTs and OTAs! Whether its going to work, the grocery store, doctors appointment, or a family members house, the most common way to get everywhere is by car. As a COTA, can I do some of these things as well? If you make yourself an expert salesperson, or you learn the ins and outs of online sales strategies, you will easily excel in a role as a social media manager, or where youre marketing (selling) rehab practitioners services. Looking creatively at your career and skill set may enable you to help more people than ever would have been possible in 1:1 therapy. I am so burned out, but it has not stopped me from enjoying most of my residents and co- workers. My favorite part about my job was being creative, whether it was planned or on the fly, working one-on-one or in small groups, and discerning the level of assistance I should use so as to empower the student rather than inhibit he or she from progressing toward a goal. While there are certainly differences, it will be a helpful starting point to understand your options. Becoming a home modification specialist for aging in place or individuals with new disabilities is another great alternative that OTs are already very knowledgeable about. Organize lunches and in-services. 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! 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. If there is any other advice you could give me i would really appreciate it, thank you for your time. Then, when you apply for the rehab liaison roles, play up your connections big timeyoull need them! The wonderful thing about being an occupational therapist or COTA is that our education and experience is so versatile, but it can be hard to know exactly where to turn if you want to do something out of the norm. 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! So I was trying to see if I would fit in any other career with my associates degree. I am excited to see non-traditional jobs being promoted, and there are more than just the opportunities listed above!! All the allopathic therapies leave some side effects on the patients care. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. I am working as a paraprofessional in the school but I feel I can find something that uses my knowledge and skills closer to what I went to school for. If youve landed on this article, you may be currently wondering, What else can I do with my occupational therapy degree that is not direct patient care? or are looking into non-clinical occupational therapy job options. Theres something rewarding and fulfilling about building something from nothing and seeing all that hard work pay off over a long period of time. Once youve made contacts with key players in the contracting and architecture/design industries, you can really beef up your resume (or maybe even your references, if you make nice)! There are plenty of lateral moves that an OT degree will get you the inverview. We hope this article helped you think of some new ways you can reimagine your career! OTs can be trained in and administer cognitive behavioral therapy to populations in need. If youre lucky enough to live near any of the 10 ADA centers in the U.S., you can also offer to volunteer. Non-Clinical 101 also contains an entire lesson to help you learn how to identify your marketable skills, find clients, and price yourself. 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. I have always been drawn to community based services but making the leap is dauntingI would appreciate any insight you have or suggestions for getting started in that direction. This route may also fall into the category of Business Owner/Entrepreneur as you can certainly start your own Home Modifications business. Its flexible, you can do it from anywhere, and its really easy and fun if it comes naturally to you. 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.. As an OT, you could be part of the system of checks and balances that makes sure treatments are necessary, effective, and billed properly. Very informative & encouraging site! Hope this helps! Hello fellow therapist. Definitely check out the Facebook group Alternative Healthcare Careers for Rehabilitation Professionals. A career change can affect more than just you. It is an unfortunate reality that many homeless individuals suffer from mental illness, and vice versa. 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. Thanks! This list of is certainly not exhaustive (as there are SO many options in this realm), but it should at least get the wheels turning! These cookies do not store any personal information. Gives me some hope of finding the just right fit as an OT. If you love patient care, but hate the physical and emotional toll it takes, definitely look into becoming a rehab liaison (or clinical liaison). You are also building something that, if profitable, increases in value and could eventually be sold. I have read this article but most of these jobs are for OTs that have been in the feild with experience. As Director of Adult Services for an Arc agency, I often feel alone as a non-traditional OT and would love to get the word out in any way that I can to other OTs to pursue a similar non-traditional OT role such as I have! Statement: The Occupational Therapist as Case Manager, The Association for Driver Rehabilitation Specialists, Certified Ergonomics Assessment Specialist, Alternative Careers for Rehabilitation Professionals, The Best Splinting Guide for Occupational Therapists, 6 of the Best Occupational Therapy Forums, 10 Reasons Why OTs Should Be Using Occupation-Based Interventions, Occupational Therapy in Mental Health: An Overview of 6 Typical Settings, Alternative Healthcare Careers for Rehabilitation Professionals. If anyone can share any additional suggestions for Ashley please do! Im always learning about new avenues from this group, so be sure to join if youre interested in making a switch. Thank you for your great article. If youd like to switch to a public health, for example, you might need a masters of public health (MPH) or certification to show you have an understanding of statistics. Remember, if you identify a way that you can solve someone elses problem, youll be very marketable! Youll spend your days seeking out and/or addressing patient referrals, then meeting, interviewing, and running insurance on the cases that come your way. For the purposes of this article, non-traditional refers to anything outside of conventional hands-on patient care roles. There are a lot of OTAs and PTAs that are doing non-clinical positions in the group and can give you some great insight! These are weekend events where youll team up with engineering and business professionals, as well as other clinicians, to tackle big problems in healthcare. Family members, significant others, and even friends might feel the impact of your change, so its vital to consider how much of a change makes sense for you at any given time. Sometimes its accompanied by a picture and short bio. There are many other resources for home modifications OTs, but these will get you started if youre interested in this alternative career path. They provide pathways to non-traditional career opportunities for all rehab professionals, including PTs, OTs, SLPs, and assistants. First of all, you can join some of the free Facebook groups below. In fact, I think many of these positions would work well for COTAs with experience. Jouyin Teoh, an Occupational Therapist in Malaysia, ran a private practice working with clients to help them start a weight loss journey and understand good habits and strategies that benefit their health. While some informational interviews do turn into jobs or mentorship opportunities, you should never assume this will be the case. Going non-traditional doesnt need to mean non- treatment! 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 youre a staff OT, ask to help out in as many unique and unconventional ways as possible. For more information about careers in medical sales, check out this post on Monster.com:Pharma, Biotech, Medical-Device Sales: Which Is for You? This means a time commitmentand, yes, a money commitment. Rehab liaisons, also known as intake coordinators or intake liaisons, are responsible for finding the right patients for inpatient rehab facilities/inpatient rehab units (IRFs/IRUs). Its not necessary, but its helps you feel committed psychologically when you feel youve truly exhausted all options in clinical care before trying something new. And if youre branched out into another non-clinical career path, please share your experiences in the comments below. Just this week I quit my job from acute care. Thank you! Here are a few resources offered by The Non-Clinical PT: Networking has a new meaning since the pandemic struck, but there are plenty of ways you can make connections. If you are not OK with this, you can opt-out if you wish. Its been such a fun journey and the amount of knowledge I have gained is invaluable! The main issue is that, even though we have the perfect background for these roles, we are not landing them. 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. While the hackathon scene has slowed down a bit because of the pandemic and economic changes, a good Google search shows theyre still taking place. For your own journey into health tech, weve made this post of influential health tech companies for you to look into. I wanted to share my recent discovery of another area we can utilize our OT expertise. If youre going in this direction, check out Home Modification OT Alliance! But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. 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. The initial leap into a non-traditional role will be the most challenging, but once youre there, youll rock it! Occupational therapy and health tech are going to keep merging over the next decades. What a great article to get the wheels turning! What does your job entail? Rock on, OTs!!! 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. 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? Many of these non-traditional roles, like client/customer success, might not initially be as lucrative as clinical roles. Not sure where youre located, but Center for Community Partnerships in Fort Collins, CO is a great agency for community integration/job retention services. 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). Youll also need to take exams to get certified. 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 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. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. This is one of those times when youll have to get out and volunteer and network as much as possible. OTs are perfect for becoming Assistive Technology Professionals since we use it regularly with our patients, whether its low tech or high techassistive technology. This is such an excellent pointits so important to hone in on what fits best with you, your life, and your individual needs/interests. Join online forums. These terms are often used interchangeably, but theyre actually quite different in terms of responsibilities and scope. That said, the quotas are usually very reasonable, unlike clinical productivity expectations these days! I also have fibromyalgia and joint hypermobility syndrome. I am a COTA/L in NC with over 22 years of experience mainly in pediatrics. If you want more info, heres a comprehensive guide on Merediths site that covers transitioning from clinician to copywriter. May I reach out to possibly feature you on The Non-Clinical PT?? 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. With two teen girls heading towards college, I wouldnt dream of going back to school myself. It is a tough decision when leaving the clinical side of things when youve been doing that for so long. Areas of focus include office ergonomics, production ergonomics, musculo-skeletal injury prevention, general health and wellness promotion. It feels like every company I work with requests my headshot at some point. 1. Writing is awesome, though. I am considering an alternative career in OT. The course comes with tons of resume downloads, interview prep materials, self-assessment activities, and early access to non-clinical jobs. . It is possible. We can also move into roles where we consult with practices to help them improve their billing and workflow practices. If youre interested in working with home modifications, be sure to also check out AOTAs Home Modifications page. Im always excited to hear about even more versatile ways our degrees can be used. Do you see COTAs being valuable in such a position? According to AOTAs article about low vision: Many older adults experience age-related vision changes that cant be corrected with eyeglasses, contact lenses, or surgery. 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). To get started, Upwork is a great platform that most businesses hire their writers from.
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