Who can benefit from occupational therapy?
Occupational therapy (OT) is a health focused profession that revolves around professionals helping individuals, groups or even communities through occupation. The therapy encourages people to participate, recover and develop the skills to assist them with day to day activities. There are many different practices in place to help all sorts of people who may need occupational therapy such as the NDIS occupational therapy.
How does it work?
Occupation can mean a lot of things to different people. An example would be that some people see food shopping as a difficult chore while others may enjoy the activity. Each occupation is a combination of productivity, enjoyment and restoration that aids in changing people’s mindsets.
The task of getting people’s skillset and confidence to do these day to day tasks is what the heart of this profession is about.
photo Frerieke from The Hague, The Netherlands via wikimedia commons
Who does it help?
There are many different groups of people that can benefit from occupational therapy.
Children
Originally occupational therapy was used for children by keeping them occupied with meaningless tasks. IT has grown a long way from the since the 1950’s with serious results benefitting those involved and their families.
OTs work with families in a variety of settings to help get children’s development back on track. Infants, toddlers, even up to teenagers can all benefit from the interventions that have been successful for others in the past.
The focus is to build the skills to help enable the children to participate in day to day events. This includes social settings, playing with others, eating and assisting in attending school. For infants and toddlers the therapy sessions can also help with developing motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
Aged care
Geriatrics and other aged individuals can also benefit from OT. It focusses on helping them fulfil meaning lives by regaining their independence and participate in activities.
Driving is a common area of focus with the aging demographic as they tend to lose their eye sight they feel like they’re missing out on one of the importance’s of life. There are special driving assessments in place to make sure that those who are able to drive can by passing a test.
Individuals who are deemed a fall risk can also get their independence back in their life. An assessment of their house is made and necessary modifications are recommended to assist with day to day living. Giving people their independence back gives them their lives back and aids them with their recovery.
Mental health
One of the most rapidly growing forms of disability that is mental health issues can also be aided with OT. The treatment is a great way to prevent and treat many forms of mental illness across all populations.
From depression to war veterans, all areas can greatly benefit from this treatment, it’s just a case of implementing it to those that need it the most.
The treatment aims to give confidence back to do day to day tasks. Developing and implementing coping strategies in order to help overcome their mental health issue is also a focus for OTs.
Disabilities
Other non-mental forms of disabilities are also a focus for OT. For many families living with a child who has a disability can be difficult both financially and for the child’s development. There are NDIS occupational therapy services available where your insurance can burden some of the costs.
It’s a beneficial form of intervention to give people back their confidence and set them on the right path to having a meaningful life.
Simply giving people their confidence back can greatly help them with the quality of their lives. Occupational therapy is a great way to help those that are suffering with some form of disability and give them control over their lives.
Author: Colin Steinway
