Career Development & Leadership

Hi all,

Hope everyone is well. I am an occupational therapist looking to return to practice after 9 years. I would like to specialise in hand therapy, but am struggling to clinical placement experience. I am based in outer London near Amersham, but have a car, so not restricted too much in terms of location!

I have completed the BAHT level 1 in Hand Therapy (self funded).

Could any hand therapists who are able to provide support please reach out? I know it is not the easiest thing taking someone on but I am a very independent learner and would be happy to help with caseloads in whatever capacity I am able to. I am posting on here because I am not having much luck securing placements with Trusts.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I look forward to your response.

Hi. I'm at that moment in my life that I finally found courage to follow my dream and passion. I'm not even sure if I'm in the right place to ask, but I'm reaching out.

I'm 44 years old, done loads of different jobs through my entire life but just recently my path led me to a role as a carer. And I've found myself for the first time in my life.

I've been caring for a gentleman with MND and had an opportunity to take him to his hospital appointment with wheelchair services. What I saw there, how his new wheelchair is being tailored and built from scratch to suit his needs, that was absolutely amazing . All that problem solving and thinking outside the box. And of course being able to help another human being.

Problem is I'm from Poland. I have absolutely no knowledge about education in…

Hi folks,

First time poster here :)

I have just been offered a place on the MSc Occupational Therapy (pre registration) at the University of Brighton, UK. I'm thrilled, but also very much questioning if it's the right time for me to accept...

Some background:

I'm currently living in Australia but returning to live in the UK this August. The course starts on the 4th September. I haven't studied OT before, my first degree was a Bachelor of Arts 15 years ago, but I have been working as a music therapist in healthcare and community settings for the past 10 years, alongside OTs and other healthcare staff. I'm very rusty when it comes to study! But, I'm extremely passionate about OT and know it's the field I want to go into. I have two young children in school. I'm questioning if I should start the course this September, and just…

Hi everyone,

I'd love your help/ guidance on my situation as I plan to venture out on my own as a remote OT or Wellbeing Coach & working out my options.

I'm Australian and living in the UK on a skilled workers visa so a company is currently sponsoring me. I am keen to start my own business though and leave my 9-5 role and was wondering if any other Australian's have managed to do this while living in the UK? What visa were you able to get? (I can not obtain an ancestry visa/ the start up up/ entrepreneurial visa is also not an option for me at present).

Any suggestions on what I can do if I wish to live in the UK/ London as a base, have my own business & have the freedom to travel?

Any information/ guidance or alternative solutions would be deeply appreciated!

Thank…

Hi everyone, I hope everyone is having a lovely day,

I'm super excited about starting a new role as a new graduate in an early intervention setting, however, I am really nervous about the challenges I may face in this new role, I have started researching certain topics that may be relevant to this setting ( e.g podcast, journal articles,) and honestly, it can be quite overwhelming,

Hence, I was hoping to reach out to anyone here, if there is any specific topics that I should look into? and if there is any mentorship program that I can look into to seek further professional support, thank you!

Kind Regards, June

Today I read about Olympic athletes opening up about the relentless pressures of performing to their max and the mental health problems such as performance anxiety and depression as a result.

I don't mean to compare OTs with Olympic athletes, but I know that some OTs work in very stressful environments, are expected to deal with a huge workload, perform too long beyond healthy limits, meanwhile trying to satisfy their clients and most likely their manager too.

The question is: are you satisfied yourself? How long are you able to perform at this level? How long do you want to perform at this level? What do you need right now to stay happy and healthy? How do you prefer to work? How can you align your work with your values and life view? How can you make this happen?

Sometimes we need to step back, take a breath and be…

Hello,

I am looking for advice on preparing for an MOT interview. Specifically, what types of questions may be asked, how to prepare, what to know before I get there?

Thank you you so much for any advice n this matter!

I recently assisted selecting candidates for a BSc 4 year part time Occupational Therapy course and wanted to share my reflections to benefit others who may be going through a similar process. I am a clinician and I do not work in education. I had been asked to assist with this process by the University.

· At the start candidates were asked if they had any questions. This was a slow start and it became obvious those who had considered this question.

· Many of the candidates did not answer the question ‘why do you want to become an OT?’ Instead they answered ‘what job role do you do at the moment and how does this relate to OT?’

· Many forgot to state what skills and qualities they could bring to the role and how their previous experience was relevant to the role.

· What worked well was an…