Hello ☺️
My name is Jacqueline and I am currently in my first year of studying occupational therapy.
Since I started studying and our field of work has often become a topic of conversation, I have noticed that there are many people who know someone who has done occupational therapy or even they themselves.
I was very pleasantly surprised by this.
Now I would be very interested to know what your experiences are in other countries? ☺️
Do you have the feeling that occupational therapy is becoming better known and what our goal is?
In our country, occupational therapy is relatively expensive and often has to be financed privately, which is a shame as it is often not used even though it is needed. How is it handled in other countries, is occupational therapy also cost-intensive in your country and do clients have to bear the costs themselves?
I look forward to your feedback!
Kind regards From Vienna ☺️
Hi Jacqueline, I am studying a Master of Occupational Therapy in Australia, and finish my degree in May this year.
Occupational Therapy has become better known here since the Australian Government introduced the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in 2016 (https://www.ndis.gov.au/understanding). It took several years before the NDIS was available across the country with the last areas gaining access to the scheme in 2020. This scheme provides funding for eligible people with a disability caused by a permanent impairment, and aged between 9 and 65 years to recieve supports to participate in activities of daily living. These supports often include funding for occupational therapy assessments and interventions. Disabilities can be intellectual, cognitive, neurological, sensory, physical or psychosocial. Depending on where you live, there might be waiting lists to access services.
There are funded services in the community for children under 9 who require occupational therapy. People over 65 who require occupational therapy may be eligible for free or low cost services through My Aged Care, a government funded program.
For people who do not qualify for NDIS funding, there may be other funding options for free or low cost services like community based government funded health services. Occupational therapy services can be purchased privately, but are generally expensive.
Our systems are not perfect, and some people miss out on services they need, or need to wait for some time to access services, but many more people have been able to access occupational therapy without paying fees since the NDIS started.