Martin. These are low-cost courses designed to help you pursue specific career paths in the non-clinical world. For more information about careers in medical sales, check out this post on Monster.com:Pharma, Biotech, Medical-Device Sales: Which Is for You? 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. 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).. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. I have been struggling for a while to find my just right fit. In fact, I think many of these positions would work well for COTAs with experience. 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. Seeing is believing, and these occupational therapists have successfully transitioned into non-clinical roles! Thank you! Some require that you take a steep pay cut to enter the field. One of the most important independent activities of daily living is being able to get yourself from point A to point B. 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. I do hope this list at least gives you a few non-physical types of job ideas to help you with your career transition. Luckily, there are tons of alternative jobs that you can land with your occupational therapy degree. This year has been an extremely difficult year of landing a job. 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. Youre going to need to network as much as possible. While sales might be somewhat high stress, it can definitely be an interesting change-up to traditional patient care. Not only are you in charge of scheduling, but you are responsible for coaching therapists about how to become better, intervening in tough situations, keeping everyone motivated, and reporting to higher level management about the productivity and efficiency of your department. I also helped to start an OT clinic within a University setting so I guess another would be Consultant to other universities wanting to open an OT clinic. I am a single mother of 3 and financially cant afford to go back to school or take time off work. Nice! offer contract work (similar to registry or per diem work) for creatives. Patients may become unable to operate a vehicle in situations involving recent amputation, stroke, brain injury, or other neurological impairment. More information can be found on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Basically, if you have a favorite product, get in contact with the company and see if theyre hiring sales reps. You can always Google the company and search their open positions. However, being an occupational therapist, we are able to effectively decipher other therapists notes and determine the necessity of the treatments being billed. It looks like there isnt a ton of information doing a Google search, but I did find this article to be helpful: How to Become an Insurance Auditor This post was originally published May 30th, 2017 and updated on February 29, 2020. 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. 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. If you have big ideas, energy, a passion for creating something from nothing, and you have the drive to creatively bring value to the world, you might have what it takes to start and grow your own OT business. 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. Offer to cover the scheduling board or take point on busy days. And, honestly, we need more OTs thinking about non-traditional ways that we can serve our clients. For me (Sarah), my hobby of writing an OT blog became a career when I switched my mindset. As clinicians, we are usually pretty comfortable with our clinical skills, even if we dont know everything. Always appreciate the content and the transparency! Glad I found you at the perfect time in my career. Can you give me any advice on where to look for employment in this area? The first thing youll need as a writer is to get published online. 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). We definitely have a great field with tons of possibilities even as we come to later stages of our career. Writing. Liaisons face quotas, so if you hate productivity requirements, you might not enjoy this role. 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. A career coach keeps you on track and working toward your goals, while a career counselor will work with you to address underlying fears, roadblocks, and challenges that prevent you from making moves professionally. If you are, be sure to read AOTAs position on OTs role in health promotion for some added insight. Here, youll get the chance to work one-on-one with individuals, many times veterans, who need help getting back to work. It is possible. You are also building something that, if profitable, increases in value and could eventually be sold. Thanks for sharing. If tapping people to ask for their time gives you the heebie jeebies, dont worry! 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.. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Hi Jeanne, While the most obvious and easiest way to use your OT degree is to actually practice in a traditional setting, alternative career paths may be a better fit for you long term. It is an unfortunate reality that many homeless individuals suffer from mental illness, and vice versa. If youre interested in working with home modifications, be sure to also check out AOTAs Home Modifications page. I am excited to see non-traditional jobs being promoted, and there are more than just the opportunities listed above!! You can become an OT professor, an adjunct instructor, a tutor, a subject matter expert, or a con-ed instructor. 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. 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. Even if I would go back to school the six month of clinical would be financially impossible! The initial leap into a non-traditional role will be the most challenging, but once youre there, youll rock it! For example, sales, business development, and clinical/patient trainer jobs often require you to cover a particular territory, which might be far from where you live. 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. I bet an OT could find a rehab equipment sales job if they wanted or something similar. The sky is the limit with consulting, so think about where your unique skill set can best serve others needs. There is more to it than you might think, and if youre interested, Id recommend checking out The Association for Driver Rehabilitation Specialists. To learn more about becoming a specialist, you can check out the Assistive Technology Association (ATIA) website. Thanks for the great article . 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. I am an OT student struggling to figure out what I want to do for my capstone project and the field that I want to go into, but your article has helped me so much. Networking is also vital. 2. Its definitely advisable for new grads (or people who have only worked in one setting) to consider whether they should spend a little more time in patient care before switching gears. Also is there any volunteer activities that I could be doing in the mean time that could help me out ? 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. Non-Clinical 101 also contains an entire lesson to help you learn how to identify your marketable skills, find clients, and price yourself. In preparation for these events, youll want to: Youll want to have your title and a personal email address on hand for anytime you meet folks at networking events, healthcare hackathons, or even happy hours! You would set your own hourly rates. The first thing that often comes to mind on this front is starting your own private practice. Your email address will not be published. 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. This is Merediths flagship course. Definitely contact your schools alumni association to see if theres anything you can do to network or put your name out there. 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. Youre so welcome and Im glad the article gave you some ideas! 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. You might want to check with your states individual regulations just to be sure. our interview with Kaia Health Product Manager, Winnie Tsui, OTL, CHT, MBA. I would love to connect with you and chat is there a way to share contact info here? Then list those experiences on your resume. I know that this pretty much eliminates most of the jobs available. Im so sorry to hear about leaving your job! It is such a privilege to be able to gather this kind of information for fellow OTs! 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. 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). Sarah Lyon has also put together an article titled Resources to Start (and Grow) Your Occupational Therapy Businessfor some additional insight and inspiration. Heres where working with a career coach or career counselor can be very helpful. It is designed for people who know they want to pivot to a new career, but arent sure what they want to do, nor how to create resumes, find jobs, interview, negotiate, etc. This is such a perfect role for an occupational therapist! Then, when you apply for the rehab liaison roles, play up your connections big timeyoull need them! Youll need special certifications from Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America for both ATP and SMS roles. May I reach out to possibly feature you on The Non-Clinical PT?? To get started, Upwork is a great platform that most businesses hire their writers from. I appreciate this post. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 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). 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. 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i don t want to be an occupational therapist anymore