Occupational therapy offers a rewarding career for a person who is an analytical thinker, a "people person," and who enjoys solving problems creatively and collaboratively. Occupational therapists work to maximize the function and life satisfaction of persons whose daily life performance has been affected by disease, disability, life stress, and other factors.

Ranked by U.S. News and World Report as an “excellent career choice” for 2006, occupational therapy is a growing and in-demand field. While many occupational therapists work within hospital and clinical settings, there’s an increasing need for OTs to focus on prevention and the treatment of people with disabilities in non-medical settings:

1. School systems: working with children with disabilities
2. In-home health agencies: aiding individuals and families to function more easily at home after illness or injury
3. Industrial settings: helping disabled or injured workers to return to gainful employment.

These and other new employment areas, including self-employment, make occupational therapy a rewarding and growing profession that provides a variety of career choices. Salaries typically start in the mid-to-high $40,000’s.

Learn more
For additional information about OT as a career, visit the American Occupational Therapy Association web site at www.aota.org.