Luckily, there are tons of alternative jobs that you can land with your occupational therapy degree. 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. Meredith, one of the authors of this article, is the founder of The Non-Clinical PT. 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). Writing is awesome, though. OTs are perfect for becoming Assistive Technology Professionals since we use it regularly with our patients, whether its low tech or high techassistive technology. 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. Thank you! For other mental health settings to look into, check out this post covering a variety of areas to work in: Occupational Therapy in Mental Health: An Overview of 6 Typical Settings Best of luck in your job search! We can also move into roles where we consult with practices to help them improve their billing and workflow practices. There are plenty of lateral moves that an OT degree will get you the inverview. For me (Sarah), my hobby of writing an OT blog became a career when I switched my mindset. Looking creatively at your career and skill set may enable you to help more people than ever would have been possible in 1:1 therapy. offer contract work (similar to registry or per diem work) for creatives. Hi Thank you for your great article. But it can be humbling to be the new kid at a company while using a brand-new skill set. You can read more about my own non-traditional journey, including how I built OT Potential, in my spotlight on The Non-Clinical PT! Read more about being a case manager from an OT perspective here:Statement: The Occupational Therapist as Case Manager. Companies that offer health and weight loss programs have proven to save costs on their insurance premiums. She now spends her work days connecting OTs with new research in the OT Potential Club. So is there any jobs right now I could look at or apply to to get my foot in the door without having to go back to school or getting another liscence? If you were a career changer, any previous leadership or instructing roles are relevant, too! This is especially true for any home health OTs who have so much first-hand experience. Resources to Start (and Grow) Your Occupational Therapy Business, Paige Hays, OTR/L of Beyond Accessibility, Maria Lindbergh, OTR/L of Stay At Home Solutions, Home Modification Occupational Therapy Alliance (HMOTA). Gives me some hope of finding the just right fit as an OT. Figured this might help some of you looking for something different. As a COTA, can I do some of these things as well? 1. The best part about being an OT entrepreneur is that you have the freedom to choose what youre most passionate about. That said, you dont need any additional training to write for your next career! Sarah Lyon has also put together an article titled Resources to Start (and Grow) Your Occupational Therapy Businessfor some additional insight and inspiration. Always appreciate the content and the transparency! Can you give me any advice on where to look for employment in this area? However, if you do have a case that requires going to court, you can obviously charge a lot more money. There have been a lot of courses on this at AOTA conferences recently. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Get business cards printed with your OT credentials (and any other special certifications you pursue). If youre ready to start your own practice, WebPT has put together a great resource about starting a therapy clinic from scratch. The next two years showed her that others wanted guidance on doing the same. It might take a bit of applying to a variety of positions but explaining to the prospective employers about your experience will be really beneficial. Rather than seeing my website as a fun pastime, I realized that I was serving fellow OTsI was solving a problem by filling in gaps in the information about OT careers that was available online. Definitelyequipment sales jobs are perfect for OTs and OTAs! 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. The initial leap into a non-traditional role will be the most challenging, but once youre there, youll rock it! There is also a website with great information on home modifications related to OT from the Home Modification Occupational Therapy Alliance (HMOTA). For the purposes of this article, non-traditional refers to anything outside of conventional hands-on patient care roles. Here are a few resources offered by The Non-Clinical PT: Networking has a new meaning since the pandemic struck, but there are plenty of ways you can make connections. She has since moved on to academia, but her business helped companiescome up with strategies to coach individuals on setting up their life and environment in a way that is conducive to healthy living. If you want to try something different in the occupational therapy career space, these are just a few ideas which can help with your brainstorming. To get started, Upwork is a great platform that most businesses hire their writers from. Some people are born to be entrepreneurs. Some of these options usually require Bachelors degrees or that you are an OTR, but you can certainly still find an alternative path as a COTA. Networking is also vital. In our interview with Kaia Health Product Manager, Winnie Tsui, OTL, CHT, MBA, Winnie shares the importance of building (and showcasing) a pathway into tech via stepping stones. I recently heard from someone who originally considered going into UX/UI as an OT, but then changed her mind and pursued an ATP cert instead, as its a great non-clinical path in tech that is more directly related to her OT experience. 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. Go to usability meetups. Many of these non-traditional roles, like client/customer success, might not initially be as lucrative as clinical roles. Hi Martin, thanks for your comment. Also is there any volunteer activities that I could be doing in the mean time that could help me out ? If they work as a cash business, not getting paid through insurance. Be sure to also check out Indeed.com as well for additional ideas to help you with a new income source. Plus, you get ALL of her crash courses included with your enrollment. Here are some sites that sometimes accept high-quality guest posts from occupational therapists. If you type in inpatient care coordinator in to indeed.com you may find positions across the country looking for OTs. Im always learning about new avenues from this group, so be sure to join if youre interested in making a switch. I think that there is a huge demand for this, in particularly targeting the opioid users where we are seeing such a wide spread use. For example, most OTs and PTs have a very difficult time selling themselves and their services, and very few are savvy with social media and digital marketing. Here are several types of OT-related businesses you can create. Martin. I am definitely fighting the burn out mode. In academia, If you have already successfully been through ACOTE accreditation for say transitioning from Masters to Doctoral program, you may qualify to be a hired as consultant to other Universities making that same transition. Youll also want to beef up your resume to reflect any research, tutoring, lab assisting, or clinical instructor roles youve held since your student years. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Heres where working with a career coach or career counselor can be very helpful. It feels like every company I work with requests my headshot at some point. Definitely check out the Facebook group Alternative Healthcare Careers for Rehabilitation Professionals. Youll know if youre one of those people pretty quickly . Required fields are marked *. I would love to connect with you and chat is there a way to share contact info here? Its flexible, you can do it from anywhere, and its really easy and fun if it comes naturally to you. Wikipedias definition says Case management is a managed care technique within the health care coverage system of the United States.. 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. As in inpatient OT, Ive been looking for alternative careers and economics and sales excite me the most. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. 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. I know that this pretty much eliminates most of the jobs available. Thanks, Geraldine for these great suggestions! The first thing that often comes to mind on this front is starting your own private practice. This year has been an extremely difficult year of landing a job. Do you see COTAs being valuable in such a position? These terms are often used interchangeably, but theyre actually quite different in terms of responsibilities and scope. If you are, be sure to read AOTAs position on OTs role in health promotion for some added insight. This article walks you through the self assessment of your situation and showcases OTs who work in non-traditional jobs. Itll help your case! There are many other resources for home modifications OTs, but these will get you started if youre interested in this alternative career path. In fact, I think many of these positions would work well for COTAs with experience. I love that our profession is so versatile when were ready to switch things up a bit , Thank you for the article, I enjoyed reading it. There are also other holistic avenues you can take when starting your own private practice. I (Sarah) got one done in the early stages of my website and, honestly, it has just made life easier. Being an administrator, particularly at a hospital, means that you are a manager for therapists over a specific department. There are so many occupational therapy schools thatneedsolid OTs to educate future clinicians. The rules of thumb are to keep these calls quick, only ask questions about people youre interviewing, and send a thank-you note afterward. If you are not OK with this, you can opt-out if you wish. Some roles (especially with rehab tech companies) may enable remote workbut in some cases, youll be expected to work onsite, which might even mean you need to relocate to a pricey city. 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. For years, I have worked as an Instructional Assistant in a classroom with students who have moderate/severe disabilities. Hi Jeanne, Im so sorry to hear about leaving your job! I have been struggling for a while to find my just right fit. I graduated last year and have been looking non stop for a position Ive applied to countless places and some respond back while others do not and I have had only 1 live interview and 4 phone call interviews. Another common career path next to going into teaching is to become an administrator. I LOVE being able to work with them one-on-one and in small groups. With each course enrollment, you get job application materials (sample resumes, sample cover letters, etc.) However, being an occupational therapist, we are able to effectively decipher other therapists notes and determine the necessity of the treatments being billed. There are definitely quite a few OTs that make the switch into medical device sales. Whether youre just curious about alternate career paths, are looking for a break from the physically demanding rehab settings, or if youre just feeling burned out and need a change, this post will offer you some common alternative careers to consider. Rock on, OTs!!! 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. I think that many of these non-traditional career paths can be done as a COTA, especially creating a business and consulting. As clinicians, we are usually pretty comfortable with our clinical skills, even if we dont know everything. Nice! Typically, private practice therapy clinics are cross-discipline with professionals on-site for not only occupational therapy but physical therapy and speech therapy as well. Due to my own healthcare needs/risks, I am considering exploring outside the box to a non-clinical job setting but not really knowing where to start..I dont have any assistive technology training, but this could be an area of interest for meDoes anyone have any suggestions or ideas about a career in medical sales/assistive technology specific to an OT? Thank yall. This is Merediths flagship course. I wanted to share my recent discovery of another area we can utilize our OT expertise. If so how/ where shall I begin..? Here, youll get the chance to work one-on-one with individuals, many times veterans, who need help getting back to work. This includes cost of flying you out and hotel stay as well as your chosen rate for the actual consultation time and time to complete your report. I love the article but Im still lost. Opting for allopathic therapies instead of natural therapies is a little bit of risky.https://himalayashilajit.com/, Just happened upon this outstanding website!!!! It can be a strange feeling to start to self-identify as something other than an OT. Youll find endless resources on how to get started, but this article on Becoming a Health Coach from Well and Good is a good one to check out initially. Director of Rehab and OT Supervisor probably sound familiar to you. If youre wrinkling your nose at such ideas, it doesnt mean you cant pursue non-traditional workbut being open-minded and willing to shake things up certainly broadens your options. 2. If youre lucky enough to live near any of the 10 ADA centers in the U.S., you can also offer to volunteer. Definitely contact your schools alumni association to see if theres anything you can do to network or put your name out there. Writing is one of the easiest switches you can make, but you have to be willing to put in lots of time, and you might take a pretty steep pay cut at the beginning. I am attempting to research other careers I may fit into but not much success. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. For more on ergonomics, visit AOTAs ergonomics site here. Thanks! A career change can affect more than just you. If you love patient care, but hate the physical and emotional toll it takes, definitely look into becoming a rehab liaison (or clinical liaison). You are also building something that, if profitable, increases in value and could eventually be sold. One of the hardest parts of leaving patient care is figuring out what to do next. Youre going to need to network as much as possible. For your own journey into health tech, weve made this post of influential health tech companies for you to look into. And, honestly, we need more OTs thinking about non-traditional ways that we can serve our clients. Whether treating or not treating, OTs have so much to offer the world! She also offers a great Non-Clinical Crash Course on Writing. You would set your own hourly rates. Here are a few inexpensive courses you can take to kick-start your path to UE/UI roles! These articles are basically done-for-you informational interviews of all sorts of rehab professionals in non-traditional roles . I recently found a job on indeed.com with the title skilled inpatient care coordinator. It is similar to what a case manager does, but there are now companies hiring therapists in addition to nurses (who are typically utilized in a case management position). Try to work in multiple acute care hospitals within your region and get to know the case managers in those facilities. In 2011, AOTA identified the low vision specialty as an emerging niche. A big part of the reason for this focus area growing is the fact that the U.S. and many other developed nations are facing a large aging population in the coming decades. Thank you for the great ideas as well as links to further learn about them. These roles are ideal for OTs who have an eye for noticing potential hazards in peoples homes. 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. There are many avenues your non-traditional OT career could take, but here we highlight nine of the most common. Hi, and thank you for writing and posting such an insightful article! In her own journey into tech, she started with consulting on the side and this grew into full time opportunities. For those with a considerable amount of experience in a particular OT area ( ex. Thanks again for the article, it did open my eyes! Also, youll definitely want to take few courses on usability and user experience to legitimize yourself as a candidate. The good news is that those jobs are certainly out there! I am a single mother of 3 and financially cant afford to go back to school or take time off work. You can also look outside the rehab world and join groups geared toward the career path(s) of your choice. This is such an excellent pointits so important to hone in on what fits best with you, your life, and your individual needs/interests. Youll need special certifications from Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America for both ATP and SMS roles. Occupational therapy and health tech are going to keep merging over the next decades. I have read this article but most of these jobs are for OTs that have been in the feild with experience. Plenty of lateral moves that an OT much success her work days OTs. Make the switch into medical device sales practice, WebPT has put together a great resource starting! Careers and economics and sales excite me the most common the new kid at a hospital, means you. Etc. showcases OTs who have moderate/severe disabilities know everything anything you can take to kick-start your path UE/UI... 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