Become an occupational therapist
A career centred on people
Helping children to gain the confidence they need to get on in life. Supporting individuals to get back on their feet. Empowering older people to be more independent. Occupational therapy is all of this – and more.
Occupational therapy helps you live your best life at home, at work – and everywhere else. It’s about being able to do the things you need, want and have to do. That could mean helping you overcome challenges playing sport, learning at school, going to work or simply doing the dishes.
As an occupational therapist, you’ll use your creativity and problem-solving skills to support people who find some areas of life difficult. That means talking to them to understand their needs, seeing challenges through their eyes, and helping them find ways to overcome those challenges. It makes occupational therapy an incredibly rewarding profession. It doesn’t get much better than knowing you’ve helped someone to live their life to its fullest.
Discover Monica's journey from a carer to a passionate occupational therapist.
It's a career where we can learn every day, especially because no two days are ever the same."
Read Monica's story
Explore more
The science behind it
Deliver holistic, life-changing care
A health and social care profession, occupational therapy brings together a number of different skills.
It encompasses areas like anatomy and physiology, psychology, sociology, pathology, learning disabilities and mental health. You’ll look at how different health conditions, environmental factors, activities and life events can impact upon people’s sense of self, their relationships and their careers. And then you’ll work with each individual to find the best way forward.
A career for everyone
Equity, diversity and belonging
A wide range of people need support from occupational therapists. That’s why we’re so committed to attracting people from all walks of life to the profession. As an occupational therapist, you can be any gender, race or sexual orientation, you can be disabled or experience your own physical or mental health problems.
The more diverse, equity-driven and inclusive we are, the better placed we’ll be to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect – as equal members of society with the same choices, rights and privileges.
A supportive network
We'll support your journey every step of the way
We support occupational therapists throughout their careers, offering our network of more than 36,000 members national, local and specialised guidance.
Although much of what you do will be carried out on a one-to-one basis, a lot of occupational therapy work is collaborative. Specialists often work together to support colleagues and share knowledge more broadly. And if you choose to work independently for your own practice, you won’t be alone. At RCOT, we have resources and services that are designed to support all of our members wherever they work, as well as to enhance and promote our profession.
That includes things like e-learning resources and events, professional advice, journals and other publications through our dedicated library service. We also have a number of networks that are relevant to the stage of your career, where you live and work, or your specialism. Put simply, we’ll help you to get the most out of your career.
A variety of work
Understand needs, identify barriers, develop strategies
You’ll help people of all ages to do the things they need or want to do. You could be working with offenders who have mental health conditions. Liaising with architects to develop spaces for people with learning disabilities. Supporting children to reach their goals. And plenty more besides.
