Occupational Therapist
Provide personal care, emotional support and physical assistance to help people live their lives as independently as possible
What's it like to be an Occupational Therapist?
As an Occupational Therapist (OT) your primary goal is to help people carry out daily tasks independently. You may work in hospitals, workplaces, schools, nursing homes, private clinics or private homes.
Tasks and duties
- Assessing injured workers to determine the best way to help them get back to work.
- Visiting workplaces to gain an understanding on what challenges an injured worker may face when trying to get back to work.
- Reviewing high risk manual tasks at workplaces to determine how they can be performed more safely.
- Providing clinical opinions and justification through comprehensive report writing.
- Running workshops on health and wellbeing topics.
- Consulting with insurers, medical practitioners and employers.
- Conducting Pre-Employment Assessments to help ensure workers are fit for work.
Read less
Occupational Therapists focus on providing personal care for individuals (such as bathing, dressing, preparing food), aiding their productivity (including assisting them at work, in volunteer work or at school), and supporting them with leisure activities (such as involvement in sports, art or music). The OT works in consultation with each of their clients to address their goals and provide assistance where necessary.
OTs tend to focus on tasks that will alleviate physical discomfort and promote social connectedness, independence, emotional wellbeing and general health for their clients.
Salary lookup
What can I earn as an Occupational Therapist?
Find out the average salary for an Occupational Therapist across Australia
Latest Occupational Therapist jobs on SEEK
Be one of the first to discover these recently listed jobs, or browse all Occupational Therapist jobs on SEEK right now.
All
NSW
VIC
WA
QLD
TAS
SA
NT
ACT
How to become an Occupational Therapist
To become an Occupational Therapist in Australia, you must complete an approved degree in occupational therapy.
- Consider preparing for a career in occupational therapy by completing a Certificate IV in Allied Health Assistance (Occupational Therapy) (HLT43015).
- Complete a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy. This generally takes 4 years of full-time study.
- Alternatively, if you have already completed an undergraduate degree, complete a masters degree in occupational therapy. This generally takes 2 years of full-time study. Some institutions may require you to have completed set prerequisite subjects in your undergraduate degree.
- Gain work experience. Examples of relevant experience include working as a nanny for a child with special needs, or working at a summer camp for people with disabilities.
- Register with the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia and meet the Board's registration standards in order to practise in Australia.
Explore related qualifications
SEEK users who have worked as an Occupational Therapist have studied these qualifications.
All
NSW
VIC
WA
QLD
TAS
SA
NT
ACT
Bachelor of Occupational Therapy
This degree develops skills and knowledge needed to pursue a career as an Occupational Therapist.
Bachelor of Health Science
This degree prepares you for a career in the health industry. There may also be an option to specialise in an area of interest.
Master of Occupational Therapy
This qualification provides a pathway into a role as an Occupational Therapist if you already hold a Bachelor degree.
Powered by
Skills and experience employers are looking for
Hi there, have any of these? Add your skills directly to your SEEK Profile.
Hi there, have any of these? Add your skills directly to your SEEK Profile.
Occupational TherapyAHPRA RegistrationNDIS Worker Screening CheckVaccinationPaediatricsAged CareDrivers LicenceTime ManagementInterpersonal SensitivityAutonomySkills listed in your SEEK Profile
Based on your skills, here are some roles to explore
Did you find this helpful?
Source: SEEK job ads and SEEK Profile data
Upskill with an online short course
Get instant access to online training for these in-demand Occupational Therapist skills
Is Occupational Therapist the right role for me?
How do Occupational Therapists rate their role?
Average ratings calculated from 47 Occupational Therapists surveyed on SEEK
Work-life balance
4.3
Job satisfaction
4.4
Career progression opportunities
4.2
Job security
4.4
Pay / Salary
4.0
Variety of work
4.2
Job market trends for Occupational Therapists
All
NSW
VIC
WA
QLD
TAS
SA
NT
ACT
Source: SEEK job ads and SEEK Role Reviews
Latest Occupational Therapist reviews
Latest reviews from 47 Occupational Therapists surveyed on SEEK
All
Positive
Negative
OT is very rewarding. If you can think of an industry or sector you could find an OT working there.
Reviewer's Qualification
Bachelor of Occupational Therapy
Experience
5 – 9 years
Organisation size
Small (1-19 employees)
Specialisation
Paediatrics
The good things
If you are someone who loves to help people, if you are practical, enjoy problem solving, and experience huge satisfaction from empowering others then Occupational Therapy is the field for you. I find...
The challenges
Some challenges are the time constraints and sometimes feeling like you might not have enough time in the day or week to give your best care to the client/patient. This is a challenge and confronts yo...
Read more
OT is a very challenging carer but helping someone be more independent makes it all worth it.
Reviewer's Qualification
Bachelor of Occupational Therapy
Experience
1 – 4 years
Organisation size
Large (200+ employees)
Specialisation
Disability NDIS
The good things
Make a difference in people's lives. By implementing AT, Mods, or therapy you can help a client go from being reliant on others to having more independence in their daily life.
The challenges
Loss of clients
Pressures of working in NDIS - need to justify everything and can not be wholistic.
Constant problem solving
Read more
Source: SEEK Role Reviews
Explore similar careers
Source: SEEK job ads and SEEK Profile data