Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy is a aimed at promoting health and well being through occupation. The main goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life. Occupational therapists help to achieve this by enabling people to do things that will enhance their ability to participate or by modifying the environment to allow for better participation.

Occupational therapists have a broad education that equips them with skills and knowledge that helps them to work together with individuals or groups of people who have an impairment of body structure or function due to a health condition, and who experience difficulty with activities of everyday life. Occupational therapists believe that participation can be supported or restricted by physical and social environments. Therefore, occupational therapy practice may be directed to changing aspects of the environment to enhance participation.

Occupational therapy is practiced in a wide range of settings, including hospitals, health centres, homes, workplaces, schools, hostels and nursing homes. Clients are actively involved in the therapeutic process, and outcomes of occupational therapy are diverse, client-driven and measured in terms of participation or satisfaction derived from participation. (WFOT, 2004).

Why do some people need Occupational Therapists?

People of all ages and abilities can be helped by occupational therapy.

Infants and Children:

Occupational therapy promotes normal development and stimulates learning in children with specific learning difficulties, physical disabilities, delayed development, or those recovering from illness or injury. Occupational therapists work with children and their families to improve their quality of life by helping them to participate in play, pre-school, school and home activities.

Adults and the Elderly:

When an adult or elderly person is affected by an illness, accident or work place injury, an occupational therapist can help them on the road to recovery. They may assist with the return to home and work life through the development of new skills for daily living such as household tasks and personal care, return-to-work or leisure programs. They may also make or facilitate changes to the work or home environment to make life easier and safer.

Services provided:

Gippsland Southern Health Service offers a variety of Occupational Therapy Services including:

• Home assessments

• Equipment prescription

• Wheelchair assessments

• Cognitive assessments

• Assessment of functional levels prior to discharge from hospital

• Assessment of activities of daily living

• Rehabilitation following surgery

• Hand therapy including splinting

• Paediatrics for school aged children

• Stress management

• Cardiac rehabilitation

• Residential aged care interventions

• Community rehabilitation

• Ergonomic and worksite assessment