Why Occupational Therapy?

August 29, 2019
by Kaho

What are OS/OT?

I’ve always thought that I would pursue a career in the health field, but I thought that I was meant to become a doctor. It wasn’t until my sophomore year of college that I started to question whether I was pursuing a career as a doctor because I was actually passionate about it, or because I had never learned much about the other existing health professions. As I started to explore and research more options, I fell upon occupational therapy.

The first thing that pulled me towards it is the deep, personal relationship that OTs build with their clients. They get to know their clients as a unique human being in various contexts and they are dedicated to helping people engage in activities/roles that are meaningful to them. I love that occupational therapy integrates mental health with physical health because I am passionate about both. The more I learned about the profession, the more I fell in love with it and the more I felt like this was truly what I was meant to be. (Also worthy to mention that occupational therapy is ranked #13 by U.S. News as one of the best jobs of 2019!) I began the process of looking up potential schools and the prerequisites for applying to those schools. I began volunteering in various hospitals in order to see real OTs in action. For example, I observed a hand therapist during my junior year of college and over the summers when I would fly home to Japan for several months, I volunteered in the geriatric department at several hospitals. I still had trouble explaining to people what exactly occupational therapy is and I now know that my knowledge of the profession at that time was still very limited, but I was confident that I had found my dream job.

Occupational therapy is truly an incredible and beautiful profession and this past year in the program has expanded my interests on what population I want to serve in what setting. I am very fortunate to be studying occupational therapy at one of the leading universities of the profession and I am thrilled to continue learning and growing and see what all is in store for my last year in the program!

⋯