OT helps your organisation
Occupational therapists add value to vocational rehabilitation by bringing specialist knowledge and skills relating to the activities that people perform in their working lives.
Their unique knowledge base on occupation and their distinctive skills mean that occupational therapy staff play a pivotal role in providing vocational rehabilitation and enabling employees to remain at work by improving their work capabilities.
Some of the specific benefits that occupational therapy brings to vocational rehabilitation are:
- objective, comprehensive assessment of a person’s functional capacity and limitations, the work environment, the demands of the job and any barriers to work
- ability to match the capacity of the individual to the demands of the job
- involvement of clients when choosing, planning, implementing and monitoring theirindividual pathways to work
- designing, planning, implementation and monitoring of individualised programmes to suit the needs of the employee and the workplace
- expedition of early return to work
- knowledge of different mental and physical health conditions to anticipate future outcomes, such as the need for fl exible work for people who have severe and multiple impairments, complex needs or fl uctuating ill health
- provision of advice and recommendations on reasonable adjustments, specialist equipment and environmental modifi cation
- negotiation and liaison with employers and others during the process of fi nding or retaining employment.
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provision of programmes that cover all three aspects of effective vocational rehabilitation, such as, managing the health condition, difficulty or disability, assessing and recommending changes to the workplace and/or work practices, and facilitating access to vocational skills training and/or advice
