Areas like Western New York experiencing dearth of properly qualified professionals
In areas like Western New York, the demand for occupational therapy services in growing, and experts say the lack of qualified therapists isn’t helping the situation.
Occupational therapists, in general, use therapeutic activities and equipment to support people of all abilities and ages to fulfil their everyday needs and wants. They provide advice to clients about the easiest and safest ways to complete required and desired tasks and activities–such as getting ready for school or getting groceries–develop personal care plans and prescribe particular assistive equipment to people as part of support solutions.
As you might imagine, developing such abilities takes years of schooling, hands-on experience, trial-and-error scenarios–and the opportunity to learn on the job, so to speak, is more of a luxury than a reality for today’s young professionals.
Employment of occupational therapists is projected to grow by almost 15 per cent between May 2018-2023, according to 2018 Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Fortunately, a wealth of educational opportunities and multiple routes towards attaining a degree exist for aspiring U.S. occupational therapists.
