Occupational Therapy Near Me: Tips For Caregivers Navigating Local Options
If your care recipient lives with an illness, injury, or disability, you’ve likely seen firsthand how challenging daily activities can be. Activities that we do each day, like stepping into the bathtub or bringing a spoon to their lips, may be challenging for your care recipient to do on their own.
For caregivers, providing support with activities of daily living can add up quickly. Without the right support, you might feel like you don’t know what you’re doing or need help. Trualta can help. Our educational tools and support resources are here to guide you on your caregiving journey and give you the confidence you need to provide safe, effective care. Check if you have free access.
Occupational Therapy: A Quick Overview
If you’re feeling out of your depth with caregiving activities, an occupational therapist may be able to help. Occupational therapists (OTs) are healthcare professionals. Much like physical therapy and speech therapy, they work with people who live with or are recovering from injuries, health conditions, illnesses, disabilities, or other challenges. They help their patients engage in meaningful daily activities that they need or want to do. For example:
- Self-care activities like toileting, dressing, or eating.
- Productivity activities like working, cooking, or cleaning the home.
- Leisure activities like physical activities, social activities, or gardening.
They may do this by creating a treatment plan that may include:
- Modifying activities to meet their needs
- Using assistive devices or equipment
- Helping them with skill building
- Therapeutic exercise or rehabilitation
In addition to supporting your care recipient, occupational therapy can also help caregivers. They can:
- Teach you how to perform certain caregiving tasks effectively
- Explain why activity and task modifications can help
- Support your motivation
- Address and manage caregiver burnout
- Help you stay organized
5 Tips For Choosing The Right OT
Many occupational therapists can be found by:
- Asking for a referral from your care recipient’s doctor. If your care recipient is already working with a healthcare team, ask if there’s an occupational therapist available.
- Doing an online search for your state’s occupational therapy association. These are regulatory organizations that can help you find a qualified occupational therapist. Many have a button on their home page that says “find an OT” or “find a therapist”.
- Searching by population, concern, and location. For example, search “pediatric occupational therapist + hand therapy + your state”.
While searching, you may ask yourself: how can I pick from all of these options for occupational therapy near me? Use these 5 tips to help:
1. Consider Where Support Is Needed
Make a list of where your care recipient experiences challenges with activities of daily living. For example:
- Tasks or movements they have difficulty doing
- What you’ve observed
- Where you feel like you’re struggling as a caregiver
You can also speak with your care recipient’s doctor or healthcare team to help with this. They can assess your care recipient’s needs and identify where they need the most support from occupational therapy.
Every occupational therapist is different. Depending on their training or area of specialty, they may not be able to help with every problem. If possible, list the challenges in order of priority or urgency. This way, you’ll be able to identify where you need the most help.
2. Check Their Areas Of Specialty
Now that you’ve identified your care recipient’s (or your) needs, you can narrow your search. If the healthcare team has already given you a list of recommended occupational therapy clinicians, you can move to the next step!
Occupational therapy is a broad profession. For this reason, many occupational therapists will specialize in certain areas of practice. You’ll be able to find more information about where the therapist has received additional training or has more experience by looking at:
- Their state’s regulatory website
- Their biography on a clinic or hospital website
3. Check Licensure
All occupational therapists need to be licensed to practice legally. They have to:
- Graduate from an approved occupational therapy school and fulfill fieldwork requirements
- Pass the occupational therapy certification exam
- Engage in continuing education requirements every year
- Satisfy state licensure requirements every year
Because therapists must renew their licenses every year and satisfy certain requirements, it’s important to check if your therapist is licensed. You can check your state’s occupational therapy regulatory website for:
- Whether your occupational therapist’s licensure is up to date
- Whether there have been any complaints filed against them
4. Confirm Costs
When you’ve found a therapist you may want to work with, ensure that you understand:
- The costs for their occupational therapy treatment services
- What their services can include
- Whether you (or your insurance) can cover their services
To find out this information, you may need to set up a meeting with the therapist, speak to someone at their organization, or talk to your insurance provider.
5. Look For Their Availability & Location
If you’re looking at a therapist who practices in a hospital or clinic, check whether the occupational therapy location is accessible to you and your care recipient.
It’s also important to consider the therapist’s availability and how urgently your care recipient needs occupational therapy. If your care recipient needs treatment soon, but the waitlist for one therapist is lengthy, it may be worth exploring other therapists.
Looking for more information and resources that can make your life as a caregiver easier? Check if you have free access to Trualta.
References
- https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/occupational-therapists.htm#:~:text=Occupational%20therapists%20must%20be%20accommodating,must%20listen%20closely%20to%20clients.
- https://occupationaltherapyblog.com/how-do-i-choose-an-occupational-therapist-ot-and-how-do-i-find-an-ot/
- https://www.ottoolkit.com/blog/caregivers-need-occupational-therapy-too/
- https://www.aota.org/career/state-licensure/maintain-your-license
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9511233/
- https://caot.ca/site/about/ot?nav=sidebar&banner=1
- https://www.aota.org/about/what-is-ot
- https://www.aota.org/-/media/corporate/files/practice/manage/presentation-resources/brochure/what-is-ot-brochure.pdf
- https://otontario.ca/manage-at-home/#:~:text=Support%20%2F%20consultation%20to%20family%20and%20caregivers&text=An%20OT%20can%20also%20help%20caregivers%20manage%20stress%20and%20prevent,dementia%20or%20mental%20health%20problems.
- https://caot.ca/document/7831/SUPPORTING%20%20&%20EDUCATING%20CAREGIVERS.pdf
- https://www.nplhh.com/occupational-therapy-strategies-that-improve-functional-independence/#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20foundational%20approaches,can%20make%20daily%20tasks%20easier.
- https://www.occupationaltherapy.com/articles/preventing-caregiver-burnout-5493
