[VitaminDrop]

Hello,

I have some questions regarding to career into occupational therapy and psychotherapy.

I know this two discipline is somehow related but different, but at the moment I am not sure what exactly I want to do. But I know I wanna pursue my career into this healthcare field.

I'm thinking of getting a job as HealthCare assistant as I thought I will be able to gain insight and experience into that field. I graduated from psychology but have no previous experience of healthcare sector.

Do you think working as healthcare assistant would be a good idea, that could be a beneficial experience to further pursue career into Psychotherapy/counselling or Occupational therapy?


I would be great if you could give me any advice or opinions ><

thanks!

[Meee123]

Hi there, I'm too on a mission to become an occupational therapist and have spoken to the universities I'm interested in for advice. I'm also a graduate, though from an art & design course. I started working as a support worker for mental health/learning disabilities late last year as a way to get experience in social care, and volunteer at two different places one day a week at each...ones a brain injury rehabilitation unit, and the other a high dependency nursing unit which also has a lot of patients with dementia and mobility problems. With these combined, I'm learning clinical/basic nursing skills, care/basic social work, support people and teaching them skills to be independent and access the community etc. The support worker job is amazing as I get to liaise with social workers, doctors, nurses, physios, OTs, speech therapists, etc, which is great experience for later and I get to see how the roles all integrate and overlap with eachother. I have a few shadowing days lined up for when I'm on annual leave from work, and these are at a hospital OT department, and a local charity for the aged that employs an OT that goes round assessing peoples homes and arranging for things to be fitted, i.e. rails etc. The main uni I'm interested in has said this is all excellent experience, and the fact I'm doing NVQs in H&SC through work is also an added bonus.

Not meant to be a 'boastful' thread, but just thought if you saw what someone else was doing, it might give you some pointers/ideas.

Good luck x

[VitaminDrop]

Hi Meee123,

Thanks alot for your reply! Im glad to see someone on the same boat now you told me, support worker sounds good way to gain alot of insight not only OT but all other area of social work and healthcare! I've actually registered with this healthcare agency few days ago that i will be starting my training in 2 weeks time, but I wasn't sure If i am making a right choice. Actually I got an interview coming up next week for the position of Assistant support worker in longterm mental health. So I don't know which option would be better for later (assuming that I get an offer for this position!)
I've also done few day job shadowing with OT in hospital, and community setting. But at the moment, I am not being decisive whether i should be pursuing my career into OT or psychotherapy/counseling psycho. That's why I wanted to work in a setting where it will be beneficial to both career path in the future.



Sorry for being a pest, but what do you think about this? am I making a right choice atm?

Thx!!

[Syrupie]

Support work does sound a good way to gain an insight into the profession. Perhaps you could do a certificate course in Counselling at your local college to see if it is something you want to take further? Training as a counsellor or psychotherapist is costly both emotionally and financially. Best of luck

[~ Purple Rose ~]

Anything with vulnerable people is good experience for counselling, because you gain a lot of transferrable skills. There are voluntary opportunities you could look into, such as being a befriender for Mind, which would require some listening skills. There are also a lot of introductory/certificate courses you could do, which will give you more of an idea about whether it is something you want to do - a lot of degree/diploma courses have these as an entry requirement as well.

[Meee123]

(Original post by VitaminDrop)
Hi Meee123,

Thanks alot for your reply! Im glad to see someone on the same boat now you told me, support worker sounds good way to gain alot of insight not only OT but all other area of social work and healthcare! I've actually registered with this healthcare agency few days ago that i will be starting my training in 2 weeks time, but I wasn't sure If i am making a right choice. Actually I got an interview coming up next week for the position of Assistant support worker in longterm mental health. So I don't know which option would be better for later (assuming that I get an offer for this position!)
I've also done few day job shadowing with OT in hospital, and community setting. But at the moment, I am not being decisive whether i should be pursuing my career into OT or psychotherapy/counseling psycho. That's why I wanted to work in a setting where it will be beneficial to both career path in the future.



Sorry for being a pest, but what do you think about this? am I making a right choice atm?

Thx!!

To be honest, I can't say if you're making the right choice as firstly I don't know too much about psychotherapy, and secondly, it has to be what YOU want to do, and can see yourself doing for the long-term.

If you've done shadowing placements in both areas and still not sure which you want to go with, perhaps neither of them are right for you? You need to be passionate about what it is you want to do if you're going to study either of these and do them in the long-term as they can be draining (OT - mentally & physically, PysT - mentally/emotionally).

Perhaps it could be an idea to try and get a few more placements set up in BOTH areas to give you more insight, and you'll have to base your decision on this. Both areas have pros and cons, but I'd say there are generally far more openings in OT when it comes to job hunting after graduating, and jue to the nature of the job, there will be an element of psychology to it anyway, particularly if you work in mental health (one of the MANY area's you can specialise in), you'll be helping people with mental issues to rehabilitate and would need a level of counselling skills anyway so I guess you'd get some of that level of same satisfaction as psychotherapist.

You can also qualify as a counsellor without being a psychologist/therapist and this could go hand-in-hand with being an OT.

[VitaminDrop]

Thank you very much for the through advice!

I had an interview to mental health assistant support worker position, and now got rejected ;(

I think for now, I might be ending up working as healthcare assistant in this agency.
I hope this job will be worthwhile ><//