Other OT-Related Information Mental health occupational therapy

[Healthcare102]

What do occupational therapists in mental health do?

Do they get involved with any kind or milieu counseling or advising or anything like that?

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[Chochie]

Hey!
I'm currently a first year OT student. The first year of my program is focused on mental health, so I'll try to help you out as best as I can.

From what I have learned so far, OT's in mental health help people suffering from any type of mental disorder perform their occupations. For example if someone with mental ******ation is having difficulty performing meal preparation an OT will form some type of intervention which involves educating the patient on how to prepare their own meals/food. This would include something like preparing a chart with pictures of how to cook, visual or verbal cues, etc.
If an OT is working in a hospital or rehab they can also run different activity groups. I did my level I fieldwork in a psych ward of a hospital. The patients were diagnosed with bipolar, schizophrenia, depression. The activities were educating them about proper health, how to have a positive attitude, exercise. Then I also did some type of activity to engage the patients and help them interact with one another. Starting my level II in a couple of weeks (!!!!!!!)

I don't know if an OT does "counseling". I think that is more of what a social worker would do- the OT is actually doing therapeutic interventions to help the patient live as normally as possible.
Hope I helped! GL!

 

[FutureOT2013]

What do occupational therapists in mental health do?

Do they get involved with any kind or milieu counseling or advising or anything like that?

I currently work in an acute psychiatric hospital in the Bay Area and our goals center around promoting goal directed behavior, appropriate social skills, impulse control, observing appropriate boundaries, independence in ADLs/self care tasks to an extent (the RN's actually get the patients bathed mostly, but do not necessarily work on increasing independence in ADLs), stress management, anger management, reality based interactions for those with delusions, basically anything that is impairing a patient's ability to function at the most basic level in society. We don't really get to work on IADLs because if they have the capability of focusing on IADLs then they really aren't acute. Keep in mind all patients aren't expected to function independently, some patients get discharged to board and cares, some to locked subacutes, some to transitional living environments, etc, so our goals might not be as high for some patients as opposed to others. We don't do much counseling, there are Psy D Interns who do that at my facility. Our multidisciplinary teams consist of the psychiatrist, social worker, charge nurses, nurses, Psy D Interns, a utilization review nurse, and the occupational therapist. Most of our work is provided in OT groups and if we have time or it is completely necessary we will provide 1:1 interventions. Our main assessment tool is the Allen Cognitive Level screen. I didn't receive much mental health direction in OT school, but there isn't enough time to cover all that an OT can do, there are so many settings to cover.

 

[ot.3277]

I have the opportunity to observe an OT at a group home facility for adults with developmental disaabilities. I've been wondering if I would list this as mental health on OTCAS, but I'm not sure if that would qualify

 

[mull015]

This may be a naive question, but I am looking to shadow/observe for applying and have the opportunity to observe an OT at a group home facility for adults with developmental disaabilities. I've been wondering for awhile what I would consider this on OTCAS, I've been told "mental health," but I considered that to have more of a psychiatry component

I shadowed in almost an identical setting (which it then turned into an OT Aide job) and I think I listed it as mental health but I can double check my OTCAS and let you know.