General Admissions & OTCAS Volunteering - Does it have to be with an OT?

[gedana]

I apologize if this has been addressed before, but I'm having a difficult time reaching a consensus, so I'm hoping you lovely folks can help me out.

I've done a lot of volunteer work over the years, and currently I design websites for animal shelters and rescues. That has been my only substantial volunteer work in the past couple of years because I live in the middle of nowhere and my schedule has been packed.

I plan on shadowing many OT's in various settings. I also want to volunteer though, and I'm wondering if I should only pursue opportunities in which I will be in direct contact with an OT or if pretty much anything would suffice.

I have considered the following: an association for the mentally handicapped, a hippotherapy provider (equine therapy), and animal assisted therapy. The first two are local and I could probably arrange to volunteer with both organizations if they need someone on the weekends. I am 95% sure that none of these organizations employ an OT and that is my concern.

I thought about emailing schools directly to ask but I want to contact these organizations ASAP and get things rolling, therefore the sooner I know something the better.

Thanks! 🙂

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[c2902]

If you're just talking about straight volunteering, no, it doesn't have to be with an OT, though if it's somewhat related (ie, working with a specific population, like geriatrics or kids with special needs), that will look a little more applicable that the animal shelter (though that is worthy in and of itself). If you have time for both the observation requirements and a volunteer gig, then I'd pick one of the places you're considering and not worry about it being with an OT - when applying to school, I did my required observation at various places with OTs, but then also put in a ton of volunteer hours at a respite center for kids with special needs, where there were no OTs, but where I got tons of great experience and an awesome LOR! The best part is that I've gotten to "give back" by connecting them with my program, so that students can come in and fulfill some course requirements, which helps them out a ton in terms of extra hands to help with stuff; they're a non-profit and so to have a steady stream of OT students funneling in and helping them problem-solve will hopefully support them in awesome ways over the years! Diversity of experience is beneficial on an application, I think.

 

[PAW4810]

I was told that my volunteering with animal shelters would not apply. They want places where you interact with different kinds of people and in various settings. I volunteer at a children's hospital, a homeless shelter, with my local FFA program and special Olympics.....so none that are specifically OT but definitely more then just my animal shelter stuff.

 

[HK_OT]

Like others stated, it can definitely be someplace besides under an OT. I volunteered in the Child life and therapeutic recreation dept. at a pediatric hospital, which satisfied the requirements with no issues.

Good luck! ^.^

 

[Hebrews11]

As long as you can relate the experiences you have at your volunteer site to how it will affect you personally and in your occupational therapy career, its pretty fair game as long as its not too far out there. For example, in my OT school interview I used an example of how I used critical thinking to solve a problem while working with my uncle on a summer job pouring concrete and doing construction work, lol. However, keep in mind that most OT programs require at least one letter of recommendation from an OT (my program required 2), so when you consider places to shadow it is advisable to place a higher priority on OT specific places so that you will have several OTs to consider for your LORs and can show that you have a wide range of experience in several OT specific settings prior to beginning the program (one of the keys to a strong application is diversity!).

 

[OTStudentSept2014]

From what I saw with different schools application forms, it really helps more to have more hours with an OT, although general human service hours with the populations OT serves could help. I'm not sure if every 1 hour of OT observation counts as much as 5 hours of general volunteer work, or if it's 1:2 or what.

Some schools will only accept "observation hours" if it is directly with an OT, so with an OTA or with a PT, or military medical tech at the same facility won't count. Although I had one main OT I shadowed at a particular facility, if she left early I'd observe one of the OTAs, and often I just helped out with balloon volleyball with whoever needed it.