I'm just curious to see everyone's response! I didn't know about OT until after nursing didn't work out. I definitely knew I wanted to be in the healthcare field because of my passion for helping people and it fascinates me how we all operate differently if that makes sense.
Other OT-Related Information How did y'all come across Occupational Therapy? Was it something you knew you've always wanted to do
- Thread starter aeju46
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Started as a business major, hated it, and then took a bunch of tests through career services at my school. OT was mentioned as a possible career path. I always knew I had a passion for working with kids and also was interested in the health care field. Once I discovered what OT was, it just made sense to me
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- Dec 20, 2016
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My background is in hair styling and one of my coworkers at the time I was starting college, had a sister who is an OT hand specialist. She expressed to me that my demeanor and personality would be a good fit for it. I was already interested in recreational therapy but I knew it didn't pay a lot (and I wanted to get an advanced degree), so I looked more into OT, saw all the variety of places and populations you can work with, the demand, and I decided that was going to be my path. I also shadowed a pediatric OT shortly after that when I was a freshman and fell in love with it. 
My brother required extensive OT following a pretty serious injury, and I often brought him to his appointments and sat through them with him, so I got to see his progression from inpatient acute OT to outpatient orthopedic OT. I loved the hands on helping nature of the work and how impactful it was, and once I learned more about the field and the job outlook and pay, I was sold.
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- Apr 1, 2015
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Learned about it through the OT at the group I worked at for adults with intellectual disabilities. Found out more about it from a friend that summer after being kind of frustrated with special eduction (my former major). After that I decided to shadow, switched my major to psych, and here I am!
Had two degrees in other things (arts/humanities related). Recession hit, got laid off twice. Took a job at a specialty running shop doing gait analysis, working with an ortho clinic as a side project for the store. Thought about PT school. Did a career counseling thing, turns out rehab was the right avenue. OT was the best match for all of my abilities and interests. Did some observation in a pediatric clinic, began volunteering at a respite center for kids with special needs and never looked back. Now I'm a pediatric OT working in my ideal setting. Love my job.
