Your role
As an occupational therapist, you play a crucial role in enabling people to participate in activities or ‘occupations’ they find meaningful. This includes helping people to take care of themselves and others, work, and participate in hobbies, interests, and social events. Occupational therapists also engage the person’s family, carers, and other supports.
Our therapists work across Queensland in a wide range of settings including:
- hospitals
- rehabilitation units
- community and primary health centres
- chronic disease self-management teams
- integrated mental health and paediatrics, including developmental assessment teams
- inpatient and community based mental health teams
- residential mental health rehabilitation services
- community alcohol and drug services.
Occupational therapists share their experience
Hear from occupational therapists working at Queensland Health.
[Music plays]
>>Participant 1: I think the key attraction to me, for Queensland Health is opportunities. Do something different each day, work with a different person a different community each day.
>>Participant 2: You can work with adults, you can work with children. You can work in mental health, you can work in a hospital. You can work in the community. And really, you can travel anywhere with it. You can work in, you know, the big cities or go more regional or remote. So I think that's the great flexibility of being an OT in Queensland Health, isn't it? That you can really go anywhere and do anything.
>>Participant 3: In terms of career options, diversity in terms of consumers, diagnosis, you know, you can be a clinician, you can be a team leader, you can be a whole range of things within Queensland Health which is really nice.
>>Participant 4: So for me it was really that ability to work in sometimes chaotic but always vibrant and enjoyable sort of teams that brought me back to Queensland Health.
>>Participant 5: It's one of the best things about Queensland Health, I think. There's so many, so much variety, you never quite know what you're going to walk into.
>>Participant 6: You're always thinking and you're always on your feet and you're always learning, which I also really love about this job and this role as well.
>>Participant 4: It's not just about the clinical work and occupational therapy, but it's also opened, a whole host of doors, in terms of senior leadership roles that, you know, that allows you to work in these organisations.
>>Participant 7: You’re really supported to, to be the best leader you can be there. There’s, there’s training opportunities. there’s amazing mentors there. There's just people around who can really guide you through that process of becoming a leader. So for me it's been a really rewarding experience to become a leader and, and work really closely with my team.
>>Participant 2: Also throughout my career, I had the one-on-one supervision with a team leader, and and now I'm obviously on the other end of that offering that to other staff. How about you?
>>Participant 8: I always look forward to our weekly supervision, so that's part of being a new grad, is you have booked in protected time.
>>Participant 5: It's both formal and informal, isn't it? It's the casual chats around, what would you do in this situation? But it's also the sit down and actually working through some things, which is amazing and so valued.
>>Participant 7: I'm a team leader, I'm an occupational therapist, I still see patients. But I'm also able to go home and leave work behind. And then live that life with the family that, that I really want to do.
>>Participant 9: I've definitely benefited from having flexible options with work. Trying to juggle, you know, progressing your career and still looking after a family. And having opportunities such as working part time, really helps, you know, look after your own well being as well.
>>Participant 4: Actually this afternoon after work I have to go down and train for the World Surf Lifesaving Championships. So, it certainly keeps you busy. And good work life balance.
[Text on screen] Queensland Government
[Music ends]
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Programs
We have several innovative programs providing patient care and services, that use the expertise of occupational therapists.
- Community rehabilitation programs
- Transitional care programs
- Community stroke rehabilitation
- Queensland Paediatric Rehabilitation Service
- Spinal outreach team
- Acquired Brain Injury Outreach Service
- Mobile rehabilitation initiatives
- Rapid medical assessment units
- Homeless outreach teams
- Alternatives to admission programs
- Child and youth mental health services
- Older persons mental health services
Qualifications and registration requirements
To practice as an occupational therapist in Australia, you must be registered with the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia.
International qualifications
If you're internationally qualified, you must have your qualifications assessed for equivalency by the Occupational Therapy Council.
You'll need to do this before you can apply for registration with the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia. Overseas qualified practitioners can find more information on the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia registration page.