G'day all, I am an Australian OT currently working in the area of vocational rehabilitation and I was wondering what role OTs have in "Welfare-to- work" schemes and the like in the US and around the world.
Over here, my role is community based and focusses on case management, FCEs, work site visits and ergonomic assessments. The clients we work with are predominately on "welfare" (either on a disability pension or on "the dole") and have a disability or injury (ie physical (back pain!!!!), psychological, cognitive or emotional) that impacts on their ability to obtain/maintain employment. Alot of client's are long term unemployed(some haven't worked since the 1960's)and therefore have multiple barriers to returning to the workforce. Our rehabilitation programs can therefore run for anywhere between a 3 and 18 months. We also do return to work/suitable duties programs (ie disability management) for workers compensation clients (ie occupational rehabilitation). We also run rehabilitation programs for people who are currently taking legal action against a third party (ie motor vehicle accidents, public liability? As I said above, I was wondering what role OTs have in vocational/occupational rehabilitation in other countries around the world. Are OTs a major player in this area? Are there many OTs working in this area? Are there many jobs for OTs? Is the area (ie work/vocational/occupational rehabilitation) developing in your country? Is intervention centre/hospital-based or community based? Is OT a respected and important profession in this area or do others (eg rehabilitation counsellors,doctors, physios) have the major role? Is OT involvement endorsed in legislation and by insurers, the DOL etc? What role do you see Ot having in this area in the future in your country? What services do OTs provide? Do your uni courses involve much about assisting people with injuries or disabilities to return to the workforce (ie voc/occ/work rehab)? Anything else at all that you would like to share with me and the list. I see vocational rehabilitation as being a huge area where "occupation" (in the OT sense, not in the generalist sense) can improve a persons QOL a great deal and where we can use occupation in an OT way (ie empowering and enabling clients to identify and use meaningful, purposeful activities within their own environment to participate as valued members of their community). Anyway thanks for your time and I would indeed be interested to hear from y'all. Cheers *********��*********** Unsubscribe? Send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message's *body*, put the following text: unsubscribe OTlist ** List messages are archived at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] *********��***********
