What Is Occupational Therapy?
What Is Occupational Therapy?
Supporting what matters in your everyday life
Occupational therapy is about the things we do each day, the roles we hold and how we participate in life. We take time to understand your experiences, what’s going well and where you would like things to change.
What is occupation?
In occupational therapy, “occupation” means the everyday activities we take part in. These activities can meet our needs, bring enjoyment or meaning, and connect us with others. Occupation includes much more than paid work.
Examples include:
- Looking after yourself and your health, preparing meals and managing everyday responsibilities.
- Participating in family life and relationships, for example as a parent, partner or child.
- Working, learning, studying, volunteering and contributing to your community.
- Playing, enjoying interests, being creative and spending time with others.
- Resting, sleeping and making time to recharge.
Some activities are things we want to do; others are things we need or are expected to do. What they mean to us, and how we participate, can change throughout our lives.
This explanation draws on the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) explanation of occupation.
How do occupational therapists work?
We consider three things together:
- The person: your strengths, values, interests, health and experiences.
- The environment: your surroundings, relationships, social expectations, community, culture and spiritual connections.
- The occupation: what you are doing, what it asks of you and how you experience it.
Occupational therapists work across many areas of health and wellbeing. At OUR THERAPIES, our focus is within mental health.
How does occupational therapy work in mental health?
Someone may feel comfortable at home but anxious at work. A role that usually feels manageable may become overwhelming when circumstances change. Understanding this context helps us decide how to work together.
Mental health is an established part of occupational therapy, dating back more than a century. The profession has long recognised the relationship between everyday activity and mental wellbeing. Occupational Therapy Australia describes this history and mental health role here.
What can therapy involve?
Our work can include:
- Psychotherapy and psychological strategies: exploring experiences, relationships, thoughts, expectations and emotional patterns.
- Somatic and body awareness approaches: noticing bodily experiences and developing ways to respond to stress and overwhelm. This may include interoception, or awareness of internal body signals.
- Working with everyday occupations: developing skills, adapting activities, adjusting demands and identifying useful support.
Thinking and cognitive strategies are sometimes called top down approaches. Approaches that begin with bodily and sensory experiences are sometimes called bottom up approaches. We may use them together, according to your needs and your clinician’s training.
Sessions can involve talking and processing experiences. They can also involve working directly with an activity or routine.
OTA’s mental health endorsement recognises additional knowledge, skills and experience. Eligible OTs can provide mental health treatment under Medicare’s Better Access initiative.
How do we decide where to start?
First, we understand what your life looks like: what you do with your time, what feels demanding, how responsibilities are shared and what you want to maintain or return to.
Together, we explore:
- Occupational balance: how activities, responsibilities and rest fit together.
- Occupational priorities: what you want or need to focus on first.
- Occupational participation: how you take part, including with support.
Choosing a particular role, activity or routine gives us something tangible to work towards. We break it down, adjust expectations around what is doable and set manageable goals. We can then explore how the learning applies elsewhere in your life.
Support can take different forms
We consider what you can draw on, what you might need to develop, and what could be added, changed, shared or taken away.
Independence can be important. So can interdependence: using our strengths together and being supported where we need it. Needing support does not make someone less of a whole person.
Examples of working together
These are fictional examples of possible approaches.
An adult feeling overwhelmed by evenings
Someone arrives home exhausted and on edge. There are more demands, little energy and guilt about how the evening unfolds.
We explore their occupational balance and identify a priority: a nourishing meal that feels manageable. Psychological strategies can help address expectations and guilt, while body awareness approaches can help them recognise and respond to stress. Alongside this, we break down the routine, simplify demands and consider how responsibilities could be shared.
Joining in and building friendships
A child wants to join other children in play but feels unsure how to approach them. Previous experiences of being excluded or finding play difficult may have affected their confidence.
Occupational therapy can help the child and family explore what makes these situations tricky, including communication differences, the play environment and how others respond. Sessions might involve practising ways to join in, express needs, recognise cues and navigate disagreements through activities the child enjoys. Parent coaching can help families support these skills in everyday situations, while identifying opportunities for welcoming, mutually enjoyable friendships.
An autistic adult wanting more connection
Someone wants to join an activity but finds unfamiliar settings and sensory demands exhausting.
We explore their interests, preferences and support needs. Therapy may include psychological strategies for anxiety, sensory approaches and environmental adjustments. Participation might involve a smaller group, a trusted person or recovery time afterwards.
What are we working towards?
Your occupational priorities guide therapy. For example, progress might involve feeling less overwhelmed, returning to an interest, sustaining a role, making space for rest or using support differently.
We review what is helping and adjust our approach as your needs change.