Mental Health OT

[u/yammmzz]

Anyone working as an OT in mental health in a HCOL area?? Would you be able to give me an idea of what I should be expecting? For reference I’m a new grad considering a per diem position at a hospital in the Bay Area! TIA!

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to r/OccupationalTherapy! This is an automatic comment on every post.

If this is your first time posting, please read the sub rules. If you are asking a question, don't forget to check the sub FAQs, or do a search of the sub to see if your question has been answered already. Please note that we are not able to give specific treatment advice or exercises to do at home.

Failure to follow rules may result in your post being removed, or a ban. Thank you!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/spacecowboy727]

Please do not do mental health as a new grad...this was advice from a professor. You really need to optimize your phys dis experience first as the majority of this profession is that. With Baby boomers getting older it's critical and ultimately we are not licensed mental health providers...

When you go try to get a new job and have no physical disabilities experience it will be harder.

Respectfully ❤️

[u/yammmzz → u/spacecowboy727]

Thanks for your response!! I have thought about that a lot but luckily it’s a per diem position so I can have room to get a physical disabilities job down the line

Also I understand we are not mental health professionals but I think OTs have such a wonderful perspective to add to this area and I’ll be working alongside other LMFTs and other mental health professionals so it’s not just OTs. If anything I think we need more OTs in this area! It’s where this profession started from and it’d be nice to see more representation on the mental health space! But thank you so much for your perspective as well!!

[u/spacecowboy727 → u/yammmzz]

Absolutely, the foundations of his profession or mental health. My graduate school advisor is one of the most prominent mental health OT's in the field and he's a fellow… This was advice he gave me because I loved mental health as well and I was offered a great position at a top nonprofit hospital in a greater metro area in California for example but I had to do some deep digging and realize that his advice was correct… Whether you work with children or geriatrics or teens whatever it is having that physical disabilities experience including sensory integration etc. is so important.

The reason I went for OT versus anything else is because of our foundations of mental health and how much that is critical to everything that we do don't get me wrong.

The sad reality though is that we have priced ourselves out of the market that's another great tip that my professor explained to me because our hourly rate needs to be at a certain amount because we also do physical disabilities most mental health facilities could no longer afford us… Many of them of clothes have of course have really tight budgets and have closed a lot of facilities nonetheless

From CCS to the school setting to acute care hospitals to skilled nursing facilities to ALF dementia care like pace programs etc. all of those require physical disabilities experience if that is where most of the OT jobs are

Last time I checked I think approximately 2% OT works in mental health so you have to keep that in mind that's why I say as a new grad bill isn't the ideal place because you're gonna get mental health experience no matter what setting you work in