Occupational therapy and job retention - supporting clients, supporting employers

Posted on 27th June, 2014

Richard Frost, Lynn Aggett, Vicky Stratton, and Suzanne Balkwill from Workways have been successful in having their article published first in the British Journal of Occupational Therapy.

Extract:

Occupational therapists add value to vocational rehabilitation by bringing specialist knowledge and expertise relating to the activities that people perform in their working lives, and by identifying a person’s skill levels and deficits. Their unique knowledge base concerning occupational performance, and their distinctive skills, mean that occupational therapy staff play a pivotal role in providing vocational rehabilitation, and in enabling employees to remain at work by improving their work capabilities (COT 2010). By acting as an intermediary and, if appropriate, adopting the case manager approach, the role of an occupational therapist in job retention provides 50% support for the client and 50% support for the employer. An increased presence for occupational therapists in such roles, especially if they are enabled to ‘ask the work question’ at an early stage of referral, will serve not only to aid an earlier return to work for clients, but also to reduce demand on already over-stretched services, and satisfy the business driven requirements of employers. In tough economic times, this can only be beneficial. Read the full article by clicking the link below:
  • Frost, Aggett, Stratton, Balkwill (2014) Occupational therapy and job retention: supporting clients, supporting employers, 77(6), 324.

Accessibility