opinions,’ says Jessica Thurston. While Dr Lynda Foulder-Hughes adds:‘ And if anybody ever says that job does not exist, go out and create it!’
Building a distinct niche requires the confidence to identify a gap in care and respond to it with your specific blend of skills, rather than waiting for a vacancy to appear. This means articulating the reasoning behind your recommendations in terms that are practically and legally useful, grounding your work in observed function and participation.
Action point
Identify one area where clinical advice feels impractical for a client and consider how your occupational therapy skills could bridge the gap between that advice and functional, everyday independence.
Tracey Allport adds:‘ I lean into my status as a regulated healthcare professional and highlight safety, ethics and my biopsychosocial approach.’ This integrated approach is also valued at a systems level. There is growing recognition in legal contexts that disability is shaped by environment, occupation and social context, not impairment alone; a perspective that is central to occupational therapy practice.
The takeaway
Use your occupational lens and focus on functional, participatory outcomes as your professional differentiator. By asserting this integrated expertise, you become a credible bridge between the medical model and a client’ s everyday life.
The integrated advantage: thriving in the‘ messy middle’
Use complexity as a professional strength. While other professionals may refer clients on when their needs fall outside a narrow physical or mental health silo, occupational therapists are trained to hold both together.
We thrive in the space where physical and psychological needs intersect; what might be called the messy middle.
This integrated, biopsychosocial lens allows us to hold space for emotional complexity during a physical assessment, or to act as careful, systematic practitioners finding the root cause of a functional difficulty.
Leaning into this overlap, rather than trying to fit a narrow single-focus medical model, is part of a credible visibility strategy. By combining evidencebased approaches with our occupational lens, we offer a distinctively integrated perspective:
Dr Lynda Foulder-Hughes says:‘ We take evidence-based modalities like cognitive behaviour( CBT) and trauma therapies and add our unique, holistic slant, rather than applying them in their purest form.’
References Health and Care Professions Council( 2024) Scope of Practice for registrants. Available at https:// bit. ly / 49Bnsgx [ accessed 8 May 2026 ].
RCOT( 2024) Scope of Occupational Therapy Practive Briefing. Available at www. rcot. co. uk / explore-resources / ot-topics / scope-practice. [ accessed 8 May 2026 ].
Royal College of Occupational Therapists( 2026) Learning and development standards for pre registration education( Revised edn). London: RCOT. Available at https:// bit. ly / 49CSsNc [ accessed 8 May 2026 ].
World Federation of Occupational Therapists( 2026) Minimum standards for the education of occupational therapists( Revised edn). Forrestfield, WA: WFOT. Available at https:// bit. ly / 4ouCdZ1 [ accessed 8 May 2026 ].
Interviewed and written by DANIELLE HYUNH, Independent Practice Lead( Mental Health)
14 Occupational Therapy in Independent Practice