Luke Telson-Sillett makes the case for retraining as an occupational therapist .
Making a change
Luke Telson-Sillett makes the case for retraining as an occupational therapist .
Luke Telson-Sillett
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M uch like the occupational therapy process itself , my journey to becoming an occupational therapist wasn ’ t exactly linear ; it wasn ’ t in my plan until the pandemic gave me the push I needed to make the change .
My background wasn ’ t in healthcare , or indeed anything adjacent to healthcare , in fact I originally studied law and went on to work in marketing for 10 years before even thinking about retraining . But now that I ’ ve done it , I can ’ t stop telling people how glad I am that I made the change .
Of course , this is a similar story for many occupational therapists . Many of us qualify as ‘ mature students ’, each bringing different skills and backgrounds through our own unique experiences .
After qualifying in August 2023 , and now with a year of clinical practice under my belt , I can ’ t help but reflect on the journey I ’ ve had and how fortunate I feel to have made the transition . A huge part of that change was centred on taking a strengths-based approach .
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Retraining : first steps
Retraining or transitioning into a different profession has many benefits and , of course , it has its challenges too . Once I had what I needed to apply for the course , I went at it full speed , interviewing and eventually landing a spot on the occupational therapy programme at Brunel University in 2020 .
Soon after starting the course , however , I had some jarring questions swirling around my head . Had I made a mistake ? Could I actually do this ? Or , one of my least favourite recurring thoughts , would I be able to keep up with my peers who I felt had more ‘ relevant ’ experience ?
36 OTnews November 2024