services

What is occupational therapy?

“Occupational therapy helps you live your best life at home, at work – and everywhere else. It’s about being able to do the things you want and have to do”

Royal College of Occupational Therapists

what should i expect from an occupational therapy assessment?

  • Works Wonders Occupational Therapy always offer a free 15-minute chat over the phone before a booking is made. This will be a chance to ask any questions and check we’re the right fit for you.

  • An initial assessment can be undertaken in your own home or in a local meeting room. The first hakf of the assessment will be discussing you hisotry and your symptoms, as well as the impact they have on your life. Next, the therapist will complete some assessments (where appropriate) and observe you undertaking different tasks and movements. This will help us to identify where the problems are. Finally, we will look at any other factors that the therapist thinks are worth further investigation.

  • The therapist will help you to identify goals and provide an intervention plan. Some of the strategies will be discussed during the assessment, whereas others may require some research, and will instead be included in your intervention plan.

  • The intervention plan will have everything you need to get started, and our aim is to help you self-manage your symptoms over the long term. It will provide a summary of the occupational therapists evaluation, and clear recommendations. However, if you require a more formal report (normally for work), then this can be arranged with your occupational therapist.

  • If you would like recommendations for work, the occupational therapist can provide a more formal report. This will cover a lot of the information from your initial assessment, as well as recommendations.

    If you require a report, you will still be given an intervention plan with recommendations on symptom management.

  • We hope that you will have everything you need to get started following the initial assessment. However, this process is not always plain sailing so your occupational therapist and rehab practitioner will be available for reviews.

  • Our rehab practitioner has over 26-years of experience in supporting people throughout their rehabilitation journey. One-to-one rehabilitation might mean home exercises, going for a walk, visiting a local gym, or graded exposure to challenging daily tasks. We also offer regular community classes and workshops- so keep an eye on our website for upcoming events!

The intervention options are endless, but here’s a few:

  • A rehabilitation programme which addresses your individual impairments (for example, reduced strength) along with your functional goals. This might include exercise, graded exposure, or practicing tasks in a controlled environment.

  • Activity modification, whether it’s recommending assistive equipment, changing to a more efficient technique, or sequencing things slightly differently.

  • It is common for symptoms of pain and fatigue to fluctuate significantly in severity, which makes it almost impossible to plan ahead and can have an impact on our mental health. Pacing and energy conservation strategies are an effective intervention, and Works Wonder’s OT will help you implement them (as it’s much harder than it sounds!)

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or positioning advice for sleep-related issues.

  • Strategies and assistive equipment to deal with fatigue-related cognitive changes, such as poor concentration, poor memory, difficulty switching between tasks, or an inability to work in noisy environments.

  • Education on pain and fatigue, which is an excellent starting point for gaining control of symptoms.

  • Strategies to help you overcome setbacks and maintain motivation.

Support at work

Planning a phased return to work

Returning to work following a period of sickness absence can be difficult, especially if you are worried about how you will cope with increased demands on your body.

If managed correctly, we believe returning to work can be a positive step in the rehabilitation progress. A phased return allows an employee to gradually return to work. This might mean starting on fewer hours or lighter duties.

Using the information from the initial assessment and your description of job demands, we can provide individualised recommendations to your employer. These will specify what exactly ‘light duties’ means for you and will make suggestions on how your work can be structured to maximise the sustainability of your return (and keep you feeling well!)

You’re disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.

Recommending reasonable adjustments

In most cases, the Court can only decide your protection under the Equalities Act. However, reasonable adjustments are normally awarded if an employee is likely to be covered based on the impact that their symptoms have on daily activities.

Works Wonders OT specialises in recommending reasonable adjustments and finding solutions that work for the employee and the employer.

We hardly think about those little day-to-day tasks, like defrosting the car or walking the dog. But, whether it be a painful knee or a stiff shoulder, there will be times when these tasks feel COLOSSAL, and then they might just need a little more thought and patience.