Good Day, Everyone:
We have had an exciting and widespread representation through your posts since launching last week!
I have been reading these and am so impressed with the variety of OT services that are being offered around the world, and the interests you have in considering other places on our planet to provide occupational therapy!
As an OT in Canada, I thought I would post a bit of information based on Tina's questions about work in this country.
There are differences in funding and services between provinces as health is a provincial government mandate.
Many public OT services are funded in Ontario, for example through the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, and some through Ministry of Community and Social Services. Some children's and adolescents services are funded through the Ministry of Child and Youth Services, and some may be funded through a combination of ministry budgets.
Private OT services also exist in each province.
There is a growing trend to "push" the envelope of where services are offered, and how they are funded, into new and innovative practice areas. Some examples:
- Family Practice teams, where OTs are becoming front-line service providers alongside the physicians, nurses, and some practices with social workers, nutritionists, and psychological counselors.
- Corrections and post-incarceration services
- Social planning and municipal planning in terms of equal access for all, user friendly neighbourhoods and services.
(In my educational role at McMaster University, I develop partnerships with community programs that help push these envelopes, so that our student occupational therapists can have placements (internships/fieldwork) in innovative settings, which helps prepare them for new ways of implementing OT services, and helps out community partners understand what OT offers. I love this!)
I am also including a link to a Canadian Government website that has all types of statistics and information about OT in Canada that you may find helpful or interesting:
http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/qc/job_futures/statistics/3143.shtml
If others have information or resources about their countries' OT landscape, this may be a great way of sharing this with forum members who may be interested in re-locating.
Hope everyone has a great day, evening, and night!
Lorie
