How to Ensure Your OTA Career Success: K+CxE2

No one wants a career that’s boring, uninspiring, and doesn’t help make the world a better place. Dig deep into the wide world of an OTA career, and you’ll discover something special. As an occupational therapy assistant (OTA), you’ll be joining one of the most gratifying positions available in the healthcare field. The OTA career offers personal and professional success because of this rewarding formula: K + C x E².

K+CxE² = Occupational Therapy Assistant

OK, so the K+CxE² reference is an invented expression. Still, those working as an OTA will tell you that K+CxE²answers a genuine human need for helping others: How? By an OTA’s ability to apply knowledge (K), tap into creativity abilities (C), and then apply that while offering empathy and encouragement (E²).

OTA Career Allows You to Lead Others to Success

An OTA career is a tremendous option for those who want to assist people of all ages to overcome developmental, emotional, social, or physical difficulties. OTAs like the idea that no single day is like the others, and they get to work with people of all ages and backgrounds.

How an OTA leads the way to better health and wellness:

• Show someone recovering from major surgery how to resume daily activities safely
• Demonstrate a play activity helps a child overcome a disability or sensory difficulty
• Assess a client’s ability to carry out their therapy plan and make recommendations for changes
• Document therapy progress and barriers
• Partner with the occupational therapist (OT) to introduce adaptive tools or techniques
• Provide assistance, inspiration, and encouragement to clients, family members, and caregivers.

Your Creative Talents are Valuable in an OTA Career

As an OTA, taking occupational therapy from theory to real-life requires lots of creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. What leads to recovery or recuperation for one client won’t necessarily be effective with someone from different backgrounds and energy levels.

Some tools or procedures, for example, are created on the spot by an OTA or specifically adapted for each person’s benefit. OTAs appreciate the freedom to explore better ways to meet developmental, emotional, physical, emotional, or sensory-based challenges.

Demonstrating Empathy, Offering Encouragement

Everyone who struggles with an emotional challenge, a disease like multiple sclerosis, or issues with “fitting in” deserves all the help and encouragement. An OTA is there to work one-on-one with their clients and gets familiar with how to assist clients in achieving their goals.

Not everyone is driven by a desire to help others, but this is a distinguishing attribute of an OTA. For example, a patient who lost a leg to diabetes wants to know how to stay active. A client with a cognitive problem now finds once-easy daily activities difficult. An OTA shows compassion in these situations and wants to deliver ideas and innovations that make life better.

The 2-year Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) Degree at CUKC

Cleveland University-Kansas City (CUKC) is a nonprofit, private, healthcare-focused university located in suburban Kansas City. It’s the right place to launch your OTA career. In its annual survey, U.S. News & World Report ranks OTAs in the top 25 of all health care support positions.

Cleveland University-Kansas City offers an Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) in Occupational Therapy Assistant degree. In addition to the professional OTA coursework delivered through classes and group learning, you’ll practice your OTA skill set in our on-campus simulated living quarters lab. Finally, you’ll do four to five months of required fieldwork experience to ensure you’re ready for the OTA workforce.

At CUKC, you can:

• Learn to apply your knowledge, creativity, empathy, and encouragement skills in a rewarding OTA career
• Complete the Occupational Therapy Assistant degree (A.A.S.) in as little as two years
• Prepare to become a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA)
• Find small class sizes for enhanced learning
• Choose from spring or fall class start dates.

Connect with an advisor to learn more about the OTA degree, or click here for a free eBook on today’s OTA careers: Your Complete Guide to an Occupational Therapy Assistant Career.