Intro to Mental Health OT

Mental health is one of occupational therapy’s smallest practice areas.

Because relatively few OTs work in traditional mental health settings, it can feel like an enigma:

• What does mental health OT actually look like day to day?

• Where do we fit on interdisciplinary teams?

• And how does occupation truly show up in mental health care?

At the same time, there may be no better home for occupational therapy’s core values than mental health practice.

In this course, Intro to Mental Health OT, we zoom out to ground you in the big picture—while also getting practical about what mental health OT looks like in real clinical contexts.

We’ll be joined by a practicing occupational therapist and champion of the profession, Michelle Burlyga, OTR/L.

Together, we’ll walk through:

• Common assessments used in mental health OT

• Core treatment approaches and intervention strategies

• Key considerations for mental health practice that differ from other OT settings

• Why mental health competencies are increasingly essential—no matter where you practice

You’ll leave with a clearer mental model of mental health occupational therapy—and a stronger sense of how OT’s distinct focus on occupation can play a powerful role in supporting mental health and recovery.

1. You will recognize occupation-based assessments utilized in mental health care.

2. You will be able to identify evidence-backed treatment interventions that OTs can utilize for mental health promotion and prevention.

• Intro

• Discussion

  1. How did you come to practice in mental health OT?

  2. What’s the fundamental mindset shift OTs need to make when moving into mental health practice—especially if they’re coming from a more medically oriented setting?

  3. For an OT new to mental health, how would you recommend spending the weeks leading up to a first mental health role?

  4. What essential information do you want to gather about a mental health setting before starting—whether inpatient, outpatient, or community-based?

  5. What assessments are your go-tos in mental health OT, and how do you decide which tools to use?

  6. What types of interventions do you most often return to in mental health practice?

  7. What considerations in mental health practice feel most different from other OT settings?

  8. What are mental health approaches you feel like therapists could take with them regardless of setting?

  9. What hot topics or emerging issues have been on your mind related to mental health occupational therapy?

• Live Q&A

• Closing

• Mental Health Promotion, Prevention, and Intervention in Occupational Therapy Practice

• Occupational therapy interventions for adults with severe mental illness: a scoping review

• A systematic review into the effectiveness of occupational therapy for improving function and participation in activities of everyday life in adults with a diagnosis of depression

• Autism and Mental Health: The Role of Occupational Therapy

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

OT Potential pays guest speakers an honorarium for their participation, either directly or to an institution of the speaker's choosing at their request. We invite guests whose expertise often comes from practices, programs, or building products in their field. Where a speaker has a financial interest in the subject of a course, we disclose it below so you can weigh it for yourself.

OT Potential's interest in this topic: We have no financial stake in this topic.

Speaker interests: Michelle Burlyga is an occupational therapist working in behavioral health care and a Major in the U.S. Army Reserve. She speaks in her personal capacity; her views are her own and do not represent those of her employer or the U.S. Army. She has no financial interest in this topic to disclose.