Occupational therapy is a discipline that aims to promote health by enabling people to perform meaningful and purposeful activities. Occupational therapists work with individuals who suffer from a mentally, physically, developmentally, and/or emotionally disabling conditions by utilizing treatments that develop, recover, or maintain their activities of daily living. The therapist helps individuals to improve their basic motor functions and reasoning abilities, and also to compensate for permanent loss of function.
The ultimate goal of occupational therapy is to help clients have independent, productive, and satisfying lives. Furthermore, occupational therapists are becoming increasingly involved in addressing the impact of social, political and environmental factors that contribute to exclusion and occupational deprivation.