Services Offered and What to Expect

Workshops

Workshops are a great way to learn foundational skills often discussed in occupational therapy. You can always find the current offerings of workshops on our workshops and groups page. If you can't make the live workshop, we recommend checking out the On Demand Library which contains our recorded workshops.

The workshops you'll find occupational therapy in include:

• Tackle the Term
• Getting Better Sleep
• Building Better Habits
• An introduction to the Getting Things Done system of productivity
• Financial Literacy

Individual Occupational Therapy Sessions

First Visit

First visits are 45-50 minutes long and focus on introducing you to occupational therapy services and identifying your concerns/goals. Your occupational therapist will begin to work with you to explore strategies and resources for reaching your goal(s). At the end of the session, your occupational therapist (OT) will discuss setting up a follow-up meeting if desired. Students often benefit from the accountability and structure of having additional follow-up meetings, and the exact frequency will be determined at the end of the session. Meetings are designed to be flexible to accommodate your schedule and needs. If an additional meeting does not work for your schedule, you will always have the option of scheduling a follow-up meeting in the future at your convenience.

Some of the most common topics students work on in occupational therapy include:

• Time management and productivity
• Planning and organization
• Procrastination
• Getting better sleep
• Low motivation

Occupational therapy focuses on:

• Implementing practical strategies
• Finding routines that work for you
• Feeling capable about what you do

Follow-up Visits

Follow-up visits are 45-50 minutes long and focus on reviewing progress made toward goals, troubleshooting strategies, and discussing additional topics and strategies to sustain healthy change. It is common for the first several meetings to be spent on foundational skills such as stress, setting effective goals, creating routines, and building sustainable habits. We encourage you to take the session in the direction you feel you could benefit the most and your OT will check in about which topic would be most useful that day.

How do I pick between OT and counseling?

An occupational therapist offers guidance by:

• Making good habits and routines, and setting realistic goals
• Making data-driven strategies to meet your goals

A counselor, on the other hand, can help you:

• Learn how to cope with stressful situations and difficult emotions
• Become more flexible and responsive in how you see yourself and others
• Understand yourself better

What we have in common:

• Individualized and client-centered
• Scientifically driven, evidence-based
• Defined goals

Remember, you are not limited to one therapy or the other. You may utilize both services to address the same problem as the different frameworks and methodologies of each profession can complement each other. We encourage students to take advantage of all the resources Caltech has to offer!