The Challenge of Providing Occupational Therapy in Mental Health

Although the number of occupational therapists working in mental health has dwindled, the number of people who need our services has not. In our tendency to cling to a medical model of service provision, we have allowed the scope and content of our services to be limited to what has been supported within this model. A social model that stresses functional adaptation within the community, exemplified in psychosocial rehabilitation, offers a promising alternative. A strongly proactive stance is needed if occupational therapists are to participate fully. Occupational therapy can survive without mental health specialists, but a large and deserving population could ultimately be deprived of a valuable service.