Occupational Therapy Personal Statement Example 2

For as long as I can remember, I have been brought up in a loving environment and encouraged to care for others. I have always been taught, ‘treat others as you want to be treat yourself’, no matter what I do in life. It has only been in the past 8 months that I have truly known what career path I have wanted to pursue.

After working at a special needs summer camp for 9 weeks in Minnesota, I feel my social and caring skills have developed significantly. I realised that I was comfortable working with people with special needs and was able to relate to them on their level which created a trusting bond between me and them.

I have had experience working with people of various ages as a camp counsellor at Camp Friendship, doing different activities and making sure that a disability doesn’t get in the way of success. I led activities such as arts and crafts, horse riding, going on boat rides and tubing.

Even though there are a lot of different jobs that are dedicated to caring for people, as soon as I heard about occupational therapists, I knew it was the course for me. Working with an occupational therapist myself, in my role as a care assistant at Deneside Court,

I can see the hard work that goes into the job and the smiles on people’s faces when they achieve something they never thought they could achieve. No matter what disability a person has, they still have talents, and for their life to be lived to its fullest; those talents should be nurtured in order to achieve their full potential.

The varied talents people have are what make them unique and I want to be a part of this.

I have completed my Junior Sports Leaders Award and my Community Sports Leaders Award which consist of volunteering in the sports sector to deliver sports sessions to the public. I worked closely with two young boys, one who had physical Tourette’s and one who had cerebral palsy.

I planned and delivered activities with the boys which they didn’t think they could achieve and they enjoyed the two hour session, evident by the smiles on their faces throughout the full session. For two years, I volunteered as a football coach for a local school’s girls’ football team.

Throughout the two seasons, the team were unbeaten and I built up lots of self-confidence within that time. In the very near future I hope to have started my Level 1 British Sign Language course to help with my career.

Within the course I am studying now, I have to do a lot of independent research for the different tasks that I have to complete. There are group tasks and individual tasks, so I have to be able to work as part of a team for the group tasks so the work gets completed without arguments and friction.

I always meet deadlines which portray my dedication to the course and I do a lot of research for the different assignments.

Some of the units I have covered in BTEC Sport include anatomy and physiology which taught me about the bones and muscles in the body which can help me with my future career. I have also completed my basic First Aid award and it will benefit me as if someone has an accident, I can assist them in their rehabilitation.

I was educated in how to complete risk assessments which I will need to be able to write to become an occupational therapist.

After all of the volunteering I have completed, my communication skills and teamwork skills have dramatically improved. I am a lot more confident speaking in front of people and teaching people how to do different things such as different passes in football.

During my time in school, I was recognised as being responsible, dedicated and passionate to my school work therefore I was elected as Deputy Head girl of Year 11.