Cody Said:

Is Occupational Therapy a good career for an introvert?

We Answered:

With OT you need to be at least *somewhat* of a people person.
You have to be able to walk into a room and within a few minutes gain the trust of another person, so that he or she allows you to work with them on whatever problem they have. Or see them naked. Or cause them pain.

There are a lot of different areas that OTs work in: in schools (mostly handwriting and attention skills, I think), in out-patient clinics (hand injuries, strokes), in rehab centers (joint replacements, strokes, head injuries), in mental health (helping the person regain their ability to do their daily tasks), and in hospitals (do basic daily tasks, basic mobility, assess cognition and safety).
There's also driver training, pain management, wound care.

Yes, there is definitely a strong mental health part to my practice, and I work in an acute care I'm known in my department as the "crazy whisperer" as well as the "dementia whisperer" because I've developed a strong ability to communicate with people who have severe mental illnesses and dementia; many therapists don't take the time to really understand what they are experiencing.