Do we need therapy?

Are you concerned that your young person is not progressing at age-appropriate levels or not managing expected daily occupations?

Or are you a young adult who is struggling with daily life tasks, going to work, or further education?

Then YES could be the answer.

Is performing everyday tasks much harder for you than for others?

Is managing behaviour a concern and challenging others?

This could be hinting at some underlying challenge that is resulting in a daily struggle.

Is it difficult to cope with day-to-day living?

The natural response is to minimise the problem or hope that they will grow out of it or catch up on their own. While this may happen, it is our experience that waiting for this possibility is often detrimental to progress and self-esteem. Sometimes, just a little bit of help to identify their challenges and support their function can make a big difference.

Why use ActivateOT over NHS or Local Authority?

Activate OT offers a specialist, comprehensive service which takes many years of training and experience. We can offer weekly one-to-one therapy sessions with the same therapist each week, tailored to meet the individual needs of our clients. We don’t have long waiting lists and we may be able to offer services not available within the statutory services in your area.

Do we charge for the service and how much does our service cost?

YES, we charge for our services. Activate OT Ltd receives no funding and therefore has to pay all costs out of our charges. Our services are tailored to meet the needs of our clients therefore we offer a free no obligation online discovery call to gain a better understanding of the service you may require before costing the service.

What are the alternatives?

You can contact your GP who can put you in touch with your local authority children with disabilities team, community care team, mental health teams for adults, or Occupational Therapy through the NHS. They are fully funded by the government to provide free basic services for the general public but often have very long waiting lists to even be assessed before therapy can start and the level of services available in each area can vary.

What services do we offer?

• Functional Occupational Therapy Assessments

• Ayres Sensory Integration Therapy Assessments

• 1:1 person-centered therapy sessions

• Support when communicating with school, college, university, or in the workplace

• Webinars and short educational talks for groups.

What is a Functional Occupational Therapy Assessment?

An Occupational Therapy (OT) Functional Assessment focuses on your current level of functioning, what your strengths and weaknesses may be, how you manage on a day-to-day basis and to identify any challenges or gaps. A treatment plan can then be developed to help you achieve your goals. Typically, a client will attend an individual therapy session on a weekly basis. This session will last around 50 minutes.

What is an Ayres Sensory ® Therapy Assessment?

Every person has unique strengths and challenges. During assessment we strive to understand the diversity of the person by completing an in-depth evaluation of their occupational needs by understanding their underlying motivations, patterns of occupation, communication, motor & processing skills as well as environmental assets.

This assessment is a process that involves time with the client, the family/carers, and educators/ employers who may be working with the person. Depending on the age of your person and their abilities, this may take a number of hours.

If an Ayres Sensory assessment highlights that some assistance is required what does therapy look like?

As each person and situation is unique, therapy is tailored to meet the strengths and constraints of each specific context. Typically, a client will attend an individual therapy session on a weekly basis. This session will last around 50 minutes. The parent/carer is encouraged to be part of the session in order to maximise the carryover of information and help them continue therapeutic inputs at home. In our experience, progress is significantly quicker when the caregiver is committed to drawing therapeutic activities into the person’s daily life.

How long will we need to attend therapy once it starts?

This will depend on how significant the challenges that the person is facing, as well as the intensity of the intervention. The occupational therapist will discuss progress with you on a regular basis, and in consultation with you, make a decision to extend therapy or initiate discharge.

Occupational therapy focuses on strengthening skills. If the foundation skills are unsteady we need to add more structure to support the foundations. When we teach more complex skills on shaky foundations it increases stress and anxiety and although this may bring some improvements in the short term it is likely to be limited in success. Although working on the foundations may seem to take longer, the end result is robust learning and progress across many skill areas.

How does payment work?

In this practice, invoices are sent to the person responsible for paying on a monthly basis in advance of the assessment/therapy sessions. Payment should be made on receipt of the invoice. If payments are not made on time within the allocated time therapy will cease.

How is therapy terminated?

Therapy can be terminated when a client has successfully met the goals agreed upon for intervention.  This is usually done in consultation with client and/or carers, in order to ensure success going forward.

Occasionally, circumstances dictate that therapy cannot continue. In these circumstances, either the client, carer or the Therapist, must give two weeks written notice to the other party.  The notice period is necessary in order to prepare the client and round off unfinished work.

All decisions made must be in the best interests of the client concerned.  We would encourage you to discuss problems with the therapist and to work closely in implementing all therapies decided upon.

What does it mean to be Neurodiversity-Affirming?

When someone is neurodiversity-affirming, they recognize that neurodivergence is not a flaw or illness that needs to be “corrected". They recognize that neurodivergence can come with its own strengths and positive attributes.