Vocational Rehabilitation
Jake Cooper (Client), who has trained as a personal trainer, giving Rehabilitate Therapy’s MD Phil a challenging workout as part of his London Marathon 2026 preparation.
At Rehabilitate Therapy we recognise Vocational Rehabilitation as integral to an Occupational Therapist's rehabilitation role. The term ‘occupation’ in Occupational Therapy is intended in the widest possible sense (and not just work and education) – it is anything that takes a person's time, gives life meaning and provides a sense of purpose. The Vocational Rehabilitation remit, however, is specifically ‘occupation’ in terms of paid work, voluntary work, and education.
Our specialist occupational therapists are skilled and experienced to assist and empower clients to overcome wide ranging obstacles to return to work / education – essentially a vocational role. We achieve this through assessing and supporting a client’s pre-vocational skills – essentially are they ready and able to take on a vocational activity / role. Then also supporting them in the workplace or educational setting, so for example, we routinely undertake job demand analysis (JDA), occupational health assessments, work site assessments and transferable skills analysis.
What can we offer?
Below is an illustration of the vocational rehabilitation service we offer :
> Return to work
It can be difficult for clients to contemplate a return to work/college, especially after a traumatic event they may have gone through and the effect this may have upon a successful return to their work/learning environment. We support our clients to develop a personalised return to work/college programme in where our therapist can assess via various tools to establish a person’s strengths and needs. We also work with employers/lecturers, occupational health and human resource departments to enable them to provide reasonable adjustments to an individual to enable a return to work/college. We also work on activities that support a good return to work/learning, such as household roles, sleep, fatigue and getting to/from work/college.
> Pre-vocational skills
Pre-vocational skills are as important as a client’s work skills. We assess and design specific rehabilitation packages for clients regarding key areas of; planning, grading, personal appearance, critical thinking/problem solving, time management, sleep patterns and daily routines. Other skills we look at are personal and family roles and other commitments someone may have in their life, we also work in collaboration with our psychology colleagues regarding mood, behaviour and social skills. Ultimately, we look holistically at the whole person and how this has an effect on their work role.
> Transferable skills analysis
Our therapists can enable clients to consider their values, capabilities and barriers for work and help navigate how they can transfer the skills they have into new opportunities, which may include voluntary, work experience and alternative paid employment. We plan for work hardening (a graded approach to get people ready for work), assist liaison and provide advice for others involved, including employers and work coaches.
> Work site assessment/job demand analysis
We undertake these important assessments with a client and sometimes with the client and employer, or employer alone to assess the demands expected of the job. We will assess the tasks and processes involved throughout a job and analyse the demands this may have on the person completing this work role. This enables us to plan a vocationally focused rehabilitation programme, addressing the areas of deficit. A job demands analysis will also allow the therapist and the client to measure progress as it can be carried out a number of times throughout the rehabilitation process.
> Workplace support
We support the employee, in the form of education, support with work skills and reasonable adjustments. We also – and importantly, provide education and support to the employer to help them sustain and maximise the client within their work role. It is important to assist both employee and employer foster work wellness and wellbeing.
> Occupational Health Assessments
We specialise in occupational health assessments which are bespoke to the needs and circumstances of the employer and employee. This could be in the form of a return to work plan, advice on how to support an employee with a health problem, remain in work, or general suggestions around workplace wellbeing.
We use the bio-psychosocial approach which recognises that a person’s health is not just influenced by their diagnosis (biological), but that their personal beliefs (psychological) and social circumstances all play a part in their attitude to, and engagement with, work. Our assessments therefore endeavour to understand all aspects of the employee’s life to help identify any issues outside of the workplace that may be influencing their ability to work. Wherever feasible, our assessments are carried out on-site with the employee, to enable a very clear appreciation of their job role and work environment – ensuring the report recommendations are appropriately tailored. We will provide a detailed report and respond to any specific questions asked in the referral. We will write a bespoke return to work plan, which can be supported by a detailed AHP Fitness for Work report.
> Voluntary sector opportunities
Voluntary sectors opportunities are often invaluable in enabling our clients to experience different types of work, and also the challenges of working. We carefully plan and then grade, involvement in voluntary work and it can play a particularly crucial role to build clients stamina and resilience- as they progress toward their further employment prospects. Some of our clients also remain in volunteering roles - “giving back” to others and making a real difference to themselves. We can also support the volunteering or work experience placement with education, grading and planning of working times and any reasonable adjustments that the client may need to have a successful placement.
> Providing AHP health and work reports
This was formally known as AHP Advisory fitness to work note, and our therapists support clients, their employer and general practitioner in providing an AHP Health and Work Report. These reports advise about a client’s fitness to work and whether they require support (including reasonable adjustments) to return or remain in work. They can also be used in Statutory Sickness Payment (SSP) claims, if agreed by the employer and employee.
> Careers support
Using various tools to establish appropriate and aspirational roles for the client we support and educate our clients to engage them in pursuing their career goals. Often our clients must change their career pathway, due to the injuries they have sustained, and we are integral to this process. We build structured goals and action plans to achieve this and also support our clients, very closely, to attend their appointments with, for example, their work coaches regarding receiving benefits and also work in collaboration with Job Centre Plus to enable clients to realise their goals.
> Support with EHCP - school and college
An EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan) is a supporting document for children or a young person within education, to support them and their family - and can continue until the age of 25. Our therapists can support the multi-disciplinary team to compile these, and also influence these through our assessment and treatment skills and as part of their rehabilitation programme. This can also influence how we prioritise their occupations as part of their educational programme, from school to college and ultimately transitioning into an adult in the work arena.
> Coaching and mentorship
Our vocational consultancy therapists use a coaching and mentoring approach with our clients to establish their personal and professional skills and needs within their vocational role, identify their goals and designing a bespoke programme to support and enable the client to learn and enhance their skills within the learning and work environment.