Should every OT practice take students?

One of the questions I’m asked most often as a business owner is: “Do you take Occupational Therapy students on placement?”

Like many private practice owners, I genuinely want to contribute to developing the next generation of OTs. There is something incredibly rewarding about watching a student grow in confidence, connect the theory they’ve learnt at university with real clinical practice and begin to find their own style as a clinician.

But over the years, I’ve also come to realise that wanting to support students isn’t enough. You have to be able to provide the right learning environment.

For Verve OT, that has meant being cautious about offering placements unless we are confident we have the right structure and support in place. However, it has also prompted us to think more creatively about what a high-quality placement could look like within a mobile and predominantly remote practice.

Great placements don’t happen by accident

There can be a misconception that taking a student simply means inviting them to observe a few appointments and gradually giving them more responsibility.

In reality, high-quality supervision is far more intentional than that!

Students need structured teaching. They need opportunities to reflect on their clinical reasoning, ask questions, receive regular feedback and safely develop their confidence. They also need supervisors who have the time to observe them closely, identify gaps in their learning and have honest conversations when something isn’t quite right.

That level of support takes planning, time and commitment.

It’s one of the reasons I have so much respect for the businesses and clinicians who continue to invest in student placements despite the pressures of running a busy practice. They are the real MVPs!

The environment matters as much as the supervisor

At Verve OT, we’ve hosted students in the past. We have an incredibly experienced team, and I have no doubt there is so much our clinicians could teach future OTs.

However, our service model presents some genuine challenges when it comes to hosting students. Two key factors stand out...

We don’t work from a central office

Our therapists work remotely and spend much of their day travelling between participants’ homes, schools and community settings. While that flexibility works exceptionally well for our team and the people we support, it means we need to think carefully about how we create connection, accessibility and consistent supervision for a student.

Some of the most valuable parts of placement happen between appointments

It’s the conversations over lunch. The questions students ask after a difficult assessment. Listening to two experienced clinicians discuss different approaches to a report. Watching how a therapist prepares for a home visit or reflects afterwards on what went well and what they might do differently next time.

Those informal learning moments can be more difficult to recreate when everyone is working independently.

Without a deliberately designed placement model, a student could spend significant periods at home between appointments without the day-to-day interaction that helps bring clinical learning to life.

That doesn’t necessarily mean a mobile or remote practice can never provide an excellent placement. It means we need to be thoughtful about how we do it. 

Before offering placements more regularly, we would need to ensure there were structured opportunities for observation, supervision, peer connection, collaborative learning and access to experienced clinicians throughout the placement.

The same thinking applies to new graduates

The same considerations apply when employing new graduate OTs.

People sometimes look at the depth of experience within our team and assume Verve OT would be the perfect place for a graduate to begin their career. There is certainly enormous potential for learning within our team!! But experience alone doesn’t automatically create the right graduate environment.

Graduate support requires consistent access to experienced clinicians throughout the working day. Throughout their working week. Throughout their new grad year (do you see where I'm going with this?)

New graduates need to ask questions in the moment. They need reassurance after difficult conversations, guidance through complex clinical reasoning and opportunities to observe how different therapists approach the same situation.

In a mobile service without a shared office, those opportunities have to be created intentionally. A graduate program cannot rely solely on scheduled supervision or the expectation that someone will reach out when they need help. It requires structure, protected learning time, regular contact and a team culture in which support is readily accessible.

If Verve OT employs new graduates in the future, it will be because we believe we have developed a model that can provide that level of support. Not simply because we have experienced clinicians or a role that needs filling.

Supervision is a skill in itself

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt is that being an excellent OT doesn’t automatically make someone an excellent supervisor.

Teaching is a skill. Giving constructive feedback is a skill. Creating opportunities for reflection is a skill.

So is helping students and graduates understand that there isn’t always one correct way to practise Occupational Therapy.

Two experienced clinicians might write reports differently, prioritise different questions during an assessment or explain recommendations in their own way. Helping developing clinicians understand the reasoning behind those differences is far more valuable than teaching them to copy one person’s style.

That kind of supervision doesn’t happen by chance. It requires intention.

Every placement shapes the future of our profession

The announcement about paid placements has been an important step forward for Occupational Therapy students. Financial support will remove one barrier for many students entering the profession.

But funding alone won’t solve the challenges we face!!

We still need enough placement opportunities. We still need experienced clinicians who are willing and equipped to supervise. We also need placement models that reflect the changing ways occupational therapy services are delivered – including mobile, community-based and remote models.

Most importantly, we need to recognise that saying yes to a placement carries a responsibility to provide a learning experience that genuinely prepares students for practice.

Sometimes that will mean opening your doors. Sometimes it will mean recognising that your current service model isn’t yet the right fit. At other times, it may mean stepping back, reconsidering the traditional placement model and building something that works differently.

None of those decisions makes a practice more or less committed to the future of the profession.

What matters most is that every student receives the support, guidance and opportunities they need to become a confident, capable clinician.

Because every placement shapes more than one student’s future. It helps shape the future of Occupational Therapy itself.

If this article has prompted you to think differently about supervision, or you're looking to strengthen the way you support students and clinicians, our Mastering Supervision and Leadership Skills workshop is for you!

It's packed with practical strategies to help you lead with confidence, have the conversations that matter and create a learning environment where people can grow. Available on demand to complete at your own pace 🕒