Mallory Moore

7th Period
ISM- MENTOR INTERVIEW ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
Student Name: Mallory Moore Period: 7th

Printed Name of Person Interviewed: Sonja Halvorson

Role of Individual: Mentor

Place/Name of Business: The Children’s Therapy Center Inc.

Business Address: 17045 El Camino Real #106, Houston, Tx 77058

Phone Number: 281-480-5648

Date of Interview: October 31, 2018

Type of Interview: __X__ In Person

1. For someone working in your field, please describe the fantasies versus realities of the job.
(fantasy vs. reality)

The fantasy is that you feel like you will be able to help everybody and each client will make a
lot of progress very fast, however, sometimes that is not the case. The reality is that sometimes
progress can be slower than expected due to the child not being motivated or the client not
following through with recommendations from the therapist.

2. What is your current educational level? What continuing education and training are required?
(educational level and requirements)

She has a Bachelor’s of Science in Occupational Therapy from the University of Minnesota as
well as a Texas Occupational Therapy license. Continued education and training includes thirty
hours of continued education every two years to maintain licensing. In addition, as more therapy
methods come out, therapists must go through training to acquire an understanding of it in order
to implement it.

3. Please describe the typical day to day activities of someone working in your field.
(day-to-day activities)

Typical day to day activities in this field include doing treatment or evaluation sessions with the
clients as well as scoring the evaluations post-session. Typing up the scoring of the evaluations
as well as the notes from the therapy sessions are done at the close of the day or in between
sessions to maintain a record of activities that are working or failing as well as progress in each
goal.

Revised Fall 2017

 Mallory Moore
7th Period
4. How secure are you in your current position? What do you think is the future of your field?
(job security)

She feels that this is a very secure field with a lot of room for growth due to people living longer
and that requiring more therapy with old age. She feels that as time goes on there is going to be
an even greater need for Occupational Therapists especially due to the increase in inactivity with
aging and in younger generations.

5. What is a typical (average or lowest to highest) salary of someone working in your field?
(salary)

The average pay for a newly graduated Occupational Therapist is about $63,000 whereas for
more experienced therapists it is about $83,000. Some therapists, depending on the job site could
probably make up to $95,000 whereas those working part-time could be making a lot less.
However, Occupational Therapist Assistants generally make around $50,000 a year. Nursing
facilities usually have greater pay for Occupational Therapists.

6. What potential for growth is there in your field?

(growth potential)

Depending on the facility you work at, there are opportunities to move into management
positions within your therapy department, but also growth if you move to different settings. A lot
of times you can make more money depending on the facility you work at. Additionally, with the
continued increase in demand for Occupational therapists, more growth opportunities within
facilities will arise.

7. If you had to do it over, related to your career or education, would you do anything differently?
Why?

If she had to do it over she would still become an OT because she has genuinely enjoyed it
because there is a lot of variety in it; so, if she gets bored with one form of it she can switch to a
different one. She would not change her education only because the Bachelors of Science degree
was all that she was required to get when she went through college, whereas now a Master’s
degree is preferred.

8. What advice would you give to me as someone interested in pursuing Occupational Therapy?

She would advise getting a Bachelor’s degree in something else that I am interested in just in
case I decide that I do not want to go into Occupational Therapy as long as I get my pre-
requisites so that I am eligible to apply for OT. Many people get a degree in Kinesiology, pre-
med, biology, or psychology, but I can really get it in anything as long as I get my pre-requisites
(Anatomy, medical terminology, Statistics, a few Psych classes, etc.). She would recommend
starting in any form of Occupational Therapy that I will be working with other therapists to ask
questions to rather than in a school setting by myself.

9. What is your preferred method of therapy? Why?

Revised Fall 2017

 Mallory Moore
7th Period
Her preferred therapy is with kids that are almost typically functioning and you can’t really tell
anything is wrong with them, but because they are so high-functioning they don’t often get help
for the smaller things. She prefers this because she feels that she can make more progress with
them and see the growth. She enjoys doing any therapy with these kids whether it is iLs,
handwriting, helping with regulating emotions, etc.

10. What obstacles do you face in this career?

A major obstacle in this career is insurance. You want to see the kids and they want to see you
but the insurance won’t cover it so then they can’t afford it, so they don’t get to make as much
progress. The insurance seems to only be getting harder to deal with rather than easier and the
parents are having to pay for more so it is only getting worse. Another obstacle is when parents
don’t follow through with things that therapists suggest such as brushing their child daily or
working on the emotional zones at home.

Interview Summary
 Sometimes clients do not make fast progress despite your expectations, but we need to work at
their pace to make the progress that they can.
 Day to day activities include actually having the therapy sessions, evaluating new clients as well
as continued clients for progress checks, and typing up reports on the child’s improvements and
struggles.
 Occupational Therapy as a field has a lot of room for growth due to an increasing demand.
 Occupational therapists can fall in the lower middle class when first starting out, but most fall in
the middle class on the verge of upper middle class. There are a few exceptions in the upper
middle class. (based on income)
 Different facilities and forms of occupational therapy provide different opportunities for
advancement and pay increase.
 Education is continued after college and never stops in this field, especially due to new therapy
forms coming out.
 A master’s degree is preferred for this field now
 Any bachelor’s degree will allow you to become an occupational therapist as long as you have
the pre-requisites.
 Working with other therapists provides an environment to learn more as you’re working in the
profession.
 Insurance doesn’t always work with the client or the facility.

Revised Fall 2017