Taking a break from practice

This guideline is for occupational therapists who have previously practised in New Zealand and not held a practising certificate for over three years. If you are in this category, you are a ‘returning practitioner’. Due to not practising for some time, the process of applying for and acquiring a practising certificate is not automatic or guaranteed. If you have not practised for several years, you may need to re-orient yourself to the profession before you apply to get a practising certificate. This guideline is to help you with this planning. It is also intended for practising occupational therapists who wish to support returning practitioners back into practice.

There are four main components to consider when planning to return to occupational therapy practice:

• Current occupational therapy competencies
• The current healthcare environment and practice setting you wish to return to
• Re-engaging with the profession and establishing professional networks
• Application process

Competencies for registration and continuing practice

The competencies required for occupational therapists are regularly updated and you may have trained and practiced under different iterations of these. The OTBNZ needs to be assured you can practice competently to the current set of Competencies. To obtain this assurance, a self-assessment of competence against the current Competencies for Registration is required. 

Evidence of competence can be provided from the skills and roles you have held while not practicing. These need to presented in the self-assessment so they relate explicitly to occupational therapy and the current competence occupational therapists require. The application form for the self-assessment provides an example of what OTBNZ considers evidence for each area of competence.

You may need to address areas of your competence to meet the current competencies before you can submit your self-assessment of competence. Activities that may be useful to consider to assist with this can be found on the video below or in this document.