✨ If you do one thing this OT Week to advocate for your profession, make it this: join your professional association – OTASA.
By joining, you’re not just signing up for CPD points. You’re strengthening the legacy of occupational therapy in South Africa and ensuring our voice is heard in the health, education, and private sectors.
This year, OTASA celebrated its 80th anniversary with a gala dinner in true OTASA style – inviting major stakeholders from HPCSA, Department of Health and Education, NHI, corporate sector and more. OT was showcased and celebrated for all to see and hear.
The OT Link was proud to support this event and be part of the celebration.
What a privilege it was to listen to past presidents reflect on the history of OT in South Africa – from its birth, growth through apartheid, advocacy for change and occupational justice, surviving COVID-19, and now projecting OT into its rightful place within NHI.
OTASA has supported the development of the OT Professional Body offering professional registration – a framework that allows therapists to demonstrate ongoing development and progress through professional, advanced, and expert levels of practice. This creates a clear path for recognition, and ultimately, for improving earning potential through experience and self-directed study.
Today, with the advent of NHI, OTASA is at the table in all the critical meetings – advocating for us and shaping the future of OT in this country.
Why join?
Because OTASA:
- Funds national advocacy that impacts every therapist.
- Publishes a world-class, diamond open access journal (SAJOT) where South African research is freely shared with the world and where a knowledge-base is being created to prove our impact.
- Provides ethics guidance and professional support.
- Ensures South Africa is represented on the international WFOT stage.
- Keeps us connected with the leaders of our profession – past, present, and future. And so much more.
💡 OTASA is largely a voluntary organisation, powered by members who give their expertise and time for free. Without our membership, the profession has no collective voice.
So this OT Week, remember: your membership strengthens OT’s future. It’s time to stand together. It’s time to join OTASA.
https://www.ot-admin.co.za/OTAdmin_2.0/new_member_registration.php
