Choosing the components of an occupational therapy work assessment program for a psychiatric hospital

Guiding adult psychiatric patients back to competitive employment is a challenge to any occupational therapist. This paper describes how a work assessment program was developed for an adult population in a long-term psychiatric care center despite the lack of applicable models for doing so. The resulting "common sense" approach, a "how to" for those searching for programming guidelines, is presented with recommendations for the development of similar programs in Occupational Therapy Departments.