Six Years Out of Traditional OT: What 2025 Really Taught Me

Six years ago this December, I walked away from traditional NHS occupational therapy work with no clear plan, no safety net, and a one-way ticket booked for a future that never quite happened as expected.

At the time, it felt impulsive. Looking back, it was the most grounded decision I’ve ever made.

This year has prompted me to pause and reflect. Not just on 2025, but on what it truly means to build a sustainable, values-aligned career as an occupational therapist outside conventional systems.

This is not a how-to guide.
It’s an honest reflection. The wins, the strain, the lessons, and the recalibration.

Loving OT, But Knowing I Was Done

I loved occupational therapy.
I loved the actual work. Supporting people, particularly in dementia settings, to live better lives.

What I couldn’t tolerate anymore was everything wrapped around it.

The bureaucracy.
The box-ticking.
The erosion of autonomy.
The quiet infantilisation that came from being told off for the wrong colour shoes while carrying significant clinical responsibility.

By the time I left, I had reduced my hours to 15 per week and still felt drained. Five days of feeling grounded and confident in my personal life were undone by two days of work that jolted me out of myself.

I didn’t look for another job. I knew I was finished with traditional employment. Not OT itself, but the structure it sat inside.

Freedom Is Real, and So Is the Responsibility

Running a business has given me freedom I never imagined. Choice over time, location, energy, and pace.

But freedom does not mean ease.

When your work is values-led and creative, it lives in your mind. The ideas don’t switch off. The responsibility doesn’t disappear. The difference is that the responsibility is chosen.

That distinction matters.

I would still choose this path every time. But we do ourselves a disservice when we pretend that self-employment becomes effortless once you reach a certain level.

2025: A Year of Contraction Before Expansion

The end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 were financially quiet.
Sales dipped. Savings were stretched. Personal upheaval sat alongside business uncertainty.

What saved me was not luck. It was structure.

Recurring income, longer contracts, and prior planning meant the business stayed afloat. But it was uncomfortable, and it exposed gaps I needed to address.

The biggest lesson was simple and confronting. Savings need to be bigger than you think, especially as your business grows.

Good months are never guaranteed.

Boundaries, Leadership, and Difficult Decisions

Periods of pressure force clarity.

This year highlighted weak boundaries, misaligned working relationships, and areas where I was losing money through poor oversight.

One of the hardest decisions I’ve made was letting a team member go. It wasn’t personal. It was about momentum.

My way of working is fast, intuitive, and idea-driven. When the energy mismatches, everything slows.

Once that decision was made, alongside a shift towards simpler systems and more intentional use of AI, the business regained speed, flow, and creativity.

Very often, the thing holding a business back is exactly the thing we are avoiding addressing.

Growth Without Burnout

By spring, the business had grown significantly. There were months where revenue exceeded what I once earned in an entire year as a part-time OT.

I share that not to impress, but to normalise what is possible when occupational therapists stop underestimating themselves.

Importantly, growth did not come from working more hours.
It came from working smarter. Better systems, clearer offers, stronger messaging, and less unnecessary complexity.

If a business model relies on burnout, it is broken.

Confidence Is the Real Differentiator

One of the clearest insights this year came from analysing client outcomes.

People with the same strategies and support were achieving vastly different results.

The difference was not knowledge.
It was self-belief.

Confident practitioners decide faster, tolerate discomfort, stay visible, and recover quickly when things wobble. Without that internal foundation, no amount of strategy will hold.

You cannot outperform your self-image.

Designing Work Around Energy, Not Ideals

I’ve learned to design work around energy, not ideals.

Live events create deep connection but require significant output, so they are used intentionally and then automated. Longer-term programmes create safety and depth. Support structures evolve rather than expand unnecessarily.

This year also brought physical limits into focus. Injury, pain, and the need to radically change how I work, sit, move, and recover.

Health is not separate from business.
It is the infrastructure.

What I’m Carrying Into 2026

I began 2025 with three priorities:

• Financial safety

• Family harmony

• Health and longevity

None were perfected. All were challenged. Each moved forward.

In 2026, those priorities remain. Alongside them are deeper work, stronger foundations, more sustainable growth, and a continued commitment to showing occupational therapists that there are other ways to practise, earn, and live.

Leaving traditional systems does not mean rejecting the profession.
It means reclaiming agency within it.

Six years on, I am deeply grateful I trusted that instinct.

Want Support to Explore What This Could Look Like for You?

If you are an occupational therapist who is quietly questioning the sustainability of your current way of working, you don’t have to figure it out alone.

I offer clarity calls for OTs who want to explore alternative ways of working, building income, and creating more safety and choice in their lives.

You can book a call with me and we can talk through where you are, what feels stuck, and what might be possible next.

Click here to Book a Call

If you want to understand the business model first, watch the 45 minute training The OT Freedom Formula. - Click here to Watch