Occupational Therapist (OT)

- Location: Russell, Ontario
- Job Type: Full-Time or Part-Time options
- Estimated Start: November 2026

Join Our Mission at Sapling Child & Family Therapy At Sapling Child & Family Therapy, we believe children do best when they are understood in the context of their relationships, environments, strengths, and individual nervous systems. Our approach is family-centred, neurodiversity-affirming, trauma-informed, and grounded in curiosity about what supports each child’s meaningful participation in everyday life.

As an Occupational Therapist at Sapling, you’ll work alongside children, youth, caregivers, and an interdisciplinary team to build capacity, support participation, and help families better understand and respond to their child’s unique needs. We value thoughtful clinical reasoning, creativity, collaboration, and a willingness to look beyond behaviours to understand what may be happening underneath.

We’re looking for an OT who shares these values and is excited to contribute their own knowledge, experience, and perspective to a growing pediatric practice.

Why Choose Sapling?

Private practice should give you the opportunity to do meaningful clinical work without having to manage every part of running a practice on your own. At Sapling, we provide the space, systems, administrative support, and collaborative environment that allow clinicians to focus their time and energy on the children and families they support.

- Competitive Compensation & Benefits: A commission-based employee model with paid administrative time and access to benefits, with compensation increasing based on relevant experience. See below for full details.
- Established Caseload Demand: Join a clinic with an active pediatric referral stream and ongoing demand for Occupational Therapy services, with administrative support to help you build and maintain a caseload.
- Flexible Daytime Schedule: Build a consistent part-time or full-time caseload within our daytime clinic hours, with flexibility in establishing a schedule that works for both you and the clinic.
- Administrative Support: Our Client Care Coordinator supports scheduling, intake, billing, client communication, and other day-to-day administrative needs so that clinicians can spend more of their time on clinical work.
- Clinical Resources & Equipped Treatment Spaces: Work in welcoming pediatric treatment spaces with access to therapy equipment, clinical resources, assessment tools, and shared materials to support your practice.
- Collaboration & Mentorship: Work alongside OTs and professionals from other disciplines, with opportunities for case consultation, shared learning, mentorship, and professional development.
- Room to Develop Your Practice: We value clinicians who bring their own areas of knowledge and interest. There is space to deepen existing skills, develop new areas of practice, and contribute ideas for how our services continue to evolve.
- A Supportive Professional Culture: We value curiosity, respectful communication, collaboration, autonomy, and clear expectations. Our goal is to create a workplace where clinicians feel supported in doing thoughtful work while maintaining healthy boundaries and balance outside of work.

Your Role at Sapling As an Occupational Therapist at Sapling, you’ll work with children, youth, and their families to understand the factors influencing their participation in everyday life. Your caseload may include children with a wide range of strengths, needs, and neurodevelopmental profiles, with areas of support including regulation, sensory processing, motor development, executive functioning, feeding and oral-motor skills, self-care, play, emotional well-being, and participation at home, school, and in the community.

Your work will be individualized and collaborative rather than protocol-driven. You’ll use your clinical reasoning to understand each child within the context of their development, relationships, environment, and nervous system, and work alongside caregivers to identify meaningful goals and practical ways to support them.

You’ll also be part of an interdisciplinary team where collaboration and consultation are encouraged, while maintaining the autonomy to develop your own clinical style, areas of interest, and expertise.

Key Responsibilities

- Provide individualized, developmentally appropriate Occupational Therapy assessment and intervention to children and youth.
- Develop meaningful, participation-focused goals in collaboration with children, caregivers, and families.
- Support areas of occupational performance that may include regulation and sensory processing, motor development and coordination, executive functioning, self-care, play, feeding and oral-motor development, emotional well-being, and participation at home, school, and in the community.
- Use family-centred, neurodiversity-affirming, trauma-informed, strengths-based, and nervous-system-informed approaches to guide assessment and intervention.




- Partner with parents and caregivers to build understanding, identify practical strategies, and support carryover into everyday life.
- Adapt assessment and intervention approaches to each child’s individual strengths, needs, communication style, developmental profile, and environment.
- Collaborate with Sapling’s interdisciplinary team as well as educators, physicians, and other community professionals when appropriate and with consent.
- Maintain clear, timely, and clinically appropriate documentation in accordance with COTO standards and clinic policies.
- Participate in team meetings, case consultation, shared learning, and professional development.
- Maintain professional boundaries, communicate openly and respectfully, and contribute to a collaborative and reflective team environment.

Develop Your Clinical Interests Every Occupational Therapist brings their own combination of experience, interests, and areas of expertise. We don’t expect our OTs to practise identically or to specialize in every area we support. Instead, we encourage clinicians to develop areas of practice that are meaningful to them, with opportunities for mentorship, collaboration, supervision, and continued learning.

Depending on your interests and experience, opportunities for clinical development at Sapling may include:

- Pediatric mental health & OT psychotherapy,including clinical supervision for OTs developing psychotherapy competencies
- Feeding and oral-motor assessment and intervention
- Nervous-system regulation, interoception, and somatic approaches
- Sensory-motor development and reflex integration
- Executive functioning and participation-focused support
- Parent coaching, caregiver support, and co-regulation
- School consultation and collaboration
- Other areas of pediatric practice that you bring to the team or are interested in developing

What We’re Looking For We’re looking for an Occupational Therapist who is thoughtful, curious, and clinically grounded, and who shares our commitment to family-centred, neurodiversity-affirming, strengths-based care.

You don’t need to arrive with expertise in every area of pediatric practice. We value clinicians who understand their own scope and competencies, are comfortable asking questions and seeking consultation, and are interested in continuing to develop their skills. At the same time, this role offers considerable clinical autonomy, so we’re looking for someone who is confident in making independent clinical decisions and taking responsibility for their own practice.

Just as importantly, we’re looking for someone who enjoys being part of a collaborative team—someone who communicates openly and respectfully, values different professional perspectives, and is willing to both contribute their own knowledge and learn from others.

Qualifications

- Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy
- Registered and in good standing with the College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario (COTO)
- Experience working with children, youth, and families; pediatric experience is strongly preferred
- Commitment to family-centred, neurodiversity-affirming, trauma-informed, and strengths-based practice
- Strong clinical reasoning, communication, and relationship-building skills
- Ability to work independently while also engaging in consultation and interdisciplinary collaboration
- Commitment to ongoing learning, reflective practice, and working within professional scope and competence
- Professional liability insurance in accordance with COTO and clinic requirements
- Current CPR/First Aid certification
- Satisfactory Vulnerable Sector Check
- Ability to provide services in both English and French is strongly preferred

Traits We Value

- Curiosity & Thoughtfulness: You approach children, families, and clinical questions with curiosity rather than assumptions, taking time to understand what may be contributing to a child’s experience and participation.
- Respect for Children & Families: You value children as active participants in their own care and recognize caregivers as important partners, while respecting each family’s individual needs, priorities, and circumstances.
- Reflective Practice: You’re willing to examine your clinical reasoning, consider different perspectives, receive feedback, and change course when new information suggests another approach may be helpful.
- Collaboration & Communication: You communicate openly and respectfully, value the perspectives of other professionals, and are comfortable seeking consultation, sharing knowledge,



and working through differences constructively.
- Independence & Accountability: You’re comfortable managing your own clinical responsibilities, following through on commitments, and making independent decisions within your scope while recognizing when consultation or support is appropriate.
- Adaptability & Creativity: You recognize that there is rarely one right approach for every child and are comfortable adapting your thinking and intervention to the individual in front of you.
- Commitment to Learning: You value evidence-informed practice, ongoing professional development, and continued growth as a clinician.
- Organization & Reliability: You manage documentation, communication, scheduling, and other professional responsibilities consistently and within appropriate timelines.

What It’s Like to Work at Sapling We’ve worked intentionally to create a clinic that feels warm and welcoming for the families who come through our doors—and supportive, qualified, and enjoyable for the people who work here.

- A Space Designed for Pediatric Practice: Our bright, welcoming clinic includes thoughtfully designed treatment spaces, shared therapy equipment and resources, and room for movement, play, creativity, and connection.
- A Collaborative Team Environment: You’ll work alongside professionals from multiple disciplines, with opportunities for informal consultation, shared problem-solving, and learning from one another, while maintaining responsibility and autonomy within your own clinical practice.
- Time to Connect & Learn: Regular team meetings, case discussions, one-to-one check-ins, and professional development opportunities create space for questions, reflection, feedback, and continued growth.
- Families Are Part of the Process: We value genuine partnership with caregivers and recognize their knowledge of their child as an important part of thoughtful, effective care.
- A Workplace That Respects Life Outside of Work: We believe meaningful clinical work should be sustainable. Our daytime model and flexible scheduling allow clinicians to build a caseload that works alongside the rest of their lives.
- Warm, Approachable & Professional: Our clinic culture is friendly and relaxed without losing sight of the professionalism that comes with working in healthcare. We value respectful communication, appropriate boundaries, reliability, and thoughtful interactions with clients, families, and colleagues.
- The Practical Things Matter Too: Free on-site parking, digital documentation and practice-management systems, administrative support, and well-equipped treatment spaces help make the everyday work easier.
- Compensation & Benefits: We aim to combine the flexibility and autonomy of private practice with the stability, resources, and support of an employee position. Compensation is structured to recognize clinical experience while providing paid time for the work that happens outside of direct client care.
- Commission-Based Compensation: Clinicians receive 40–48% commission on clinical services provided, with the percentage determined based on relevant years of experience.
- Paid Administrative Time: In addition to commission earned for client-facing work, clinicians receive one paid administrative hour for each client-facing workday, starting at $40/hour, with the rate increasing based on experience.
- Vacation & Statutory Holiday Pay: Vacation and statutory holiday pay are provided in addition to regular compensation in accordance with our employment structure and applicable employment standards.
- Health Spending Account: Employees meeting eligibility requirements have access to an employer-funded Health Spending Account of up to $1,500 annually.
- Retirement Savings: Employees may choose to contribute to Sapling’s Group RRSP (GRSP) through payroll deductions. After 2 years of employment, eligible employees also gain access to Sapling’s employer-funded Deferred Profit Sharing Plan (DPSP).
- Professional Support & Development: Clinicians have access to mentorship, case consultation, and opportunities for continued professional development, including psychotherapy supervision for OTs developing their psychotherapy competencies.

How To Apply If Sapling's approach to pediatric care and the kind of practice described here feel like a good fit for you, we'd love to hear from you.

Please complete our Sapling Child & Family Therapy Job Application at the following link https://forms.gle/hjR5BornUdwTyRvt7

We look forward to learning more about you, your clinical interests, and what you're hoping to find in your next role.

Pay: $40.00-$80.00 per hour

Expected hours: 37.5 per week

Benefits

- Casual dress
- Extended health care
- On-site parking
- Paid time off
- Profit sharing

Ability to commute/relocate:
- Russell, ON: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

Education:
- Master's Degree (required)

Language:
- French (preferred)

Licence/Certification:
- COTO license (required)

Work Location: In person

📌 Occupational Therapist (Russell)
🏢 Sapling Child & Family Therapy
📍 Russell