UM Launches Montana’s First Public Occupational Therapy Program

MISSOULA — Kim McKearnan grew up in Great Falls and dreamed of becoming an occupational therapist. But the program wasn’t offered in Montana, so she ended up leaving Big Sky Country for more than 20 years to pursue her calling.

Today, she is back home as the founding director of the University of Montana’s new doctoral program in occupational therapy, the first such program in the state’s history offered at a public institution of higher education.

The new OTD program was approved to become a candidate for accreditation in April. It began accepting applications this summer, and the first occupational therapy students will begin at UM in the fall 2025 semester.

“We plan to have 25 students in our first cohort,” McKearnan said. “We’re starting a little smaller as we refine our processes and our program. Our intention is to grow to 35 to 40 spots in the coming years.”

Occupational therapy is a broad professional field that helps patients of all ages overcome difficulties in performing daily tasks or activities.

Occupational therapists often work with patients who have cognitive, physical, developmental or psychosocial disabilities. They work in hospitals, clinics, schools, retirement homes, long-term care facilities and a variety of other settings such as community centres or shelters.

“Occupational therapists can work with premature babies all the way to older adults recovering from stroke,” McKearnan said. “We literally care for people from birth to death.”

Montana has a significant need for more occupational therapists. According to 2022 state data, 12 Montana counties had no licensed occupational therapists. 2023 data indicated that seven occupational therapist positions in Montana schools were either unfilled or faced a very limited number of applicants.

Montana’s 2022 Postsecondary Workforce Report suggests that 33 additional occupational therapy graduates will be needed each year through 2030.

To address this need, the state’s Future Generations Behavioral Health System Commission supported a $3.2 million investment to launch public OTD and physician associate programs at UM. (The first PA students will start on campus in fall 2026.)

“There is an incredible need for occupational therapy services in Montana right now,” McKearnan said. “We’ve heard here in Missoula and across the state about waiting lists for children six months and older because there aren’t enough therapists to go around. This is a developmental period that you can’t get back, so you have to be able to access services and get those interventions. If you can’t get services, you can’t make up for lost time during this really critical time.”

According to U.S. News and World Report, occupational therapists earn an average of $93,000 nationally. UM’s clinical doctorate program will last three years, with the first graduates expected to enter the workforce in 2028. This is a graduate program, so applicants must have earned a bachelor’s degree.

The OTD program also requires some prerequisite courses such as human anatomy and physiology, abnormal psychology, and medical terminology. UM has prepared pre-OTD guidance for undergraduate students to prepare for the graduate program.

Speaking from his office in UM’s Skaggs Building, McKearnan seemed to relish the challenge of starting a new educational offering for UM graduates from scratch. The OTD will be part of UM’s College of Health, specifically its School of Speech, Language, Hearing and Occupational Sciences.

The OTD currently has two staff members: McKearnan and Janna Smith, an assistant professor who coordinates the new unit’s labs. They plan to hire two to three more OTD faculty members before next fall.

Smith, who also had to leave the state to pursue her occupational therapy training, said Montana now offers occupational therapy courses at private universities. However, UM plans to be more competitively priced and take advantage of being part of a larger university’s established programs.

“We are fortunate to be located within the Faculty of Health, where we can offer a lot of interprofessional training and clinical experiences,” Smith said. “We have the advantage of working with physical therapy, speech-language pathology, athletic training, social work, psychology and pharmacy. Collaboration with these other departments is already planned as part of our program.”

She said the first two years of the OTD program are primarily classroom-based with shorter clinical experiences. After that, Smith will help organize six months of supervised clinical experiences for students, and then they will participate in a capstone experience.

These final projects are tailored to each individual and can include anything from working in a neonatal intensive care unit to research or an advocacy project.

In the past, you could become an occupational therapist with a bachelor’s degree, and many programs have since raised that requirement to a master’s degree. Today, the industry standard is a clinical doctorate.

McKearnan said UM already offers an online pathway for working occupational therapists who want to upgrade their current degree to a doctorate.

“In school districts, it’s often possible to get a raise by continuing your education or earning advanced degrees,” she said. “You can also consider getting a doctorate if you want to work in academia.”

McKearnan said the process to secure a spot in the university’s first occupational therapy class is competitive, and the tentative deadline to apply for one of the 25 coveted spots is Nov. 1. She has heard repeatedly from students who have waited years for such an opportunity.

One of them is Jennifer Malotte, a 2020 UM graduate in health and human performance who works at Desmet Public School in Missoula.

“I heard that an occupational therapy program at UM might be starting in 2020, and I’ve been working ever since to get everything as ready as possible to apply,” she said. “I had considered moving or leaving the state, but decided to stay in Missoula when I realized they were starting a program here.”

Malotte says she feels a calling for this profession.

“I see a lot of kids who could benefit from occupational therapy. It’s a profession that’s in high demand,” she said. “I’ve talked to occupational therapists and they’ve told me about their high caseloads. I’ve always wanted to pursue a rewarding career that would allow me to help people. I believe that occupational therapy can really improve a person’s quality of life and I’m excited to apply and hopefully it will become my future career.”