CPD for Occupational Therapists in Australia

Understand the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) landscape for occupational therapists in Australia, including annual CPD requirements, interactive CPD, CPD planning and record keeping, mental health endorsement and Focussed Psychological Strategies (FPS) requirements, and more.  

Last reviewed: 2 September 2026

Related articles: CPD for Psychologists in Australia, CPD for Counsellors in Australia, CPD for Social Workers in Australia.

An overview of CPD requirements for occupational therapists in Australia

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the process through which occupational therapists maintain, improve and broaden their professional knowledge, skills and competence throughout their careers.

In Australia, occupational therapists are regulated by the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia (the Board), supported by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). The Board’s CPD requirements are set out in its Registration standard: Continuing professional development and Guidelines: Continuing professional development.

The CPD standard applies to all registered occupational therapists except those with student or non-practising registration.

To meet the standard, occupational therapists must:

1. Complete at least 20 hours of CPD each year. CPD activities must seek to improve patient or client outcomes and experiences, draw on the best available evidence, contribute directly to professional competence and keeping up to date within the practitioner’s scope and setting of practice, and build on existing knowledge.
2. Complete at least 5 hours of interactive CPD. Interactive CPD involves a two-way flow of information with other practitioners. This can include face-to-face learning or interactive online education where participants are able to engage with other practitioners. Interprofessional learning can also form part of interactive CPD.
3. Maintain a CPD portfolio. The portfolio should document learning goals, planned and completed CPD activities, and reflections on how those activities are expected to improve or have improved professional practice.
4. Retain CPD records for five years. Practitioners must be able to provide their CPD portfolio and supporting information if selected for audit or otherwise requested by the Board.

Time spent developing the CPD plan or reflecting on completed activities does not itself count towards the minimum 20 hours of CPD.

Occupational therapists who register part-way through a registration period complete CPD on a pro-rata basis. The current standard requires five hours of CPD for every three months of registration remaining in the registration period.

When renewing registration, occupational therapists are required to declare whether they have complied with the CPD standard.

What is considered Continuing Professional Development (CPD)?

Occupational therapists have considerable flexibility in selecting CPD activities, provided those activities meet the requirements of the Board’s CPD standard and contribute meaningfully to professional competence.

CPD may include activities such as:

• courses and structured education programs;
• conferences, seminars and workshops;
• interactive webinars and other online education;
• postgraduate or other formal study;
• professional supervision, mentoring and peer learning;
• journal clubs and communities of practice;
• professional reading and self-directed learning; and
• other evidence-based learning activities relevant to professional development.

CPD can relate to maintaining or improving competence within a practitioner’s existing scope of practice or to developing competence in a new area of practice.

Not every online activity automatically meets the requirement for interactive CPD. To qualify as interactive, the activity must involve a two-way flow of information with other practitioners. For example, participation in an interactive live webinar may qualify, while completing a self-paced recorded course would generally contribute to the broader 20-hour CPD requirement rather than the five-hour interactive requirement.

Education, training, mentoring or supervision required by the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia or a tribunal — for example, as a condition or undertaking on registration — cannot be counted towards the minimum CPD requirement.

Occupational therapists remain responsible for selecting CPD appropriate to their individual learning goals, scope of practice and professional responsibilities, and for maintaining evidence of completion.

Mental Health Endorsement and Focussed Psychological Strategies (FPS) CPD requirements

Occupational therapists who practise in mental health may also be subject to additional professional development requirements.

Occupational Therapy Australia Mental Health Endorsement

Occupational Therapy Australia’s Mental Health Endorsement recognises occupational therapists with additional knowledge, skills and experience in mental health practice and is required for occupational therapists seeking to provide certain government-funded mental health services, including Focussed Psychological Strategies under Medicare’s Better Access initiative.

To maintain Mental Health Endorsement, occupational therapists must:

• maintain registration with Ahpra and continue to meet Occupational Therapy Board of Australia registration and competency standards;
• maintain Occupational Therapy Australia general membership;
• complete at least 10 hours of mental health-specific CPD each year; and
• maintain active engagement in professional supervision.

For occupational therapists practising under Medicare, all 10 hours of this annual mental health CPD must relate to the Focussed Psychological Strategies recognised by Medicare.

These 10 hours can contribute towards the 20 hours of CPD required annually by the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia; they are not necessarily an additional 10 hours on top of the Board’s 20-hour requirement.

Focussed Psychological Strategies under Better Access

Under Medicare’s Better Access initiative, eligible occupational therapists providing Focussed Psychological Strategies must complete 10 hours of FPS-related CPD each year.

For Medicare purposes, the FPS CPD year runs from 1 July to 30 June. Part-time providers must complete the same 10-hour annual requirement as full-time providers. Occupational therapists who become eligible to provide FPS during the CPD year have a pro-rata requirement.

Recognised FPS areas include:

1. Psycho-education, including motivational interviewing
2. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), including behavioural interventions, behaviour modification, exposure techniques and activity scheduling
3. Cognitive interventions, including cognitive therapy
4. Relaxation strategies, including progressive muscle relaxation and controlled breathing
5. Skills training, including problem-solving, anger management, social skills training, communication training, stress management and parent management training
6. Interpersonal therapy
7. Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR)
8. Narrative therapy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
9. Clinical skills involved in conducting a full assessment to form a diagnosis and commence treatment planning

Acceptable FPS-related CPD activities may include postgraduate education, workshops, seminars, lectures, professional reading, writing professional papers, supervision, peer consultation and online training, provided the learning relates to the delivery of Focussed Psychological Strategies.

Practitioners required to complete FPS CPD under Medicare must retain written records of their FPS CPD for two years from the end of the relevant CPD year.

Mental Health Academy offers a dedicated collection of courses covering many of the therapies, interventions and clinical areas recognised within the FPS framework. Occupational therapists remain responsible for determining whether individual courses or components of courses satisfy their specific FPS CPD requirements.

Eligibility for full or partial CPD exemptions

Registered occupational therapists with practising registration are expected to meet the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia’s CPD requirements. A period away from practice does not automatically remove the CPD requirement while practising registration is maintained.

However, the Board may grant a full or partial exemption or variation in exceptional circumstances where a practitioner has taken a substantial absence from practice and those circumstances have also prevented them from undertaking CPD.

Circumstances that may support an exemption can include:

• significant illness or injury;
• bereavement;
• substantial caring responsibilities arising from significant illness or injury; or
• exceptional circumstances associated with maternity, paternity or parental leave that prevent both practice and completion of CPD.

Planned personal leave, travel or study will generally not qualify for an exemption. The Board expects practitioners, where reasonably possible, to plan their CPD around foreseeable absences from practice.

Similarly, taking maternity, paternity or parental leave does not automatically result in an exemption. The Board generally expects practitioners to plan CPD around their leave, but may consider an exemption where additional circumstances substantially prevent the practitioner from practising and completing CPD.

Applications are considered individually and should be submitted as soon as the need for an exemption is identified, together with evidence describing the circumstances and the period affected.

Occupational therapists planning a lengthy break from practice may also consider non-practising registration, to which the CPD standard does not apply.

How CPD contributes to better client outcomes

Continuing Professional Development plays an important role in helping health practitioners maintain and develop their professional knowledge, skills and competence throughout their careers.

The Occupational Therapy Board of Australia emphasises that effective CPD should promote genuine learning that can be applied to practice, helping occupational therapists maintain contemporary, safe and effective professional services.

A systematic review by Main and Anderson (2023), conducted to inform CPD standards for regulated health practitioners in Australia, found that mandatory CPD requirements can improve practitioner knowledge and professional behaviour. Interactive CPD was generally more effective than passive learning, while e-learning was found to be as effective as face-to-face CPD.

The review also found that CPD tends to be most effective when it combines different learning methods, involves repeated exposure to learning over time and focuses on outcomes considered important by practitioners. There is, however, no clear evidence establishing a single optimal number of CPD hours across health professions.

For occupational therapists, effective CPD therefore involves more than accumulating the required number of hours. Practitioners should identify relevant learning goals, select activities based on their professional needs and available evidence, and reflect on how learning can be applied to improve their practice.ed that “CPD is able to improve clinician performance and patient health outcomes” (Cervero & Gaines, 2015).

Popular CPD courses and training undertaken by occupational therapists

Mental Health Academy offers 650+ CPD courses covering hundreds of topics in mental health and professional practice. MHA courses may contribute towards the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia’s general CPD requirement where they are relevant to the occupational therapist’s learning goals, scope of practice and professional development needs.

Self-paced MHA courses will generally not satisfy the separate five-hour interactive CPD requirement unless the specific learning activity includes two-way interaction with other practitioners.

Occupational therapists who hold Mental Health Endorsement or provide Focussed Psychological Strategies under Medicare should also assess individual courses against their specific mental health and FPS CPD requirements.

Some of the most popular MHA courses undertaken by occupational therapists include:

Evidence-based therapies and clinical interventions

• Helping Clients Deal with Problem Anger: Understanding and De-escalating Anger
• Using Internal Family Systems Therapy for Overcoming Addictive Behaviour Patterns
• Treating Anxiety with Motivational Interviewing
• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Medical Problems
• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Challenging Problems
• Ketamine-assisted Therapy for Treatment-resistant Depression
• How Behavioural Activation Can Help Your Depressed Clients

Families, parenting and couples

• Coercive Control: Recognise, Manage, Change
• The Parenting Revolution: How to Guide Parents to the Most Impactful Family Solutions
• Helping Clients to Navigate the Shock of a Relationship Breakup
• Working with Men in Distressed and Disrupted Intimate Partner Relationships
• Providing Therapy for Non-Traditional Romantic Relationships

Children and adolescents

• Working with Paediatric Anxiety
• Practical Strategies to Enhance Sensory Regulation in Children
• Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy with Adolescents: Aspirations and Empowerment
• What School Counsellors Need to Know About Behavioural Addictions
• Clinical Work with Gang Youth: Research and Applications
• Universal Mental Health Screening
• Setting Children Up For Success: Building Social/Emotional and Academic Competence Through Evidence-based SEL Programs
• Suicide in Schools: Prevention and Intervention

Diversity and multicultural competence

• Working with ADHD in Adults
• Working with ADHD in Children and Adolescents
• Autistic Patients: The Need for Providers to Embrace Different Thinking
• PTSD in Autistic Adults: Understanding the Causes, Symptoms, & Support for Suicide Prevention
• OnTrac: A CBT Based Manualised Group Program for Adolescents with ADHD
• Deaf Cultural Competency Training for Clinicians
• Anti-Ableism and Accessibility: Thinking Outside the Box
• Social and Emotional Wellbeing of Indigenous Peoples in Australia
• Cultural Humility: Maybe We’re Doing It Wrong
• 5 Ways to Decolonise Your Mental Health Practice
• Sitting with Aboriginal Clients: Appropriate Modalities

Suicide prevention and risk assessment

• Risk Assessments and Safety Plans
• STEPS: Steps To Evaluate Progression of Suicidality
• The Neuroscience of Suicidal Ideation and Behaviour
• How To Develop a Suicide Postvention Plan in Your Organisation
• Understanding and Preventing Suicide in Older Adulthood
• Post-Traumatic Growth After Suicide Loss Across the Lifespan
• When Suicidal Thoughts Persist: Treating Chronic Ideation

Addiction

• Wellness-Based Addictions Counselling
• Understanding the Biopsychosocial Model of Addiction
• Conceptualising and Treating Sex Addiction
• Digital ‘Addictions’ to Digital Wellbeing: Understanding and Managing Our Use of Technology
• Addressing Internet Gaming Addiction in Clinical Work
• Trauma and Addiction: Taking Motivational Interviewing to the Next Level
• Using Motivational Interviewing with Alcohol Dependence and Depression
• A Narrative Approach to Working with Sobriety and Life Transitions

Trauma-informed care

• Principles of Trauma-informed Practice
• Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) for Trauma
• Trauma Informed Care: Mindfulness-Based Treatment for Post-Traumatic Growth
• Understanding Ambiguous Loss
• Understanding the Link Between Trauma and Addiction
• Post Traumatic Growth and Psychedelics
• Incorporating Race-based Stress Into the Discussion About ACEs

Therapist self-care

• Creative Arts Approaches for Reflective Practice and Self-Care in Counselling
• Clinicians as Suicide Loss Survivors: Postvention for Caregivers
• Understanding and Preventing Compassion Fatigue
• Mindfulness Essentials for Therapist Self-care

Visit the MHA catalogue for a full list of available courses, and become a member to access 650+ courses and 750+ hours of learning, available online and on-demand, 24/7, for less than $1 per day.

References

• Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. (2026). Review of the recency of practice and continuing professional development registration standards: Public consultation. Ahpra.
• Main, P. A. E., & Anderson, S. (2023). Evidence for continuing professional development standards for regulated health practitioners in Australia: A systematic review. Human Resources for Health, 21, Article 23. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-023-00803-x
• Medicare Benefits Schedule. (2026). Better Access Initiative: Provision of Focussed Psychological Strategies (MN.7.4). Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.
• Occupational Therapy Australia. (2026). Mental Health Endorsement Eligibility Requirements. Occupational Therapy Australia.
• Occupational Therapy Australia. (2026). Mental Health Endorsement audit process. Occupational Therapy Australia.
• Occupational Therapy Board of Australia. (2019). Registration standard: Continuing professional development. Occupational Therapy Board of Australia.
• Occupational Therapy Board of Australia. (2019). Guidelines: Continuing professional development. Occupational Therapy Board of Australia.
• Occupational Therapy Board of Australia. (2020). FAQ: Continuing professional development registration standard. Occupational Therapy Board of Australia.
• Occupational Therapy Board of Australia. (2020). Fact sheet: CPD exemptions. Occupational Therapy Board of Australia.