Centre and the Viaduct
Terraced streets close to the station and university buildings, many of them shared student houses.
Occupational therapy in Durham city
Occupational therapy across Durham for students, young adults, families and older residents, with home visits, video sessions and written reports arranged from our base in Newcastle upon Tyne.
- Student and young adult support
- Home visits in older properties
- Reports for solicitors
- Video sessions where suitable
Request a quote
Tell us a little about what you need and we will be in touch to discuss the next steps.
At a glance
Occupational therapy services for Durham students, families and older residents
Private Occupational Therapy provides support for students and young adults, home assessments, rehabilitation after illness or injury, children's occupational therapy and medico-legal reports across the city and its suburbs.
Each case is handled by an occupational therapist who travels down from Newcastle upon Tyne to student houses, family homes, schools and workplaces, using video sessions where they work well. It begins with an initial conversation, moves on to an assessment and a written report with recommendations, and continues with therapy or follow-up only when that would help.
Your first steps
- An initial talk about what you want to change
- A written quote before any appointment
- Assessment in the place that matters
- A report with recommendations you can use
- Reviews against the goals you set
- Information shared only with your consent
Students and young adults
Support for university students and young adults
Durham is a collegiate university city, and the move to living independently can expose difficulties with organisation, sensory overload, sleep or self-care that school routines used to hide.
Occupational therapy works on the practical side of student life: keeping to a timetable, shopping and cooking, coping in busy shared spaces and studying when energy or concentration is limited. Private Occupational Therapy offers assessments and sessions for young adults with ADHD, autism, dyspraxia or mental health difficulties, in their student house or by video. It sits alongside any help from the university or the NHS. A parent may make the first enquiry, but the young person's consent and their own goals come first.
Areas young adults often work on
- Planning a week and meeting deadlines
- Cooking, shopping and budgeting routines
- Sensory strategies for lectures and shared houses
- Sleep and energy management
- Confidence in new social settings
- Preparing for placements or a first job
Hills, steps and older houses around the city
The centre of Durham sits on a river peninsula, and the streets climbing away from it are steep, narrow and cobbled in places. Around the Viaduct, Victorian terraces often have front steps, steep internal stairs and small back yards, and older buildings across the city can have awkward changes of level between rooms. After an injury, or simply with age, those features can turn bathing, carrying shopping or getting to the front door into a daily risk.
What a home assessment covers
A home assessment looks at access from the street, the stairs, bathing and toileting, the kitchen and getting in and out of bed. Recommendations range from rails, equipment and rearranged furniture to larger adaptations, all set out in a written report you can share with relatives, a landlord or the council.
Conservation areas and period buildings
Much of the historic city is a conservation area, which can limit what is possible on an older building. A report can describe the person's needs clearly and suggest workable alternatives, leaving planning questions to the owner and the council's planning team.
Neighbourhoods
Where in the city do visits take place?
Visits cover central Durham, its suburbs and the villages beyond, grouped where possible to keep travel sensible. Families just to the north can also read about occupational therapy in Chester-le-Street, and every location is listed on the areas served page.
Gilesgate and Belmont
Eastern suburbs reached by a steep climb from Claypath, with Carrville and Sherburn further out.
Framwellgate Moor and Newton Hall
Largely residential northern suburbs, with Pity Me and Aykley Heads close by.
Neville's Cross
A western suburb where student lets sit alongside long-standing family homes.
Help after a hospital stay or a stroke
The University Hospital of North Durham, run by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, is the main acute hospital serving the city. After treatment there for a fall, a fracture, a stroke or surgery, practical questions often remain once someone is home: getting upstairs safely, managing a bath, or regaining the confidence to walk on steep pavements again.
Private Occupational Therapy is independent of the hospital and the trust, and no referral is needed to arrange a visit. Where weakness, fatigue or memory difficulties persist, neurological rehabilitation at home works on the routines that matter most to the person.
Children and families
Is occupational therapy available for younger children too?
Yes. Children's occupational therapy is offered at home and, with the head teacher's agreement, in nursery or school. It suits children whose handwriting, dressing, play or attention is holding them back, and those who become overwhelmed by noise or touch. Assessments can provide written evidence for an EHCP request to the county council, alongside a practical programme parents and teachers can follow between sessions.
Where children are seen
- At home, in everyday routines
- In class, with the school's consent
- Nursery and early years settings
- By video for parent coaching
Care and needs reports for legal cases
Solicitors, case managers and deputies instruct occupational therapists to set out the care, equipment, adaptation and therapy needs that follow a serious injury. Private Occupational Therapy can assess a client at home in Durham or the surrounding villages and prepare medico-legal and care needs reports, with the scope, timescale and fee confirmed in writing before the instruction is accepted. The information for professionals explains how to instruct and what the report includes.
FAQs
Questions people in Durham ask
Can a student see an occupational therapist without involving their university?
Yes. Private occupational therapy is arranged directly with the client, and the university only becomes involved if the student decides to share the report. Passing recommendations to the university's disability support team can help with adjustments, but that choice rests with the student.
Who deals with grants for home adaptations in the city?
Durham County Council handles Disabled Facilities Grants and adult social care for the city and the wider county. A private report can support an application, but the council makes its own decisions, so check its current process before planning any work.
Can sessions continue by video during the holidays?
Some follow-up sessions, coaching and planning can take place by video, which suits students who go home to another part of the country between terms. First assessments are usually best done in person.
Talk to us about OT in the city
Send a short description of who needs support and where in Durham they live, and you will receive a reply setting out the options and a quote.