What are the responsibilities and job description for the Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant position at Synergy Therapeutic Group?
Current Illinois COTA license required (or license-eligible new graduate).
Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA) — join the most trusted therapy clinic in Southern Illinois.
Before you apply, we'd like you to do something unusual: research us. Google "Synergy Therapeutic Group Carbondale." Read our 235 five-star reviews. Look at how long we've been here. Talk to people in the community. We want you to apply because of what you find — because the right person for this role is someone who chooses where they work as carefully as we choose who joins us.
Who we are: Synergy Therapeutic Group has been serving Southern Illinois families since 2004. We are not a hospital system. We are not a staffing company. We are an independent, founder-led clinic where the owners still treat patients every day — and where our belief shapes everything we do: the body is not broken, it's adapting. We provide root-cause, integrative, family-centered care for adults with chronic pain and children with developmental challenges.
What your workday actually looks like here:
- Hands-on patient care — the reason you became a COTA. You'll treat, not push paperwork. Real one-on-one time with children and families under the direct mentorship of our co-founder, an OTR/L with over 32 years of pediatric experience.
- Documentation that takes about 2 minutes per note. We've built our systems so charting doesn't eat your day or follow you home. Ask any therapist who's worked in a hospital or SNF what that's worth.
- Hands-on training from day one. We don't hand you a caseload and disappear. You'll be trained in our clinical approach personally, by the founders — the kind of mentorship most clinicians never get access to.
- Personal and professional growth, built in. Your continuing education is fully covered — 100%. As we grow our practitioner training programs, you grow with them.
- No corporate productivity quotas. Your job is to help patients get better. That's the metric.
Benefits (full-time):
Total compensation: approximately $33–$36 per hour in real value. Here's the math we'll walk you through line by line:
- Health insurance with employer-paid contribution toward your premium
- Dental and vision coverage
- Short-term AND long-term disability insurance
- Retirement plan with employer match
- 100% CEU coverage — your Illinois continuing education requirements fully paid
- Paid time off plus paid national holidays
- What we're looking for:
- Current Illinois COTA license (or license-eligible — strong new graduates welcome; we train)
- A clinician who cares about why a patient isn't progressing, not just completing the visit
- Warm, reliable, coachable, and genuinely curious about integrative, family-centered care
- Someone looking for a professional home, not a stopover
Who this role is NOT for: if you're comparing jobs on hourly rate alone, we're probably not your clinic — and that's okay. If you're comparing on mentorship, meaningful work, respect for your time, and a place to build a career, read our reviews and apply.
Pay: $25.00 - $28.00 per hour
Benefits:
- Continuing education credits
- Dental insurance
- Disability insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Employee discount
- Flexible schedule
- Health insurance
- License reimbursement
- Life insurance
- Opportunities for advancement
- Paid time off
- Professional development assistance
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Application Question(s):
- What did you learn when you researched our clinic, and what specifically made you want to be part of it?
- How many years of experience do you have as a COTA, including fieldwork?
License/Certification:
- COTA (Preferred)
Ability to Commute:
- Carbondale, IL 62901 (Preferred)
Work Location: In person
Salary : $25 - $28