Occupational Therapist

• Jan 2020 - Present

Disability Support Worker

• Sep 2018 - Present

Interchange Outer East has provided me with the opportunity to regularly support and build relationships with a number of clients experiencing various disabilities in the form of physical, intellectual and mental health. Not only has my role at Interchange allowed me to develop skills in complex medical and behavioural care, it has enhanced my ability to work independently, adapt to needs and circumstance, and respond to unpredictable situations. Interchange Outer East has provided me with the opportunity to regularly support and build relationships with a number of clients experiencing various disabilities in the form of physical, intellectual and mental health. Not only has my role at Interchange allowed me to develop skills in complex medical and behavioural care, it has enhanced my ability to work independently, adapt to needs and circumstance, and respond to unpredictable situations.

Community Health

• Jul 2019 - Sep 2019

I have recently finished my final 9-week Monash University Placement at Uniting Ballarat. I have been placed within the Street to Home program who work compassionately to provide crisis response, required resources, long-term housing and ongoing support for individuals who are sleeping rough in Ballarat and surrounding areas. My role consists of running the group based Living Skills Program for residents of a a set of 6 modular units run through the Street to Home program. I am also responsible for the research component, re-development and organisation of the Parent and Children Together (PACT) Camps, an initiative that was run for many consecutive years by Uniting to enhance opportunity for socialisation and community engagement for single parents and their children who would otherwise go without. During this placement I have been exposed to a diverse range of clientele. The age range of clients is anywhere from 18+ and experience incredibly diverse occupational issues such as no access to housing or health services, low SES, limited social support and network and poor family units/domestic violence environments. Many of the clientele with which we work experience significant mental health conditions, and require additional support for this. The primary assessments that I have administered on this placement have been the COPM, a Uniting specific goal formulation assessment, the DACSA budgeting tool, the MOCA and functional daily living assessments such as shopping evaluations.

Project Manager

• May 2018 - May 2019

The Honours component of the occupational therapy course at Monash University links pairs of students to organisations within the community to be given the opportunity to be Project Managers for this organisation. My partner and I collaborated with WorkXtra who contract Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists to work within Residential Aged Care Facilities. We were working more closely with the Occupational Therapists based within one facility in the Knox region. The aim of this project was to increase the awareness of the occupational therapy role amongst staff, specifically the Unit Managers and Personal Care Workers, and increase their understanding of when it is appropriate to refer to and OT. The overarching aim of this project was to increase the availability and regularity of OT services provided to the residents of the facility to increase their overall level of care and wellbeing, and ultimately quality of life.

Acute Care

• Jun 2018 - Jul 2018

6-week placement block that provided me with extended and in-depth exposure to the private hospital sector, particularly the field of acute occupational therapy work. This busy and fast paced environment enhanced my time management skills and allowed me to develop my own case load. This meant that I would be able to complete initial assessments, documentation and intervention planning, equipment prescription or referrals with very light supervision. The occupational therapists were responsible for addressing every ward in the hospital and my clientele therefore varied, and my practice was not specific to one health condition or targeted to just one specialty ward.

Acute Care - Maroondah Hospital

• May 2017 - Jun 2017

In May 2017 I completed a three-week placement block at Maroondah Hospital as an Occupational Therapy student. Throughout this placement experience I was provided with and exposed to a holistic overview of a traditional occupational therapy role in the acute hospital setting within the public health sector. Over these three weeks I was provided with the opportunity to observe the role of OT being implemented across many varying specialty wards, including but not limited to the orthopaedic ward, the surgery recovery ward, and oncology and respiratory specific wards. While only three weeks, due to staffing systems and staff leave, I was able to shadow and work alongside 7 occupational therapists in different areas which allowed me to gain a diverse and in depth understanding of my role, as well as develop a range of professional skills. Over the course of this placement I began and continued to complete initial assessments with a range of clients experiencing various conditions and therefore occupational issues. As well as assessment, toward the second half of this placement I was completing documentation with light supervision and guidance.