Occupational Therapy

Our experienced Occupational Therapists are trained to help work with you to identify the key areas of concern that may be impacting your life or restricting your ability to achieve your goals.

Through assessments in the home, school, workplace or community we are able to identify exactly how Occupational Therapy can assist you and your family.

In most cases, initial appointments involve a friendly conversation with you and if required your family to discuss your goals, where you may be currently at and the barriers that may be preventing you from moving forwards.

Our Occupational Therapist can perform standardised assessments to assist with housing applications, assistive technology requests and community considerations such as modified learning applications.

Investing time into establishing a clear understanding of your life is our primary focus. With an in-depth understand of you, we are able to provide a clear and precise therapy plan.

Children and adults with many disabilities can often find it difficult to process information. Our Occupational Therapists are well trained to identify the individual sensory needs to achieve the best communication, processing, learning and participation.

Bright lights, loud noises or interesting tastes are all examples of sensory input that can be processed in a different way or may provide a different response. Being able to identify how we can accommodate each individuals' preferences allow us to maximise how we deliver learning, what behavioural response we may see and how much participation there may be in activities.

We can help you and your family understand more about how information is taken in and how we can create a more accommodating environment that feels more comfortable for you.

Behaviours are often a communication tool that is used when someone is happy, sad, have a dislike or may be seeking attention. Occupational Therapists may be able to support you to identify what may be causing a certain behaviour or what a behaviour may be trying to mean. We all like to be understood and made to feel comfortable and when achieved the expression of certain behaviours may be reduced or more quickly attended to.

Our Occupational Therapists can help support behaviours through creating and communicating a routine or task, by finding enjoyable and stimulating activities to do, improve expressive and receptive communication strategies and by helping to identify the environments that make you feel more comfortable.

Our Occupational Therapists can help work with you to find the value and joy of being a part of your community. Whether it is at school with peers, at home with family or at a day program with friends, being able to develop the skills you may need to join with others is extremely important for you physical and mental health.

Our OT’s can help children learn to take turns in games or a conversation, to be able to ask questions and to listen to an answer or to be able to make new friendships.

Our occupational therapists can help adults to better understand other people and how they may be feeling, to be able to actively listen to friend or family member or to understand the skills needed for an upcoming job interview.

Our team of skilled Occupational Therapists can help you identify the key components of your home or living environment that can allow you to be more comfortable, move safer or be better supported within.

We are able to work with you to achieve your home and living goals, from remaining within your home with your family, to living in a welcoming and supported living accommodation.

Our Occupational Therapists are able to support you from the beginning with friendly discussions with you and your family, to applying for funding through housing applications to ensuring you transition in a seamless and comfortable manor. It is reassuring to know our team is here to be with you through the whole journey to make sure you are well support where you live.

Living safely and comfortably within your home will allow you to live a healthier and happy life. As our needs change over time, so do the requirements for the home we may live in.

Our experienced Occupational Therapists can help to identify the areas within your home that me be limiting your ability to access your whole home safely and with ease. The deterioration of a health condition such as walking capacity may require the need for a wheel chair or walking frame. This new mobility equipment may require changes to be made in the home such as installation of ramps, widening of doorways, or removal of steps in and out of the shower.

We can assess your specific and individual needs, apply for funding through funding bodies, collect quotes for works and to follow through with this installation process. Modifications in the home may be small, such as improving lighting or adding hand rails, or more complex like opening up doorways or bathroom modifications. We are able to work closely with designers, suppliers, builders and maintenance people to ensure your home is well equipped to accommodate your needs.

Accessing your local park, school, shopping centre or workplace can enable you to be an active part of your community. As your needs may change, so does your ability to access all parts of your community which may leave you feeling anxious, depressed or isolated.

Our team of Occupational Therapists can help work with you to improve your physical capacity if there may have been a deterioration, modify your assistive equipment to better accommodate changes or to review the journey, environment or process to allow you improve your quality of life.

For children, having access to school may require adapting the way you may get to and from the classroom, how the school may best accommodate your needs or adjusting the routines to allow for better learning.

For an adult, starting a new job or volunteer program may require an upskilling in ability to do a fine motor task, working with employers to adapt a working environment or establishing a routine that provides breaks in a more meaningful manor.

Our Occupational Therapists at Advance Therapy are trained is assessing your individual needs for the application and prescription of equipment that may allow you to move more safely, widely or independently.

As your needs may change over time, our team of Occupational Therapists can identify how particular equipment from wheelchairs, to sliding sheets may improve your ability to move in and around your home, widen the distances or places you can travel or improve the safety of how you move or how your support team may better assist you.

Although anyone can purchase a piece of assistive equipment, ensuring the correct equipment is selected based on your individual needs and requirements as well as the appropriateness for now and the future is something our Occupational Therapists are well trained for. Having a deep understanding of the benefit and limitations of each item of technology or equipment will allow our Occupational Therapists to provide you with the safest and most accessible way of accessing your environment.

Ensuring you are correctly fitted for wheelchair seating is a part of the care our Occupational Therapists taken when prescribing equipment that may be used for many ours of the day. Pressure care, head and trunk supports and gravity accommodating devices require a great level of knowledge of the body and where injuries are likely to occur. Our Occupational Therapists will ensure you are correctly fitted for the most appropriate piece of equipment and are regularly reassessed to ensure we can accommodate changes over time.

Our Occupational Therapists can work with you to identify and manage mental health concerns related to your disability. Anxiety, depression, low motivation, social withdrawal and emotional regulation are all symptoms of mental health difficulties that our team of experienced Occupational Therapists can assist with.

Through evidence-based strategies including Mindfulness, routine building, graded exposure therapy and coping strategies our Occupational Therapists can help you re find your joy in life and help you re-join your community.

For children attending school, our Occupational Therapists can work with teachers, learning coordinators, and principles to better accommodate your needs and preferences. If you may be experiencing learning difficulties, we are able to assist with applying for consideration or exemptions for tests or exams, offer strategies to improve communication between home and the school and to assist with particular skills that may be creating a barrier for learning. For children soon to be entering school, our team of Occupational Therapists are able to assist with school readiness programs, developing school routines and structure, and graduating classroom expectations.

For adults in or soon to be entering work or employment, our Occupational Therapists are able to work with you, employers and recruitment agencies to better understand how we can assist in maximising your potential in the work you wish to achieve. From improving hand dexterity, to establishing feedback preferences or improving interview communication techniques or Occupational Therapists are able to accommodate your particular needs and ensure you gain the most from your employment opportunity.