Sarah is an occupational therapist (OT) with 15 years experience supporting children and their families. She has worked in private practice for over 10 years and runs workshops for parents and teachers managing meltdowns, anxiety and extra challenging behaviours. As an occupational therapist, thinking about the holistic needs of children and their families, she has an interest in nurturing children’s capacity to thrive and flourish. OT’s support people of all ages to engage in occupational roles that are meaningful to them. Sarah’s interest is in supporting families to be able to engage in activities that give them a sense of satisfaction and fulfil their potential in a way that is meaningful to them. The psychosocial aspect of her practice involves helping parents to better understand their child’s behaviour and think about supporting them when their child’s behaviours are not in line with the best needs for their child’s development.
As an OT Sarah tries to understand behaviours not just as behaviours but consider the child within the roles in their lives that are meaningful to them. The values she holds in her practice are that the work that she does has to fit that child and family. As well as her ongoing training in the field of resilience, Sarah participates regularly in professional development, through mentoring, informal research and courses related to sensory attachment intervention, sensory processing, child and family therapy and other relationship based interventions addressing social emotional needs within a developmental framework.