Potion Occupational Therapy

OUR KIDS NEED MORE HELP so WE’RE HIRING 🫶🏼

We are becoming slightly busy and whilst Kate & Ellie would love to take everyone on ourselves, our cup is starting to spill - especially with all our grand plans, like holiday groups, in mind!

OT’s please get in contact via our email if you can picture yourself working alongside us. We are looking for a part time (2-3 day) therapist or a Saturday clinic-based therapist to start - absolutely room to negotiate the role and grow as a clinician.

We’ll take our time for the perfect fit 🤝🏽 CHAT SOON!

It’s time for a well deserved break to spend with family. We will return to the wild world of OT next week 🪵🦁🐍🦅🦓🐊🌋

Happy Easter break all!!

🥁 Drum roll please..

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to some new faces at Potion Occupational Therapy ~ our Occupational Therapy Assistants, Brianna (an OT in the making) and Cassie (a Psychologist in the making). Brianna and Cassie will be working together with Lead Occupational Therapist, Kate, to provide regular and effective therapy provision and provide our clients more available support to grow! Brianna and Cassie stood out for their kind and approachable personalities - Welcome to the team both of you 🌟

One of our business values is CONNECTION and I hope our therapeutic relationship means as much to you as it does me. I am so thankful for the families I interact with each day 🌸 From 0 families to 47 in six months, makes me feel so appreciative.

Thank you for an awesome 2022. Our office is now closed and I will be back operating as usual from January 9th 2023. Stay safe and see you then!!!

As we come to the end of the school year it is important to reflect and acknowledge the wins you have had 🏆 They may be small - like participating in a single therapy session, they may be big - like graduating kindy or winning the classroom award, OR they may have been inconsistent and fluctuated all throughout the year… but the journey is more important than overnight success and small wins are signposts that lead to bigger wins, and better habits, later down the track 🏁 .

Congratulations on 2022 - see you all in 2023!

WE ARE NOW A NDIS REGISTERED PROVIDER! 🤩

Even though we have already being providing supports to NDIS participants we now meet the necessary Quality & Safeguarding policies and standards to support those with agency-managed plans!

This registration is not as commonly upheld within the small therapy business space and generally a process more larger therapy business structures uphold. So it is exciting to have gone through the process and approved.

Unfortunately it’s delay has meant a waitlist has begun however please get in contact for an assessment to make a starting point for yourself and your family or to get the ball rolling while you wait! We continue to be here to provide more reliable accessibility into the support you and your family need!

FYI **The NDIS provides the necessary funding to people with permanent and significant disabilities so they can access the supports and services they need (for example OT) to live and enjoy their life.

A little about us ~ get in contact if we can help you ☎️ [email protected] / 0438130532

🗣 Happy Speech Pathology Week ~ and what a perfect week to share that we are on the lookout for a Speech Therapist to help our clients.

If you have any questions send us a DM with questions or please send an email with your CV if you are interested. Alternatively, if you are a client and interested in speech sessions, send us an email or DM to be placed on our waitlist.

To note:
- Independent Contractor opportunity
- VERY flexible role to suit you
- Minimum 2 years experience
- Current 5 - 7 clients waitlisted for speech support
- Fun energy who meets our values of connection, calmness, creativity, supportive, strengths-based

👨‍👧‍👧Supporting social skills is such an important role in a therapy space, particularly for children who experience Autism as they can experience low social emotional awareness and this area is often a broad goal.

But why? And why as therapists do we choose to do the approaches we do within sessions?

As human beings or social beings we interact with others in order to survive. Our primitive brain seeks social connection..

Our brain has three feel good hormones that counteract our stress hormone cortisol:
• Dopamine (released when we have a sense of achievement) 🥇
• Serotonin (released when someone feels valued) 💕
• OXYTOCIN (released with a sense of belonging/connection) 👨‍👧‍👧

Upon research, it showed people with ASD have much less Oxytocin release than in people who do not. Natural ways to improve Oxytocin may involve the activities below and you may have had this included in therapy:
1. Yoga
2. Music
3. Petting animals/dogs in particular
4. Cuddling (with caregiver)
5. Praise
6. Other providing empathetic listening skills or eye contact
7. Supporting spending time with others

In order to do # 7 we can intervene with our normal approaches in sessions to enhance participation in this activity and promote oxytocin production, particularly in children with ASD. For example we may teach: Development of eye contact, joint play, sharing and reading social cues/gestures, understanding empathy and/or emotional regulation.

If you are interested in a good discussion on this – you can listen to Ben Crowe and Genevieve Hawkins speak on Instagram ( ) Mojospresso Episode 5. I loved learning more about these hormones 💡

Food for thought Friday 💭 our lives can be very overwhelming, particularly for those who experience a disability or have a loved one with a disability. So if you're reading this, here's your reminder this weekend to find a friend or someone who can hold space for you and speak about it. Those thoughts can get heavy so don't wait for Monday to roll around.

A lot of my work involves listening and holding space for emotional conversations. This week that did not always involve the child directly.. Through my years, I have learnt that providing solutions is not always the answer but just being someone safe to talk to and to listen is sometimes enough 🤝