Providing Meaningful Occupational Therapy to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

Join Kayla River, Occupational Therapist/Director of Little Ones Therapy Services and Natalie Tanner-Black, Occupational Thera,pist and Director of TogetherUp, for an engaging online session exploring how to address key Occupational Therapy Board of Australia standards and core competencies relevant to working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Kayla will share practical strategies for delivering culturally responsive occupational therapy, supported by real-life case studies that bring these concepts to life. The session will conclude with an interactive Q&A, giving participants the opportunity to deepen their understanding and confidence in working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

I am an Occupational Therapist who has been practicing for the last six years. I grew up on Wiradjuri country, in a town called Baranduda, which in language means “swamp or water rat”. I moved to Geelong, Victoria for university and worked for many years as an Occupational Therapist and Support Coordinator for a private practice supporting NDIS clients.

I currently live in Darwin, Northern Territory, where I have been living in the past two years. I am the director of Little Ones Therapy Services, where I provide support for both private and paediatric NDIS clients. 90% of my caseload identifies as Indigenous Australians. I have a caseload in Darwin City, Palmerston Region, Batchelor, Groote Eylandt, Tiwi Island, and Croker Island. In total, I provide services to five different very remote communities. I currently fly weekly to these remote islands and work from clients ’ verandas, daycares, schools, outside the local shop, at the beach or under any shady tree.

Outside of these clinical experiences, I have worked in schools and lived in communities of both South India and Fiji. In addition to working odd-jobs in Japan, Scotland, Switzerland, England and Italy. These experiences have exposed me to many languages, cultures and deeper understandings of perspectives outside of my own.  It is through my travels that I have developed a strong passion for different cultures.

Disclaimer:

It is important to acknowledge that I am a non-indigenous Australian health worker. I do not have a territory education in Aboriginal, indigenous or remote health. The experiences shared today have been changed and de-identified for the learning purposes of today’s webinar discussions. The information I am sharing is based upon the lived work experiences I have had as an occupational therapist working in Australia. These are considerations and methods I have used from both challenging and successful experiences. It is important to acknowledge that cases can vary between countries, mobs, clans and families. I am here to share experiences, provide examples, reference the core competencies, and share resources that I currently use in practice.

I continue to commit and adapt my approach.