Reflections from an Occupational Therapist

Dear NDIS Participants, parents, family members, support coordinators, support workers, medical and allied health professionals, equipment specialists and NDIS LACs/Delegates,

I am so thankful for your support of Recreate Life in the past year. It has been a season of new beginnings for me and for the business. You have played a vital role in making the work I do rewarding, fulfilling, meaningful and impactful. My biggest thanksgivings lie in our collaborations to brave the waves of NDIS legislative changes and fight alongside our vulnerable, unique clients who inspire and encourage us in this journey for their independence and empowerment.

Here are FIVE personal and professional takeaways from 2025:

1. When one door closes, another opens - Carpe diem (seize the day!)

   Recreate Life started not from a carefully developed business strategy or in the culmination of a five-year plan. Rather, the practice was birthed in a time of uncertainty, when life does not always go the way we expect. In the midst of personal life changes, the seeds of adventure, curiosity, faith, love and compassion that had been sown in previous seasons started to bear fruit in a new way.

   
   

   Life is full of surprises and sometimes, it is in the most unlikely of situations that we find new opportunities to step out and try something new. Importantly, in these times, we cannot fixate on the doors that have been closed but open our hearts to receive an invitation to a new beginning.

   

2. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step

   The journey of rehabilitation, recovery and restoration is rarely a once-off encounter that turns a person's life around instantaneously. Sure, the impact of acquiring the right-fit for a powered mobility device, recliner chair or transfer equipment can be a game-changer; and we never underestimate the power of an appropriate sensory diet or cognitive strategies for a child to engage in daily life.

   
   

   More often, though, the therapeutic journey is a process of ups and downs - there will be victories, breakthroughs and celebrations but also disappointments, setbacks, relapses and new challenges. Disability or not, that is the common humanity that we can all empathise with... We all have good days and bad days, but every step in the right direction matters on this journey.

   

3. Systems are here to serve the people, not the other way around - Make it make sense...

   If you have been on the NDIS for a while or tried to access healthcare services through Medicare or private insurance, it does not take long for you to realise how easily one can fall through the cracks in any system. You've been there: waiting indefinitely for access outcomes, reading lengthy reports or NDIS plans with technical language too hard to understand, experiencing one unexpected crisis that blows the house of cards we call 'NDIS supports' to the ground... It is too easy to be disheartened and feel like you're not getting anywhere...

   Through another year of occupational therapy practice, I have been encouraged to hold onto the principle that we should be constantly improving our systems and processes to serve people better. For service providers, our role is to fill the gap between the system's requirements or processes and our clients' everyday needs. This may include learning to translate NDIS language into the everyday English language and translate our clients' complaints and challenges into something the system can process easily... This may include staying open to feedback on every level (i.e. individual, professional, within a care team, or towards government systems) and channelling them well to effect positive change...
   

   

4. Multi-disciplinary teams: We are better together

   Carer burnout is an age-old story, and we hear it more often than not. As a healthcare professional, you hear it both ways - from the family members or full-time caregivers but also from your colleagues, from support coordinators, from the teammates who have fought one battle too many or worked another late night too long. It doesn't happen in a day but gradually, one thing after another - another NDIS funding cut, another price freeze, another business closed or another client in crisis... another death in the family, another fall-out, another sickness, another retrenchment... until the straw that breaks the camel's back...

   
   

   Nothing profound on this, but that a team is really important. People to share your burdens with, to cry with or celebrate with, to soldier on with or to mourn with. People who would say "let's try again" or "take a break", "you've done well" or "don't be too hard on yourself". I am so grateful for the care teams that I have been a part of this year and the multi-disciplinary teams or occupational therapy support groups that have provided valuable input and encouragement. On a personal level, my family members, husband and friends get a shout-out here - thank you for our calls, messages and for sharing my burdens...

   

5. The importance of Hope

   Finally, on the importance of having hope. Perhaps, the most valuable gift or greatest asset isn't necessarily the extra funding you get on your NDIS plan, or the new equipment that arrives at your door, or a breakthrough in your child's challenging behaviours... Even these, as amazing as they are, are powerful because they are shadows of the hope that keeps us hanging on for another day.

   What gives you hope? Is it the dream of a better future that you're working towards or the reward that the lies at the end of an arduous journey? Or perhaps, the wanting to be better for those around you and make a positive difference in this world?

   Life will bring us to unexpected places, but hope will keep our dreams alive as we fight the good fight.
   

   Thank you for being a part of Recreate Life's first six months and initial steps in empowering clients to lead an abundant and full life. Special thanks to these partners for your hard work and heart work:

   
   

   Support coordinators | Angela Peters (AP Supports U) • April Rouse (UnitingCare Wesley Bowden) • Ashley Dolman (MacArthur Support Coordination) • Cassie Vlass (Adelaide Specialist Support Coordinators) • Claire Fidge (Genuine Support Services Australia) • Kathy Fopp (Access4U) • Lee-Ann Morrison (Your Way Disability SA) • Megan Nielsen (Evina Connect) • Natalie Ziersch (Here2Home) • Paul Cooke (Your Way Disability SA) • Tori Cottle (Bright Colour) • Tracy Grigoris (Supportive Solutions & Therapy)

   
   

   Equipment specialists |

   Jodie (Aidacare Morphett Vale) • Josh Avery (Medimart Reynella) • Mardi Lammas-Turner (Independent Living Specialists) • Robin Wearing (Respirico) • Sandi (Aidacare Mount Barker)

   
   

   Support workers |

   Bernie Farrugia (Ejay Community Supports) • Charmaine Collett (Independent support worker) • Chloe Lewis and team (Affinity Alliance) • Jess, Josh and the support worker team (Your Way Disability SA) • Louise Hartmann, Sandra Turner (Case Managers Australia) Allied health professionals |

   The dream team members I have been blessed to work with: Amy Holman (OT) • Ashleigh Ryan (DE) • Cathy Clark (SP) • Luke Francis (OT) • Simon Larcombe (PT) • Tayla Tarran (OT)

   And also, Kathryn Bess (PBS, Spectrum Collective) • Michael Smith (PBS, Pearson Allied Health Services)