On the podcast today we welcome the lovely Josie Thornberry, an Occupational Therapist and a member of the leadership team at Kids & Community on the Gold Coast. Josie worked as a Therapy Assistant at Kids & Community while studying Occupational Therapy and is now the Therapy Support Coordinator. As the Therapy Support Coordinator, Josie's role is to coordinate all things therapy assistants! She currently manages 7 Therapy Assistants while working with her own caseload of kids and their families. 

In this episode we get into: 

Josie’s role as a Therapy Support Coordinator 

The value that therapy systems bring to a team 

What makes the process work well for Therapy Assistants and Occupational Therapists

What specific areas of interventional support that Therapy Assistants do really well

How Therapy Assistants help with clinic based services 

What the Therapy Assistant role is within the groups

How Josie helps support the development of skills of the Therapy Assistants  

What Therapy Assistants want to know to develop themselves 

What Therapy Assistants get most worried and how you can support them 

What systems Josie has developed to make the process work smoothly 

The benefits of being the “gateway” between the Occupational Therapists and the Therapy Assistants 

What Occupational Therapists can learn from Therapy Assistants 

The impact on outcomes for kids and families with great therapy assistance 

How therapy systems help with moving kids into sustainable long term community supports 

What the difference is between Therapy Assistants, Allied Health Assistants and Support Workers 

Josie’s top 3 tips to others who want to set up a therapy system or allied health service 

Links: 

Kids & Community Website 

Kids & Community Facebook 

Kids & Community Instagram 

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