Based at Adelaide University’s City West and Elizabeth Health Clinics, our Occupational Therapy (OT) service offers assessment and treatment for children, youth and adults. Services are delivered year-round by fully accredited and experienced OTs, or students under the supervision of experienced OTs.
We deliver services that are flexible and family-centred, which may be funded through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), with rebates also available via Medicare with a health plan referral, and private health cover.
As part of an interdisciplinary service, the OT will work with the important people in you or your child’s life (for example family, teachers and other therapists) to share goals, progress and strategies.
By working together, we can gain a better understanding of your child’s strengths and challenges and provide them with consistency so that progress can be achieved beyond the therapy setting.
Appointments are essential. Referrals are not required.
Services
Services for children and youth
As part of a multidisciplinary service, the OT will work with the important people in your child’s life (for example family, teachers and other therapists) to share goals, progress and strategies. Our OTs can also provide opportunities to link in with other members of our expert team if the need arises.
By working together, we can gain a better understanding of your child’s strengths and challenges, and provide them with consistency so that progress can be achieved beyond the therapy setting
Your child may benefit from occupational therapy if they have difficulty with functional skills that underpin their ability to learn, play, socialise and complete daily routines.
The OT can work with you and your family, to support your child to build new skills and develop strategies for the following:
- Fine motor skills involve the refined coordination of smaller muscles in the body, such as those in the hands and fingers, and are essential for your child’s independence with self-care (e.g. fastening buttons, using cutlery) and learning (e.g. drawing/writing, cutting).
- Gross motor skills involve the use of larger muscles in the body, such as those in our torso and limbs, and are important for whole body activities such as running, climbing, ball games and seated posture.
- Sensory processing is the foundational way in which your child receives, processes and responds to information from their sensory environment (e.g. touch, sight, sound, taste, smell, movement).
- Executive functioning enables your child to manage their thoughts, emotions and actions as they plan and perform daily activities.
- Self-care involves several essential tasks in your child’s daily routine, such as toileting, dressing, eating and sleeping.
- Social skills are important for relating and communicating meaningfully with others. These skills involve appropriate use and understanding of verbal and non-verbal cues, such as spoken/written language, facial expression and whole body gestures.
- Play is an important part of your child’s learning, development and socialisation. It provides a meaningful platform through which your child learns to plan and sequence activities, interact with others, and acquire important life skills across all areas of development.
- Self Regulation refers to a child’s ability to manage their emotional and physiological responses to various situations throughout their day. This skill helps children maintain appropriate levels of focus, behaviour, and emotional control, enabling them to engage more effectively in daily activities and interactions.
Services for adults
The Occupational Therapy service provides tailored programs which are centred around the persons goals and can include:
- Education on strategies to assist with everyday function and activities
- Assessment and therapy to improve upper limb strength and movement
- Assessment and therapy for any difficulties with memory, concentration and thinking skills
- Upper limb therapy to improve sense of touch – including discrimination of different textures and recognising objects by touch
- Assessment of any changes to vision and therapy to assist with using vision more effectively to manage daily tasks.
Mental health services
- Functional assessments to assess an individual in terms of their specific physical or mental health difficulties, to achieve independence in the activities which are important to them.
- Sensory modulation and intervention as when we make sense of our sensory information that we receive from the environment and our own body allows us to learn and behave in appropriate ways, as well as allowing individuals to self-regulate in ways that are self-directed and empowering.
- Cognitive function assessments to assess functional cognition which specifically looks at how people apply cognitive strategies to any needed or desired everyday task or routine. It also identifies predictable patterns of motor and verbal skills, social behaviour, self-awareness and recognising the link between brain function and task behaviour.
Adaptive Mentalization Based Integration treatment (AMBIT) by the Anna Freud Institute
AMBIT is an approach for helping people who have multiple needs and who may have reasons to find it difficult to trust in helping services. It is based around the core theory and practices of mentalization. Mentalizing is the capacity for making sense of behaviour by considering the mind that is driving the behaviour.
Psychosocial rehabilitation
- Life skills in managing everyday tasks and the prevention of relapse such as goal setting, routine planning, graded routines, purposeful use of time, budgeting, community access and personal self-care.
- Behavioural activation helps us understand how behaviours influence emotions.
- Leisure and recreation skills to provide opportunities to engage in a range of activities to develop interests.
- Social skills to provide increased confidence to relate to others effectively in a range of settings.
Registered Occupational Therapist services
We offer Occupational Therapy services by fully qualified Occupational Therapists specialising in paediatric and adult mental health services. Our services are flexible and family-centred and may be funded through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Rebates are also available via Medicare with a health plan referral, as well as private health cover. For more details on fees and to make an appointment, please feel free to contact the City West Clinic on 8302 0986.