Looking for a neurological occupational therapist who looks at the whole person needs
I live with a neurological condition and am seeking a NDIS occupational therapy functional capacity assessment report to document my strengths, challenges and needs in daily living.
Occupational therapists are registered health professionals. We appreciate the name itself “Occupational Therapy” is a little confusing, right?
But living with it as long as we have, you start to appreciate that it makes sense.
Let me explain.
OCCUPATION, stands for and describes all those everyday activities you do in your life.
Things like bathing, dressing, cooking, cleaning, shopping, working, driving.
It points to all the roles you do or want to do such as Husband, Partner, Worker, Swimmer, Gardener, Writer, Dancer, Movie-Goer, Friend, Housemate and everything else in between.
A THERAPIST will investigate
What threatens your ability to do these activities or roles which are important to you? What threatens your safety, independence, performance or wellbeing in these tasks or roles?
What are the factors which contribute, cause or make up these threats? This will commonly involve a functional assessment as well as an environmental assessment.
What can be done to reduce the impact? What can be mitigated, modified, created, taught or supported?
Deliver personalised programs and solutions to acheive your goals.
“Through Doing We Become”
That’s our vision. When there are greater limitations on our ability to DO what is important, it’s sooo much harder for us to become.
The Common Problems In Choosing a NDIS OT Provider
Right now, there are a number of challenges and questions you’re likely facing when trying to decide on the right OT for you.
Here’s the common 4 challenges many people grapple with about choosing a NDIS OT service provider:
Time or Urgency:
Perhaps there’s a level of urgency to meet your goals be it trying to get access into the program or to resolve a home modification or assistive technology need. Is there a waiting list?
Good Fit For You:
Is the service provider the right fit in terms of skills, experience, approach and culture. Sometimes it’s as much as what they say on their website. That’s why we commit to adding so much information (some say too much) because we want for people who we work with to have thorough understanding of what we are about.
Is There An NDIS OT Near Me?
Are they a mobile NDIS occupational therapy provider. Do they have a clinic?
How will they help me acheive my NDIS goals?
The NDIS has spawned a whole new set of language and process that are very new for many people. You may have your first plan, perhaps this is your second and it just didn’t seem like you had the time to acheive the goals you wanted to.
How Can An Occupational Therapist Help Me With My NDIS plan?
Ultimately our vision is to be an sound NDIS partner.
Where we work with you to help you acheive your goals.
Commonly this will be about living more independently, making life tasks easier and building sustainable daily living and life skills. We’ve written a lot about our mission and what we stand for. You can read this here.
Who We Commonly Work With In The NDIS Scheme
We work solely with adults who are impacted by neurological conditions. Whether a person’s life experience comes from an acquired neurological condition such as
Specific Neurological Therapy Services To Help You Achieve Your Goals
We’ve specifically developed neurological occupational therapy services to help people live better. That’s our practice focus. And it’s where we work best. A neurological condition can impact your functional ability in many ways. Such as changes in your:
And it plays out in daily and self care or personal care tasks. From bathing, dressing, walking what we refer to as Activities of Daily Living to shopping, household management and leisure activities living with a neurological condition can be hard.
NDIS OT Programs and Therapy Services: How We Can Work With You
At OT Brisbane we offer the following NDIS occupational therapy assessments and services.
What NDIS Occupational Therapy Assessment?
NDIS Access Assessment:
An objective clinical assessment to provide you with right documentation to support your NDIS access application
NDIS Functional Capacity Assessment:
A comprehensive functional assessment to help inform you and your team members such as core supports about the level of assistance, strengths and needs you may have with your day to day life. Often this is requested to support a plan review.
Assistive Tech to Home Modifications (Plus More)
No doubt there is a lot of choice when it comes to specialised equipment. Your OT will work through the options so you can get the best assistive equipment to help you do what is important for you.
Core Support Needs Assessment:
Sadly we’ve come across initial plans which haven’t adequately met a person’s needs. At other times, after a major health event, for example, a person’s previous level of core supports are no longer suitable to meet a person’s needs. We see this particularly with clients living with neurodegenerative conditions. Using the right functional assessment to map your everyday activities is an important step to document your functional capacity and the appropriate support
NDIS Occupational Therapy Services and Programs
Positive Lifestyle Programs for Cognitive Fitness:
Programs available to help build a lifestyle which supports better cognitive fitness “All lifestyle factors have been associated with mental health outcomes. Better mental health was linked to higher frequency of physical and mental activity, nutrient dense diet, regular life rhythms, meaningful activities.” (Velten et al, 2014)
Or often referred to as Level 4 Assistive Technology, a complex home modification will include major home environment changes to help you perform daily tasks independently, safely and over the medium to long term.
Non Structural (Minor) Home Modifications:
An OT can help prescribe simple solutions that can add a significant functional value to your life. One of our most highly read blog posts explores “What’s best? Grab rails versus suction bars?“
Personal and Core Support Education and Training:
From working with people in their homes, their workplace, community and even in aged care service settings, we’ll work with you and your team to help acheive your personal care goals
Therapy to help improve daily living:
From cooking to gaming, work to volunteering and writing personal memoirs, we’ve been asked to solve a number of daily living tasks which helps a person live the life they want. We can design rehabilitation programs to suit your goals.
Prescribing Assistive Technology:
A detailed initial occupational therapy assessment will help narrow the options of suitable assistive technology to trial. Sometimes we are challenged by the availability of aids to trial but we help you navigate to the right solution for your goals. Be it assistive technology for memory or “neuro assistive technology” any other task it all starts with an initial assessment.
The legacy we’d like to leave with you is sustainable life solutions.
Specific Neurological Therapy Services To Help You Achieve Your Goals
Firstly, therapy starts with an initial assessment which builds a picture of your needs and goals, and the barriers and opportunities to those goals. This will cover commonly:
Secondly, the next step in the therapy process is to identify possible solutions and treatments. This is closely tied with the third step which is to prioritise the actions with you.
A plan is only so good as it’s implementation so the penultimate step here is to take action. To apply the recommended treatment plan, whatever that may be for you.
Lastly and often overlooked is to monitor and review. Did we acheive what we said we would and have the daily life outcomes been reached?
Working In Partnerships with Service Providers and Care Teams
A person isn’t an island and when it comes to the NDIS plan implementation. There are likely a number of other people who are doing important tasks and services. Your NDIS occupational therapist will likely connect with:
Local Area Coordinators
Disability Support Coordinators
Other Allied Health NDIS Therapy Providers
Therapy Supports
Health Professionals
Other Relevant Service Providers
Nominated Carers or Family Members
No doubt, we’ve shared a lot with you about our NDIS OT assessment and services for people living with neurological conditions. If you’re looking for an NDIS occupational therapy provider and think we maybe able to help, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
How Can We Help You?
Please fill out the short form below and tell us how can we best help you? One of our team members will reach out when it comes through.
NDIS and occupational therapy: Compatible in intention and purpose from the consumer perspective (onlinelibrary.wiley.com) – Click on the article title to read more.
OTs Working with the NDIS (otaus.com.au) – Occupational therapists work with NDIS participants to assist them to achieve participation in everyday occupations to lead meaningful and independent lives.
Perspectives of individuals receiving occupational therapy services through the National Disability Insurance Scheme: Implications for occupational therapy educators – PubMed (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) – The insights provided by the people with lived experience in this study inform key areas of focus for occupational therapy curriculum to adequately prepare graduates to work in the evolving NDIS environment. Involving service users in an authentic manner in curriculum design, content delivery and st …
Find a registered provider (ndis.gov.au) – Providers explained including how to find a service provider, registered provider lists and how to work with a provider.
