Frequently Asked Questions
What is an Occupational Therapist?
OTs focus on promoting health and wellbeing by enabling people to participate in the everyday occupations of life. This could be anything from showering, to education, to leisure activities or even socialising. Occupational therapists play a particularly crucial role in enabling people experiencing disability to identify and implement methods that support their participation in activities of daily living.
What clients do you see?
We see clients from birth to 18 years of age. We see clients with a variety of diagnoses. Some common diagnoses we assist with are Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down syndrome, ADHD, ADD, Intellectual Disability and Foetal Alcohol Syndrome.
Do I need a referral from my doctor?
No! Anyone can refer their child or their client to us! Simply fill out the online referral form and we'll be in contact to arrange an appointment.
What should I expect from the initial appointment?
The initial session is dedicated to building rapport and collecting information to help gain an understanding of what areas the child needs help with. The clinician has a series of case history questions that will help them to understand the child's needs and inform recommendations for further assessment or observations. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and express which goals you would most like to work on. You may wish to have any relevant medical information, old reports or NDIS goals on hand to help with the information gathering process.
Do parents sit in the sessions?
This depends! For clients aged four and up, we generally encourage them to attend sessions independently. However, parents are more than welcome if they want to be involved. We do, however, strongly recommend that parents are involved in at least the beginning or end part of therapy sessions, as we love to take this opportunity to empower you with knowledge and strategies to increase the carryover of results from therapy to real life.
Do you offer group sessions or workshops?
Group sessions are coming soon! Our therapists have experience in running groups for children and teens, including social groups, sensory groups, fine and gross motor groups, cooking groups and much more!
How long are sessions?
Regular therapy sessions are 45 minuets of one to one therapy with the client and 15 minuets for the clinician to complete the necessary documentation following each session. In a bid to provide the optimal service for each individual client, Empower Allied Health can sometimes offer shorter sessions depending on the clients needs and capabilities.
Initial and formal assessment sessions can be longer, but this is again tailored to the individual clients needs and capabilities.