Mobile Occupational Therapist

Our caseload is as varied as our clients! Although their medical conditions vary, our clients predominantly includes people who want to remain independent at home or recover from injury or surgery at home. They range from clients needing minimal input to those requiring a comprehensive and interdisciplinary rehabilitation and lifestyle management plan, that is, we have a great range to keep our team engaged and challenged on an ongoing basis. 

We work with clients under various funding models too, primarily home care packages, private health early supported discharge rehabilitation (hospital substitution) programs, restorative programs (such as TPC and STRC), private clients and to a smaller extent, clients under the NDIS.  Clinicians are not required to take on clients outside of their skillset, however, we do offer plenty of support to help our team develop their expertise in fields they are interested in. We also have a strong focus on active over passive therapies (no massage tables here!)

Great question! As a mobile business compared to private practice or facility, we are not competing for treatment space; we could literally have every single clinician working at the exact same time! What’s most important to us is that our team and clients are supported and provided with options to suit their lifestyles. We have a variety of roles, and here’s how each work:

• Casual – our casual team picks and choose their caseload and days/hour of work. Some choose to see 1 client after their other employment, some like to be really busy on the days they have available. Our team are trusted with the responsibility of booking and communicating with their clients to ensure they are seen in a timely manner or referring on to another team member when timetables clash, always ensuring our clients are cared for. In other words, ultimate flexibility with necessary responsibility!
  
  
• Part-time – when the security of permanent work is more desirable, some team members choose part-time employment. Our team choose their days and hours depending on their regular availability. Someone working 15 hours per week might choose to work 5 hours each Mon/Wed/Fri to cater for school pick-ups/drop-offs, 7.5 hours each Tues/Thurs 7.5 hours, 3 hours a day every weekday or any other combination that works best for them. Some clinicians also choose to allocate their paid admin time to the following day so they can make the most use of their ‘away from home’ on-road availability.
  
  
• Full time – many of our team members choose to utilise an RDO model, 4 long/1 short day model, or even an alternating fortnight – we are open to all options!

Absolutely. We have plenty of opportunities for informal mentoring and student supervision, and as a growing organisation we are constantly recruiting, thus the need to diversify our supervision team continues to grow as well.

We do not expect our team to be experts from day 1. We provide weekly, then fortnightly Connection Calls to ensure our team feel supported, and connected and have the opportunity to ask as many questions as they like. We also have multiple channels for informal clinical and administrative support where team members from across the country help each other to problem solve. We only hire Remarkable People and as such, they are remarkably helpful to all team members!

Yes! We host monthly inservices run by internal team members and paid external speakers. Most of these are recorded for future viewing and new team members will have free access to an an extensive range of previous recordings. 

In addition, each team is linked with a dedicated experienced supervisor who will provide regular Connection Calls (weekly, then fortnightly once the team member is established). We also facility an active Clinical Chat group where our remarkable team from all over the country help each other problem solve for their clients.

Our permanent team receive a generous CPD allowance.

We provide clinical equipment and resources, however on the most part our team provide their own laptop/tablet, phone an car. We’d love to be in an Oprah-like position to provide cars for everyone, but with over 80 team members, many of whom are casuals and working all over the country, it’s not quite feasible. Our permanent team can utilise their CPD allowance to purchase their own tech equipment and full time team members are entitled to a car and phone on top of this.

In short, we don’t provide paid Parental Leave at this stage, however we do encourage and enable unpaid leave during this special time as well as very flexible working opportunities to return to.

It all begins when the sun rises and you wake to the sound of the birds chirping and a delicious coffee! We can always hope! 

In all seriousness, there is no typical day at Own Body as everyone chooses to work in different ways, but here is an example of one working day in the life of a clinician:

• Check roster for the day, check alerts on risk assessments and notes for any new clients. Head to first client’s home
• Client 1, 60 minute appointment. Provide a remarkable service, leaving your client feeling empowered to take control of their own health. Spend around 50 minutes with the client, type notes throughout session, set date for complete notes in the car for 10 minutes before heading to client 2
• Client 2, 45 minute appointment. Repeat process for client 1 and also include a call to their case manager during the session to clarify funding for equipment the client requires. Complete notes in car and head for a coffee!
• Use our specialised software to optimise your schedule for tomorrow. Call or text your clients for tomorrow to confirm while enjoying a soy latte. Communicate with our awesome administration team about your ability to pick up another client starting next week. Head to client 3
• Client 3, 30 minute appointment. Repeat process for client 1. Suggest referral to another discipline within the Own Body team, if the client consents, email case manager about this and message the admin team about the referral. Complete treatment notes in car and make a note to follow up the approval.
• Connection Call with supervisor for clinical and/or administrative support (or just a chat!)
• Client 4, 60 minute initial. Review referral notes carefully and complete a comprehensive initial assessment. Finish session after 50 minutes and head home. 
• Complete a report for the initial client and email to case manager (paid time)
• Complete any other notes or referrals for 20 minutes (paid time), check and respond to messages/email and log off for the day!

Your clinical supervisor or the broader team (via Clinical Chat) are great resources. Our team have on average at least 10 years of experience, some in specialised fields, so you will always be able to connect with someone who can guide you in the right direction.

Absolutely. We regularly host social functions such as breakfast, after work drinks or activities across various areas in our major operating areas.

We believe that our clinicians shouldn’t ever have to worry about taking money or processing payments. We have an extensive and talented administrative team who take care of the the following:

• File set up, including:
  • Risk assessment
  • Confirming contact and NOK details
  • Compiling information from referrers
  • Liaising with referrers for further information
• Setting up expectations for treatment, including:
  • Duration
  • Session length
  • Payment processes
• Confirming initial appointment date/time (as directed by the clinicians)
• Payment processing

No, however, some clinicians choose to do this to support their lifestyles.

After over 12 years we continue to grow and develop at a rapid pace, which means there are always new opportunities. This could include supervision, management, business development, student mentoring or more.

We currently employ OTs, Physios and Podiatrists who are all willing to work together. As the OT and Podiatry team are relatively new, they do not cover quite the extensive areas that the physios do, however they are always happy to help with advice, referrals and clinical support.