Supporting Communities Remotely

Caitlin Sinclair, Occupational Therapist, Therapy Connect Simone Dudley,Occupational Therapist and Co-Founder, Therapy Connect

Our Client Community

Therapy Connect’s client community is not based in one location, but dispersed across Australian states and territories. However, distance is no barrier when you can access services online via telehealth. A client could live in a major city like Sydney, or on an island off the Northern Territory. Most of our clients live in rural or regional areas, with a significant number living in remote or very remote locations with limited access to allied health services. Our clients seek services via telehealth for a range of reasons. They can reduce the time and cost of travelling to appointments, increase the access and frequency of one or more services, or they may find it more convenient for other reasons.

Our Practitioner Community

Our practitioner community is equally dispersed across the states and territories. Therapy Connect has no head office—it has no office at all—and practitioners work from home. Our practitioner team is located all across Australia, from the Torres Strait in the north, to the eastern states, SA and WA. Our practitioners are mostly female and enjoy the flexibility of working from home, choosing their own hours, and achieving a balance between work and family life. On average they have 15 years of experience since graduation.

Therapy Connect practitioners can clearly understand the benefits of telepractice for both themselves and clients, allowing them to balance work and life demands. Our practitioners have mostly had experience or connection with people in rural or remote locations, and actively seek to work with these clients and adopt innovative ways to deliver their skills.

Why Online Works for Me

Caitlin Sinclair,WA-based Occupational Therapist and Mother of Two

I have worked for Therapy Connect since February 2019 as a way to return to the workforce after the birth of my first son. As a new mum, I wasn’t feeling connected to the occupational therapy community that was such an important part of my identity before having children. Working online via telehealth helped me reconnect to a community of occupational therapists and allied health practitioners all around Australia. Whether it be conducting joint sessions with a speech pathologist online, or attending a meeting or coaching session, the feeling of isolation was no longer apparent.

Working in this online format also allows me to stay at home with my two children. Therapy Connect has developed a community of occupational therapists, many of whom would describe their lifestyles as remote in some way. Like me, many of our team members are parents returning from maternity leave, who want to blend working as an occupational therapist while optimising time with their children. We have practitioners working at Therapy Connect for different reasons, such as those who live in rural or remote locations, or those who are even working while road tripping around Australia with their families.

The team deeply understands the needs of practitioners and clients within the remote service delivery model. Clients want to access a flexible service from home, while practitioners want to deliver a high-quality service while selecting the hours they work. These components provide increased access to much-needed services and opportunities for so many Australians who are part of the Therapy Connect community.

Supporting Remote Practitioners

Flexible Work Hours

The flexibility of online work from home is very suited to autonomous, experienced practitioners. The model supports practitioners selecting their work hours and structuring their working days to suit other life commitments. Practitioners can work full days or part days across the week for a minimum of 16 hours per week. The different time zones can be used to advantage, extending flexible appointment times earlier or later in the day. The flexibility of work hours is a significant benefit to practitioners and a priority for the organisation to maintain.

Professional Support

During COVID-19, many allied health professionals forced into online services have found telehealth adds a layer of complexity that takes time to master. Therapy strategies and resources need to be adapted to enable

Supporting Communities Remotely

services to be delivered online. Therapy Connect provides practitioners with training and access to digital resources so high quality and evidence-based practice can be delivered. The training is tailored one on one to cover best-practice guidelines in telehealth, technology applications, equipment needs, and resources and tools to support clinical delivery. As practitioners progress in their telehealth skills, we continue to adopt new techniques to facilitate quality service delivery.

As the size of the team has grown significantly, our organisation has had to find ways to connect, support, and mentor each other. Working with a flexible, part-time, remote employment model across three different time zones makes this a challenge! We have developed a variety of tools for different reasons to support each other.

Real-time programs include video conference group catch-ups for newcomers, scheduled coffee pop-in times with lead practitioners to work collaboratively and seek support and supervision, in-house webinars for professional development with topics such as coaching methods or play, conducting regular client joint telehealth sessions with other disciplines, and journal clubs.

On-demand favourites, accessed by the team when it suits work schedules, include the G Drive resource library and video files on telepractice techniques, the Water Cooler Google Chat group to facilitate social connections within the workplace, and Friday Fivers five-minute videos made by our lead practitioners to showcase new evidence-based information and innovative tips and tricks to further develop telepractice skills.

“Since starting with Therapy Connect, strangely, I have felt more connected to the workplace and colleagues than in any

Therapy Connect occupational therapist builds capacity of both dad and son during telehealth session

of the other part-time jobs I have worked in. I have felt appreciated, trusted and valued. The range of connection points provides options for us all to connect in a way that is flexible and productive,” said occupational therapist Tracy.

Lessons to Support Remote Communities

• Telehealth suits autonomous, experienced practitioners seeking specific part-time clinical work • There are significant benefits to selecting work hours and working from home. While this creates great operational challenges, it is a priority for the organisation to maintain • Connection and support for an

Australia-wide remote and part-time team across different time zones is important to our practitioners. The selection of a range of tools and programs in real-time and on-demand to suit the team needs has required deliberate planning and co-design About the Authors Caitlin Sinclair is a Perth-based occupational therapist with six years of experience working in paediatrics and disability. Simone Dudley is an occupational therapist and co-founder of Therapy Connect, based near Deniliquin in the Riverina region, NSW.

Therapy Connect is a dedicated allied health telehealth business founded in 2015. It is the brainchild of two rural allied health practitioners—Simone Dudley and Sue Cameron, a speech pathologist from western Victoria—who understand firsthand the impacts of poor access to services. Starting with Simone and Sue providing therapy online, Therapy Connect has grown to a team of 50 highly experienced allied health practitioners delivering speech and occupational therapy, psychology, dietetics, physiotherapy, and social work to clients of all ages living anywhere in Australia, and some even overseas.