Meet the Team
Occupational Therapists
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Occupational Therapist/Director
Emily is an accredited, AHPRA registered Occupational Therapist and Co Director of Sakura Allied Health. She graduated from the University of Newcastle in 2007 and has extensive experience working across acute hospitals, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation and community settings in Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne and the United Kingdom.
When Emily first moved to London, she had the opportunity to work in a specialist inpatient stroke rehabilitation unit. This experience sparked her passion for working with people living with acquired and traumatic brain injuries, and she has continued to specialise in this area ever since.
Emily is passionate about helping people work towards their own goals, recognising that these look different for everyone. This might mean using an arm or hand more easily, improving thinking and memory skills, becoming more independent with everyday activities like cooking or shopping, or finding ways to get back to the things that matter most.
In more recent years, Emily has developed a particular interest in sexuality, dating and intimacy after brain injury, as well as concussion and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) rehabilitation. She enjoys supporting people to navigate the changes that can come with brain injury and find practical strategies that fit their lives, relationships and goals.
Emily is FIM accredited and enjoys continuing to learn and develop her skills. She loves a challenge and brings a bubbly, easy going approach to her work. A good listener and team player, Emily enjoys working alongside people to find practical solutions and celebrate the progress along the way.
Outside of work, Emily is a mum to two young girls and loves spending time with her husband, family and friends.
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Occupational Therapist/Director
Kate is an accredited Occupational Therapist and co-director of Sakura Allied Health. Kate graduated from the University of Newcastle in 2007 and has over 17 years’ experience working in a wide range of settings including acute, inpatient rehabilitation and community in both Australia and the United Kingdom.
From her first University student placement in adult rehabilitation, Kate quickly developed a passion for working with adults to achieve their goals, no matter what stage of their journey. Kate developed a keen interest in neurological rehabilitation and has worked with clients with acquired brain injury/stroke, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease and other neurological diagnoses for most of her career. Kate loves the challenge of the complex nature of these clients’ journeys and exploring creative and innovative ways to support them to achieve their goals.
Kate is friendly and down to earth allowing her to establish an easy and natural rapport with clients and their families in supporting them to achieve their goals and live the life they want to lead. Kate holds AHPRA registration, is FIM accredited and SAEBO trained.
Outside of work, Kate loves spending time with her husband and two small children as well as socialising with friends. Kate loves all things related to beach and swimming as well as exploring new places near and far to make cherished memories with loved ones.
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Occupational Therapist
Ash is a caring and dedicated Occupational Therapist who graduated from the University of Newcastle in 2013. Originally from Tamworth, she has worked in both public and private health settings including hospitals, outpatient clinics and in community-based therapies.
Ash has a strong interest in neurological rehabilitation and is passionate about supporting people after brain and spinal cord injuries. She has completed extra training in pain management and constraint-induced movement therapy to better help her clients regain independence and improve their quality of life.
Ash is known for her thoughtful, creative approach and always puts her clients at the centre of their therapy. She takes time to understand each person’s needs, works closely with families and other health professionals and creates therapy plans that are practical, meaningful and evidence based.
Ash loves celebrating progress, big or small, and believes in making therapy positive, motivating and focused on what matters most to each individual person.
When she’s not working, Ash enjoys a good coffee, time with friends and family and keeping up with her two energetic boys and the family dog
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Occupational Therapist
Molly, originally from Gunnedah, NSW, graduated from the University of Newcastle in 2017 and has had the pleasure of working across both community and hospital settings in both paediatric and adult populations. Molly has a keen passion for neurological rehabilitation and has her Masters degree in Clinical Neurological Rehabilitation, completed at Flinders University in Adelaide.
Molly gets way too excited about neuroplasticity and all of its potential and she will not leave any stone unturned when it comes to creating, working on and achieving your individual goals. She has worked with clients with acquired brain injury/stroke, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, spinal cord injury and other neurological diagnoses and has spent the last 5 years as a postgraduate studying these individual conditions and the latest/emerging treatments and technologies available.
When she’s not working, you’ll find Molly bushwalking, exploring a freshwater swimming hole around Newcastle or taking her campervan away for the weekend with her husband, young daughter and son.
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Occupational Therapist
Hannah is a rehabilitation occupational therapist with experience spanning 14 years. Since graduating from The University of Newcastle, she has worked within the rehabilitation sector and has never looked back.
To be able to become a part of someone’s health journey and support them to achieve their goals is one of the most rewarding aspects of being an OT. To say that you love your work and find it so rewarding speaks for itself and is something she has always felt lucky enough to say.
Hannah works hard to establish a great rapport with her clients, their families, and networks of support. She believes in collaboration and good communication to be a valuable part of goal setting and intervention planning.
Cognitive retraining sparks her interest, she loves helping people to retrain their brain and their thinking, and to use their resources to afford their success with a huge range of goals.
Hannah is friendly, positive and approachable. She values her clients trust and listens to them to work out what is important in their life.
When not at work, Hannah can be found always busy with her family. Between playing hockey, watching her kids or husband play their sports, or recovering from watching them play sport, she enjoys relaxing at the beach and spending time with friends.
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Occupational Therapist
Michelle graduated from the University of Sydney in 1994 and brings over 28 years of experience as an accredited Occupational Therapist. Her career spans both public and private health settings, with expertise in inpatient, outpatient, and community-based rehabilitation.
Michelle is committed to supporting clients to achieve their goals and reach their full potential. She is highly experienced in working in neurological rehabilitation, with a strong focus on supporting individuals with traumatic brain injuries and other neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease. For the past 10 years Michelle has worked in a NSW Health community brain injury rehabilitation team, where she has supported clients to navigate challenges and celebrate achievements; Michelle believes that the best part of her job is when a client achieves their goals, no matter how big or small.
As a Driver Trained Occupational Therapist, Michelle assists clients in regaining their driver’s license after medical events and supports those learning to drive for the first time. She holds AHPRA registration and is FIM accredited.
Outside of work, Michelle enjoys outdoor activities and social connection with friends and family. She recently moved from Port Macquarie to Newcastle and is excited to swim in the ocean baths and ride the many bike paths in the area.
Physiotherapists
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Physiotherapist
Suzie graduated from the University of Newcastle in 2013 with a Bachelor of Physiotherapy. Since graduating Suzie has worked in a wide range of areas including neurological rehabilitation, in community settings and in private practices in Newcastle, Coffs Harbour and the United Kingdom.
In 2018, Suzie moved to the UK and spent almost three years working as a locum in different parts of the country. This gave her an opportunity to explore new areas, work in a variety of different settings while also travelling through Europe in her free time. Suzie has a passion for working with people with neurological conditions with a focus on achieving their goals no matter how simple or complex that goal might be.
In her free time, Suzie enjoys spending time with her partner and labradoodle, Ziggy. She particularly loves dog walks on the beach, live music and playing sports.
Speech Pathologists
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Speech Pathologist
Janece is a Certified Practicing Speech Pathologist with Speech Pathology Australia. Janece graduated from the University of Sydney in 1991 and has over 30 years’ experience working as a Speech Pathologist in acute hospitals, rehabilitation and outpatient settings.
Janece has specialised in working with people with neurological diagnoses throughout her career. This was initially within the disability setting, followed by working in the acute neurological ward at John Hunter Hospital. Janece was then able to secure her dream job at the Hunter Brain Injury Service in 1994, working with people with acquired and traumatic brain injury for the past 27 years. Janece is passionate about working with people and their families to improve communication skills after brain injury, and to be able to achieve their goals for returning to home, work and community life.
Janece has presented at state and national conferences regarding brain injury and has participated in state wide working parties to improve services for people with brain injury. Janece has extensive experience as a Case Manager, which has developed her holistic view of rehabilitation and ability to link people with other appropriate services when required. Janece is FIM accredited and is an active Case Manager within the icare system. Janece has extensive experience working with the NDIS, Lifetime Care and Support, Compulsory Third-Party Insurance and Workers Compensation guidelines.
Working as part of an Allied Health team is very important to Janece. She loves to work in conjunction with other therapists to ensure that people have the most effective therapy plan in place. Along with this, Janece provides supervision to Speech Pathologists and other Allied Health staff who work with people with brain injury.
Outside of work, Janece enjoys spending time with her husband and two adult children. She loves to socialise with friends and enjoys reading and travelling.
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Speech Pathologist
Kate graduated in 1999 from University of Newcastle and has been working as a Speech Pathologist in the local community and other parts of NSW for 23 years. Kate has worked in all settings including acute hospitals, rehabilitation, community, aged care and private practice. As a result, Kate has an excellent understanding of the patient journey and has developed strong professional networks in the sector.
Kate’s passion for working with people with a neurological disability has spanned her whole career and she has extensive experience working with people who have had an acquired or traumatic brain injury and progressive neurological diagnoses. Kate is LSVT certified and has been a guest lecturer at the University of Newcastle. Kate loves to work with the other members of the Allied Health team to ensure that her clients are achieving their best communication and swallowing outcomes. Kate is incredibly dedicated to ensuring that her clients are truly at the centre of all decisions, supporting them to identify their own goals and what is important to them.
Outside of work, Kate loves to spend time with her husband, 2 boys and border collie, Indie. She spends her weekends cheering from the sidelines at her children’s sports games. She loves the outdoors and keeps happy with a good mix of sunshine and exercise.
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Speech Pathologist
Amanda has spent her entire career of over 20 years as a Speech Pathologist working with people with neurological conditions. She has a background of working in hospital acute and rehabilitation settings, as well as community-based settings. This broad and varied experience has given her a thorough understanding of the different stages of an individual’s health conditions, from acute onset through to the chronic, longstanding stages of their diagnosis. Amanda has led numerous Speech Pathology teams throughout her career as well as supervising and mentoring students and junior staff. She enjoys educating others on the role of the Speech Pathologist and the important work they do.
Amanda is passionate about working with people with acquired brain injury and traumatic brain injury as well as neurodegenerative conditions. She loves helping people to understand their diagnosis and collaborates closely with them, their families and carers to achieve the best outcomes possible. She prides herself on her ability to build rapport with her clients and their significant others and believes this is the first vital step in a successful therapeutic relationship.
Amanda is a certified LSVT and Speak Out therapist, helping people with Parkinson’s Disease and related disorders to maximise their communication skills. She has presented at various Parkinson’s Disease support groups and forums, sharing her interest with both fellow professionals and people with Parkinson’s Disease. Amanda also has experience working with communication devices and voice banking and enjoys helping people find their voice again through technology.
Outside of work, Amanda loves spending time with her family, and especially enjoys riding her horses, gardening and exercising.