07/09/2026
Introducing our Director & Principal OT… (cause it’s about time) & I never officially have.
My name is Shannon, but my friends call me Shan..
I have been an OT for 22 years, having graduated in 2004 from JCU (Townsville campus) prior to this I studied Visual Art at QUT in Brisbane.
I am a local to the town of Charters Towers (CT). I grew up on a remote cattle property south east of CT across the Burdekin River from Ravenswood & fell in love
with the rural grazing life at a young age. But from age 4-5 years, spent periods of time off the farm (as my mum was a special Education teacher) so we lived part time for 4 years in town, where I attended Millchester state school from preschool to year 3, before we moved back to the station full time & I was a student of CT school of the Air/ Distance Ed for 4 years, where, would you believe, we had daily lessons on the radio, prior to being a boarder at Blackheath & Thornburgh College from 1995-1999.
During my childhood both my parents, my grandparents and some
family friends who were more like family were a significant influence.
Personally my 20s were a dream but my 30s were hard & my 40s? Well… so far has been a mixture of both, which is really just life.
Professionally… I have been a clinical OT for all of my professional life. My longest job/ gig was as a sole rural generalist OT for 15 years based at the CT Health Centre (Hospital) prior to launching my business here in 2022, when would you believe my 3rd child was only 4 months old. Later that same year I resigned from Queensland Health and pursued being a private OT full time. Since then my business has expanded to an allied health care boutique specialising in OT which also has Allied Health Assistants and support worker staff where we focusing on developing life skills & promoting independence.
My professional interests & specialities are eclectic & are all offered within my private clinic. They include; Emotional & Sensory Regulation for children & Anxiety (inspired by my own experiences living with anxiety) Art & creative therapies, Hand Therapy (including fractures, de-tippings & arthritis), wound care, compression & stocking scripting for venous ulcers, lymphoedema massage. Compression, garment scripting & scar therapy for scars & muscle flaps. I am skilled at cognitive assessments & OT home assessments to maximise independence/ aging in place, which encompasses equipment scripting & minor home modifications.
Additionally, I am experienced in completing holistic full functional capacity assessments, as I first completed these early in my career for Disability Services when I was working in Mental Health and have completed many of these over the last 5 years in private practice. I now only offer these for Autism, ABI and Intellectual Impairment generally because you simply can’t be all things to all people.
Some personal things you may not know about me are;
I am always evolving & self reflecting.
I love the bush & paddle boarding, camping, kayaking, bush walking & fishing. And I go to nature often to recharge & help me emotionally regulate. I love good food & to eat healthy & nourish my family with healthy meals.
I love visiting the ocean & have 4 kids ranging in age from 17 - 1 years old, which most days lately feels like rather a lot. I have 2 pigeon pairs (boy/ girl /girl/ boy each pair close in age.
I love restoring old furniture, taking photos & making art through various media.
My eldest son describes me as a progressive feminist. Which by definition, I most certainly am.
I have been a single mum and understand the realities of shared care & why 50/50 care may not be in the best interests of most children.
I believe strongly in equality and inclusion for minority groups and people with differences including disabilities.
I believe I am a change enabler, I like to facilitate change / help individuals & families identify, who they are and where they are on their journey & how to get where they want to go & assist them to develop tools to facilitate the change in their person/ relationships & environment they need to reach there destination.
I am not perfect & do not aspire to be this but to be real.
Something else you may not know… I got very sick very quickly last December & almost died twice & spent 2 weeks in hospital & a week in a specialist cardiac ward & I am still processing & recovering from it.
I am a free spirit & am excited & very grateful to still be here.
Thanks for listening,
Love,
Shan xox
