Meet Kat
…Since graduating in 2004 from La Trobe University in Melbourne with a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy, Kat has gained a wide variety of experience working with young people and their families in Melbourne, the UK and across Queensland. She has undertaken roles in community paediatrics, large children’s hospitals, private practice, early intervention, schools, kindergartens, childcare and not-for-profit organisations. A background in developmental paediatrics has provided a strong foundation for understanding motor, sensory and processing systems that guide development, yet the importance of social and emotional development has captured her shift towards work in mental health settings.
For the last 8 years Kat has undertaken roles in child and youth mental health, working with complex and vulnerable children and their families. Within these psychological and occupational frameworks she has worked within multidisciplinary teams alongside and collaborating with psychologists, social workers, speech pathologists, psychiatrists, paediatricians, nurses, doctors, exercise physiologists, art therapists and music therapists. She has experience in a wide variety of roles such as intake officer, case manager, group facilitator and trainer, supervisor, researcher and senior clinician. Kat is registered with the Australian Health Practitioners of Australia and Occupational Therapy Australia, is certified under the Better Access to Mental Health (Medicare) and is an Authorised Mental Health Practitioner.
Kat has training in Sensory Integration and Modulation, Circle of Security parenting program, psychoanalytic psychotherapy and expressive therapies. She has also completed a 200 hour teacher training in Female Yoga, a somatic embodiment practice. This has contributed to her research in group programs leading to the development of the Young Women’s Circle, which incorporates movement, breath work, art and social connectivity for vulnerable teenage girls. The research was accepted for presentation at the Childhood Trauma Conference in August 2022.
When not at work Kat can often be found exploring creeks and beaches with her two adventurous young boys and their dog, Gypsy. She also loves writing fiction, dancing and going to see live shows.
The cry of the curlew
The cry of the curlew can be heard at night down at the creek near Kat’s home and a family of these watchful birds once nested outside a community clinic where she worked. In aboriginal lore the curlew, or angelbird as it is also known, symbolises the difficulties that often accompanies times of parenthood. This is often in reference to the experience of separation, a natural process of letting go that continues on a trajectory as the child grows. Although at times painful, it also heralds new beginnings, change and growth and the ever-protective role of the parent.