Lisa

Occupational Therapist | Founder and Director
BSc (OT), Grad Cert Mental Health, BA (Philosophy)

For more than twenty years, I’ve worked as an occupational therapist across disability, mental health, community health, rehabilitation, aged care and private practice in urban, regional and remote Australia. Along the way, I’ve supported people navigating disability, illness, trauma, neurodivergence and significant life change. What people have shared with me over those years has profoundly shaped both who I am and the way I practise.

I’ve always been deeply interested in people and in the questions that rarely have simple answers. Why do some people seem to find their place in the world, while others spend years feeling misunderstood or out of step? How do our bodies, relationships, environments and experiences shape who we become? And what does it mean to build a good life when the path has been more difficult, uncertain or unexpected than we imagined or hoped for?

My background in philosophy gave me a way to think more carefully about those questions. It taught me to question assumptions, consider different perspectives and sit with uncertainty rather than rushing towards easy conclusions. It also sharpened my interest in identity, autonomy, fairness and the ways that systems and social expectations shape people’s lives.

That way of thinking continues to influence how I practise. Over the years, I’ve found myself drawn to people whose experiences don’t fit neatly within one diagnosis, discipline or service. Often, this involves the intersection of neurodivergence, psychosocial disability, physical disability, chronic illness, trauma and/or significant life change.

This area of practice is often described as “complex”, but I have rarely thought of people that way. More often, I have found that when someone’s experiences are given sufficient curiosity, context and time, what initially seems fragmented or contradictory begins to make sense.

I have become wary of explanations that are too simple or reductive - particularly when they leave someone feeling smaller, more defective or less understood. I am interested in the stories people have been told about themselves, the assumptions that have shaped their care, and what becomes possible when their experiences are understood with greater accuracy, context and compassion.

I am equally interested in the practical realities of everyday life: what is sustainable, what repeatedly gets in the way, and what kinds of support genuinely make participation more possible. For me, the work lies in connecting the broader story of a person’s life with the ordinary, tangible details of how that life is actually lived.

Creating Weave OT was a way of protecting the kind of practice I value: clinically thoughtful without pretending to have all the answers, practical without losing sight of the person, and willing to question the systems and expectations that may be contributing to the difficulty. I hope people leave my work not only with useful support, but with a clearer and more generous understanding of themselves - and a stronger sense that their lives can be shaped in ways that feel more workable, meaningful and their own.