Melanie Riley
JAYLEE Clark has been nominated for a Young Achiever Award for her contribution to the health of the Mount Gambier/Berrin and surrounding community.
Ms Clark was nominated for the Rural Doctors Workforce Agency Rural Health Award, which recognises young people in South Australia’s regional and rural areas who are dedicated to those in need of health services.
The award also recognises those that demonstrate outstanding service through the provision of activities or services that supports the health and wellbeing of their local community.
Ms Clark was nominated for her “significant contributions to the health of the rural community as an occupational therapist through her establishment of Little Leaps Therapy and Support.”
Ms Clark started her career in occupational therapy after seeing the gap in services in Mount Gambier/Berrin.
“I did some research on it and then I fell into it, and absolutely loved it,” she said.
“I went into the university course not knowing a whole lot about it, and just kind of continued to love it throughout the four years.
“I knew I always wanted to work with kids, so the paediatrics side of it was a no-brainer.”
She knew from the beginning of her career that early intervention within occupational therapy was the path she wanted to pursue.
“The whole time I wanted to work in just early intervention so I could get into seeing children and families early enough to really make a difference,” she said.
Ms Clark worked for two years in an early intervention specific practice in Geelong to build up experience and knowledge, then moved back to the region to Robe.
She noticed the gap in the paediatrics scope of occupational therapy and the limited accessibility especially in the outskirts of Mount Gambier/Berrin and decided to start Little Leaps Therapy and Support.
Ms Clark works on a range of different things in the scope of early intervention, with a focus on foundation issues such as toileting, feeding, sleep and emotional regulation.
She said she has found families regionally come across several barriers in accessing services they need, and said it is important to her to be able to help with that process.
“Families are reaching out to paediatricians at about maybe 18 months typically, when that child starts to show signs of delay, then they can often wait 12-18 months to see that paediatrician,” she said.
The process then includes an NDIS referral and funding, before then being added to a waitlist to see an occupational therapist.
“They’re such vital years for a child and sometimes that process can end up being a five year process,” she said.
Ms Clark said as well as having location barriers, families with English as a second language experience further barriers when accessing these services, and she wants to make this process easier.
“I have a real passion for working with families whose English is a second language,” she said.
“Navigating the NDIS in general is hard, and navigating it when English is your second language is harder,” she said.
At Little Leaps Therapy and Support, Ms Clark’s passion area is feeding and as a limited service in the South East, her focus is to continue to bring that service to the area.
“I have a lot of passion around picky eating and problem feeding children, and working on building that mealtime routine to be a positive experience for families,” she said.
She said mealtimes are often the most stressful part of the day for families, especially if the child has been to childcare or kindergarten during the day and has come home tired.
“Having to tackle dinner can be hard when they have avoidance, eating issues, or fatigue issues that might be playing on that routine.”
Ms Clark said the most rewarding part of her job is empowering families to be able to empower families to be able to advocate for their child’s needs.
“It is so rewarding seeing children thrive in developmental areas that previously caused concern or stress for the family,” she said.
“Seeing a family dynamic change for the better based on early occupational therapy intervention is amazing.”
She is hoping with occupational therapy being brought to the Mount Gambier/Berrin campus, the accessibility will improve in the future.
“I’m hoping to see more of us popping up down here as it is very much needed,” she said.
Having done training through a scholarship provided by the Rural Doctors Workforce Agency, Ms Clark knew about the work they did, but did not know about the award and was surprised by the nomination.
“The Rural Doctors Workforce Agency has been amazing in promoting rural health,” she said.
“Being nominated for the award is already such an honour and I feel genuinely grateful for the recognition.
“There are so many amazing people doing huge things for rural healthcare and it’s a privilege just to be considered alongside them.”
She said regardless of the outcome, she is excited to see a light being shone on occupational therapy in early intervention.
Judging for the award takes place in early March, and finalists will be presented and winners announced at an Awards Gala Presentation Dinner on Friday, May 17.
