OT Coaching Confidential

This week's OT Coaching Confidential is part of a special OT Week series, five conversations with the people who stand behind a working professional life, whether you've ever spoken to them or not. The goal isn't to make you an expert in any of these fields. It's so that after listening, you know exactly what questions to take to your own professional.

In this episode, Alyce is joined by Andrew Jacobs, a mortgage broker who specialises in lending for allied health practitioners, and a former osteopath himself. Most of us went into allied health to help people...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, Alyce is joined by Bobby, an occupational therapist in the process of returning to paediatric practice after spending eight years overseas working across health coaching, strength and conditioning, and other roles outside occupational therapy.

After allowing his registration to lapse, Bobby made the decision to return to Australia and to OT but quickly discovered that coming back to the profession involved far more than simply submitting a registration application.

Over the past several months, he has invested heavily in professional development, completed extensive shadowing and mentoring, navigated the...

 In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, I’m joined by Luana, a paediatric occupational therapist who stepped into private practice 12 months ago after almost a decade working across clinical practice, leadership and education.

Now running a mobile paediatric practice in a regional community, Luana has gone from wondering where her referrals would come from to managing a full caseload and a growing waitlist.

Together, we explore what happens when the challenge is no longer finding enough work, but deciding how you want your service to show up for your community. We unpack different ways of...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, I'm joined by John, an occupational therapist who made the move from vocational rehabilitation in New Zealand to complex psychosocial NDIS practice in Australia, and who is now stepping into leadership as an OT team leader. 

After seven years as an occupational therapist and one year in a leadership role, John reflects on the transition from being a confident clinician to supporting others to grow. Together, we explore the challenge of teaching skills that have become second nature, balancing clinical work with leadership responsibilities, and discovering that authentic leadership isn't a...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, I'm joined by Katie, an occupational therapist with a background in acute, rehabilitation and hospital practice who is building a completely new area of occupational therapy in maternal health. 

After experiencing the transition into motherhood herself, Katie recognised a gap in the support available to women recovering from Caesarean birth. Drawing on both her clinical expertise and lived experience, she's now developing a private practice that combines occupational therapy, education and digital resources to support mothers physically, emotionally and practically through one of life's biggest transitions.

Together, we exp...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, I'm joined by Harry, an occupational therapist working in paediatrics while also holding a pastoral leadership role within his church community.

After taking seven years to complete his occupational therapy degree and spending much of his early adulthood mentoring young people, Harry reflects on the transition into professional practice and the challenge many early career therapists face: knowing they are helping clients, but not yet feeling confident explaining exactly why what they are doing works.

Two years into practice, Harry is beginning to recognise that many of the...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, Alyce is joined by Jessica, a paediatric occupational therapist who built her own private practice from the ground up and is now navigating what it takes to lead well without losing herself in the process.

With close to a decade and a half in paediatrics, including a foundational stint at a larger multi-site practice with strong mentoring and supervision, Jessica reflects on how that early model continues to shape the way she trains and supports her own team today.

Now leading her practice alongside her husband, she shares...

This week I am joined by C, a paediatric OT working in a subcontracting role, and we talk about what happens when you love the clinical work but the systems around it are slowly wearing you down.

In this episode we discuss:

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, I'm joined by Chris, an occupational therapist running his own small private practice specialising in home modifications and assistive technology.

Chris has been working for himself full-time since 2023, building steadily from a standing start during COVID into a practice with subcontractors, a full-time VA, and a part-time support person. Now, with his first full-time employee, a new graduate OT is about to start, Chris is stepping into a new chapter of his business and a new identity as a clinical leader.

Together, we explore what it really looks...

In this final episode of OT Coaching Confidential Season 5, I’m joined by Rochelle, an experienced paediatric occupational therapist who has recently taken a significant next step in her business journey.

After years of building a strong trauma-informed paediatric caseload as a sole trader, Rochelle has just transitioned into company structure and brought on her first employee.

What sounds exciting on paper also brings a very real shift in identity, workload, and responsibility.

Alongside holding her own long-term caseload of children and families with complex trauma backgrounds, Rochelle is now navigating onboarding, supervision, se...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, I’m joined by Marie, an experienced occupational therapist who has recently transitioned from hospital and community mental health into private practice.

With over 15 years of experience, Marie reflects on the shift from structured public health roles into the autonomy of private work. While the transition has brought flexibility and creative freedom, it has also introduced new challenges particularly around business systems, financial management, and the invisible load of admin.

Together, we explore what it really looks like to build a sustainable mental health OT practice while balancing cl...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, Alyce is joined by Sophia, an experienced occupational therapist who is navigating early private practice while holding the weight of past system reform, identity shifts, and changing personal priorities.

With over a decade of experience across government disability services, hospitals, schools, and child development teams, Sophia reflects on how previous large-scale funding changes continue to shape her response to uncertainty today and how those experiences have also deeply strengthened her clinical reasoning and adaptability.

Now running a small private practice alongside motherhood, she shares openly about reclaiming joy an...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, Alyce sits down with Jane, an experienced occupational therapist working in a Grade 3 leadership role within the public health system while also running her own private practice.

After more than twenty years working across clinical roles, Jane recently stepped into a leadership position supervising a growing occupational therapy team. While continuing her own clinical work privately, she now also supports supervision, service development, and team leadership within a public health setting.

This conversation explores the realities of stepping into leadership as an occupational therapist. Many therapists find that...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, Alyce sits down with Mary, an occupational therapist running her own private practice across several rural towns. After stabilising her caseload and building systems that support sustainable rural service delivery, Mary finds herself asking a new question. Not how to build a practice, but how she can best serve her community beyond individual therapy sessions.

Working in regional areas often means therapists see the gaps in services very clearly. Schools needing support, education assistants feeling overwhelmed, and limited access to professional development and therapy services. Mary shares how she is...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, Alyce sits down with Paige, an occupational therapist working in adult mental health and psychosocial disability within the NDIS. Paige reflects on her pathway into OT, including beginning her career in NDIS LAC and community roles before moving into clinical mental health practice and establishing herself as a sole trader.

With several years in practice, she shares how her early experience shaped her tolerance for complexity, her ability to manage open work streams, and the systems she now relies on to work sustainably. As her clinical work has consolidated, Paige...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, Alyce is joined by Ruby, an experienced occupational therapist working across a broad regional caseload while building her sole trader business alongside part-time hospital work.

Ten years into her OT career and around 18 months into self-employment, Ruby reflects on what it has been like to grow quickly without a clear structure to hold the work. With paediatrics, driving assessments, NDIS work, and support at home all sitting under one business, she finds herself overbooked, stretched thin, and carrying too many competing priorities at once.

Together, Alyce and Ruby...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, I’m joined by B, an experienced paediatric occupational therapist navigating a demanding and uncertain season of practice. After eight years as an OT and nearly five years running her own business, B reflects on the emotional load of long-term paediatric NDIS work, the pull toward creative and entrepreneurial projects, and the challenge of holding multiple professional roles at once.

While she remains committed to clinical work, she’s questioning what kind of OT work feels sustainable and meaningful moving forward.

We explore:

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, Alyce sits down with Elsa, an experienced occupational therapist with over 15 years across hospital, community, leadership, and NDIS practice.

Elsa shares her journey from working within structured hospital systems overseas, into community-based roles in Australia, followed by leadership and management positions, and more recently stepping into solo private practice. With a strong background in adult services, equipment prescription, and home modifications, she reflects on how her clinical experience has shaped the way she approaches private work with clarity, boundaries, and realistic expectations.

This conversation explores what it looks...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, Alyce sits down with Ezra an occupational therapist and small practice owner who’s committed to doing leadership differently. Ezra’s service supports clients across mental health and disability, and she’s actively mentoring both a new grad and early-career OT.

With strong values and a reflective approach, she’s created a workplace where learning is intentional and supervision is embedded not tacked on. But as the business grows, so do the demands. Ezra is navigating the reality of holding others, managing her own caseload, and leading a service all while as...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, Alyce Svensk shares a real mentoring conversation with Kane - a thoughtful OT who has transitioned from paediatric clinical work into supervision and management. Together, they unpack what it looks like to support early-career therapists, hold professional boundaries, and navigate the realities of leadership in private practice.

Kane reflects on finding balance between helping and over-helping, how to manage reports and proofing while still seeing clients, and the art of having tricky conversations with clarity and care. This conversation explores the real learning curve of supervision. How to lead with...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, Alyce Svensk shares a real mentoring conversation with Al - a mature-age graduate whose path to occupational therapy began with degrees in writing and marketing, and evolved through a pivot into the health field during COVID.

Together, they unpack Al’s discovery of OT after exploring nursing, how a youth mental health placement cemented his clinical fit, and the ongoing challenge of finding roles that value the full scope of occupational therapy. Al shares how enforced reflection, systemic observation, and critical thinking have shaped his practice along with a desire to...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, Alyce Svensk shares a real mentoring conversation with Hazel a mature-age early career OT who brings deep lived experience, clarity, and care to her sole trader practice.

Together, they unpack how her journey into OT was shaped by 18 years of parenting and caregiving, how she built strong systems to support her growth when supervision was limited, and why she’s now prioritising sustainability over scale.

Hazel has developed a small, structured service that works for her family and honours the kind of therapist she wants to be. This is...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, Alyce Svensk shares a real mentoring conversation with Ella, a paediatric and young adult OT who brings deep intentionality to her solo practice.

Together, they unpack how chronic illness shaped her career journey, why she’s redefining supervision and professional development as business essentials, and how she’s navigating the tension between flexibility and financial sustainability.

This is a grounded, reflective episode for any therapist seeking to do private work differently and sustainably.

This episode provides space to pause, reflect, and reconnect with the kind of ther...

In this episode, we chat with Nikki an early career OT who’s navigating her first year in practice with confidence, reflection and a clear sense of direction.

After entering the profession with previous experience in the disability sector, Nikki began working as a contractor before moving into sole trader work offering a well-defined service. Now, she’s intentionally seeking an employed role that offers strong supervision and collaborative learning – building both roles side-by-side to grow her skills in a sustainable way.

We explore:

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, we meet Tanya an experienced OT who made the shift from public health to private work in search of better balance and flexibility. What started as a handful of clients quickly snowballed into a full-blown service, a small team of contractors, and the realities of running a business.

Tanya shares honestly about the challenges of scaling without a clear plan, navigating financial pressures, juggling clinical and business demands, and learning to set stronger boundaries in service delivery. We talk about managing complex psychosocial caseloads, the limitations of non-attendance policies in...

In this episode, we meet Michelle, a regional paediatric OT who transitioned from burnout in a large organisation to building her own therapy service. We explore the early years of business setup without clear mentorship, and the challenges of managing a long-term stagnant caseload while juggling a full-time mobile therapy load and motherhood.

Together, we unpack strategies for sustainable practice:

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, I sit down with Jane, an experienced occupational therapist and trained play therapist who has just launched her own private practice. Seven weeks in and already full, Jane shares the early realities of running a solo service - from navigating boundaries and managing emotional load, to thinking ahead about admin support and long-term sustainability.

We explore what it means to create “service rules” that protect your energy, the benefits of introducing a virtual assistant early, and how to streamline referral pathways so your time stays focused on therapy — not inbox admin...

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, I chat with Claudia, an Occupational Therapist whose journey into OT began later in life and has taken some fascinating turns. From setting out to be a brilliant clinician, Claudia found herself unexpectedly drawn into the business support space - building a service designed to help solo OTs streamline their non-clinical tasks and free up their time to focus on therapy.

We explore:

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, I chat with Anna, an Occupational Therapist working in the adult space with a growing private practice focused on chronic fatigue, Long COVID and invisible illness.

We explore:

Transitioning from public health into private practice (and the culture shock that can come with it)

The discomfort around charging for therapy and how Anna is starting to claim the value of her time and experience

Developing a therapy model that works in a flexible yet sustainable way - including clearer session structures, communication boundaries, and...

In this episode, we chat with Jamie - a regional paediatric OT who’s blending community therapy with the launch of a sensory-friendly café. Jamie shares her unique career journey. From early roles in aged care and burns to leading services across rural and remote settings. Now running her own business, she reflects on the challenges of working solo in a large region, the realities of clinical burnout, and how she’s building a new model of service delivery rooted in flexibility, family values and neurodiversity-affirming practice.

We explore:

In this episode, we chat with Lisa, an experienced OT working in the neuro, palliative care, and driving assessment space, who took the leap into private practice after recognising the traditional model wasn't sustainable for her life or values.

Lisa reflects on how she built a business that works for her family, her energy, and her clients. She shares honestly about letting go of the internalised version of “success” that many of us hold, including the idea that we need a clinic or a full-time admin team to be legitimate.

Together we explore:

Summary

For the final episode of Season 2, I’m joined by Isabelle and Paige. Co-founders of a paediatric OT service built on shared values, strong team culture, and thoughtful, reflective leadership.

We explore the realities of growing a team, supporting clinicians across sites, and navigating change. Including how they’re preparing for one founder to relocate while maintaining connection and cohesion.

We also cover practical tools and strategies including:

Zoom-based supervision with transcript summaries

Structuring sustainable workloads for new graduates

Creating space for supervision to feel meaningful (not...

Summary:

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, I sit down with J, an early-career paediatric occupational therapist who is working hard to bridge the gap between clinical training and real-world therapy. J shares what it’s like to feel well-trained but still unsure — navigating multiple models, complex family dynamics, and unclear expectations in NDIS-funded therapy.

Together, we explore:

Summary

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, I sit down with Taylor, an Occupational Therapist who has moved through hospital rotations, mental health, and now community-based NDIS work. She’s built strong clinical confidence - but is now planning how to run her own business!

Taylor shares her reflections on navigating time pressures, unclear expectations around billables, and the early stages of considering what working for herself might look like.

Together, we explore:

Summary

In this episode of OT Coaching Confidential, I sit down with Jess, a sole trader OT with a decade of experience and a clear vision for the kind of business—and life—she wants to build. Jess shares her journey from early NDIS work to leadership roles, and eventually, stepping back into sole trading for the flexibility it offered her growing family.

We unpack the complexity of doing it all—functional assessments, home mods, assistive tech, reports, supervision, student placements, and dreaming up bigger things like subcontracting and building her own team.

Togeth...

Summary:

Abigail didn’t plan to go solo—but after workplace changes, she found herself taking on private clients while figuring out her next steps. In this episode, we talk through the reality of stepping into sole trader work without a long-term plan, and the importance of pausing to reflect before making big career moves.

We explore how supervision, curiosity, and practical self-awareness have shaped Abigail’s growth, and why it’s essential to think ahead—especially in paediatrics, where going solo comes with long-term responsibilities.

Big Takeaway: Private work might seem like a flexible...

Summary:

After two years of building confidence in managing a mixed caseload and refining her clinical practice, Missy is now considering her next professional challenge—exploring whether a Master of Research could fit into her career growth. But how do you take on something new without overcommitting or disrupting the balance you’ve worked hard to achieve?

In this episode, we explore:

Summary:

Starting and growing a mobile OT practice is completely different from working as a clinician. In this episode, Andy shares her journey in the early stages of business setup, balancing metro and rural service delivery, and navigating the challenges of caseload management, business growth, and sustainability.

We discuss:

Episode Summary: Running a business and leading a team is completely different from clinical work. In this episode, Peter shares what he’s learned after years in leadership and business ownership.

We discuss:

• The biggest mindset shifts when moving from clinician, to business owner, to leader

• Why business coaching and external supports are essential for growth and these needs may change over time.

• How to step back from the day-to-day and let your business work for you

Big takeaway: Business ownership is a skill that requires a growth mindset —you don’t...

Episode Summary:

Starting your first OT job is a huge transition. After years of structured university learning, suddenly you’re expected to make clinical decisions, manage a caseload, and figure out your therapy approach—on your own.

This week’s guest, Addy, is a brand-new OT navigating her first few weeks in paediatrics. She’s highly self-aware, and while that’s a strength, it can also make the transition even more overwhelming when you focus too much on what you don’t know.

We cover:

• The importance of knowing your own learning style...