Rachel Howe

Senior Occupational Therapist (OT) and Mental Health OT Consultant Work days: Tuesday and Wednesday
  • About Rachel
  • Rachel completed her Bachelor of Occupational Therapy with Honours at the Australian Catholic University. Rachel is a practicing member the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and Occupational Therapy Australia. Rachel is a kind-hearted and playful occupational therapist. She is committed to supporting children and young adults to develop the skills they need to participate in healthy relationships with friends and family, as well as develop confidence, independence and resilience to participate in activities that are meaningful to them.

  • Rachel has experience working with children from age 6 months to 18 years, with a range of diagnosis including ASD, ADHD, global developmental delay, developmental coordination delay, intellectual impairment, sensory processing disorder and mental health challenges. Rachel has provided therapy within health clinics, schools and kindergarten environments. She works closely with the child's family, teachers and other health professionals to provide holistic and well-considered assessment and intervention. She ensures that the child is at the heart of her practice and that plenty of time is allowed to cultivate a trusting relationship and for development of meaningful and family-centred goals.

  • Rachel has experience with developing and implementing small group programs to assist children to learn social skills, get ready for prep, transition into high school, as well as for children with fussy eating. She has specific training in programs such as DIR Floortime, Parents under Pressure, Circle of Security, Traffic Jam in my Brain, and various mental health and trauma-informed care programs. Rachel is committed to providing relevant and evidence-based support to children and families and will be attending a number of exciting training opportunities in the near future.

  • Services provided by Rachel include:
  • Development of Young Children
  • Sensory Processing
  • Cognition and Executive Function
  • School Function and Participation
  • Child-Parent/Carer Relationships
  • Social-Emotional Development
  • Play Skills
  • Visual Perception and Visual Motor
  • Self Care (toileting, sleeping, eating, dressing, showering)
  • Gross Motor and Postural Control
  • Fine Motor
  • Handwriting
  • Feeding (SOS Program)
  • Therapy:
  • Emotional regulation and emotional awareness
  • Understanding and family support for managing tricky behaviour related to ASD, ADHD, development and intellectual impairments
  • Development of structured daily routines to assist with managing emotions and behaviour for children with ASD and ADHD
  • Development of social skills to build happy and healthy relationships with family and friends
  • Play skills development including cooperation, sharing, turn taking, following rules, being an effective member of a team
  • Skills development in attention, concentration, listening, planning, organisation, problem solving and conflict resolution
  • Development of early learning concepts such as numbers, colours, letters and shapes
  • Development of gross motor skills to improve balance, coordination, strength and confidence
  • Development of fine motor skills to improve independence and success in self care and play
  • Handwriting skills development to improve legibility, speed, letter formation and performance at school
  • Self Cares inc. Toileting, eating and feeding, sleep, dressing, showering
  • SOS Feeding Program
  • ACT for anxiety
  • Perinatal anxiety
  • DIR Floor Time
  • Qualifications and Training
  • Possums Evidence Based Care for Mothers and Babies Workshop 1
  • Introductory workshop to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Russ Harris)
  • COPE Basic Skills in Perinatal Mental Health
  • CBT for children with autism
  • Calm Suicide Prevention Training
  • Supporting the Occupational Role of Infants