Our Story
Positive Step was established in 2010 when Tamala Ranson and Kate Hatley took a leap of faith and started their own mobile private practice. With 40+ years of combined clinical experience, they identified a gap in the market for a senior occupational therapy service based in the community. They believe that working in the community can be extremely rewarding but also complex and diverse and requires significant clinical experience and knowledge.
Kate and Tamala are passionate about achieving great outcomes for the people they work with through excellent occupational therapy interventions, complex problem solving and exceptional communication throughout the process. They only employ senior occupational therapists with the same passion and drive. We pride ourselves on ‘going above and beyond’ for the people we work with.
Experienced Occupational Therapists (over 160 years of experience)
Positive Step is unique in that it ONLY employs experienced senior occupational therapists who are knowledgeable and highly skilled. All of our senior occupational therapists are registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Registration Agency (APHRA) and are dedicated to continuing professional development. Our extensive clinical experience enables us to cover a wide range of specialities, whether you are recovering from an illness, managing a disability or are in palliative or aged care. We are focused towards delivering a personally tailored service to meet your individual needs.
Tamala Ranson – BSc Occupational Therapy (1994)
Tamala is one of our principal Occupational Therapists. She was the first Occupational Therapist to lead an Occupational Therapy team in a West Australian Emergency Department and received a recognition of service award for “excellence and innovation in clinical practice”. Working in both England and America, she has developed a broad skill set to treat clients with complex diagnoses, within acute rehabilitation and community settings. She loves aged care, disability and rehabilitation, acquiring extensive skills in Spinal Cord Rehabilitation, Neurology and Palliative care. She has a keen interest in assistive technology and what that means for individuals. Her passion is to enable individuals to achieve their goals by working collaboratively.
Kate Hatley – BHSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy (2000)
Kate is one of our principal occupational therapists and has worked in a variety of clinical settings in the UK, Ireland and Australia including hospital, community and rehabilitation. She is confident treating clients with a wide range of clinical conditions and complex needs. She has extensive experience of working with clients with Spinal Cord Injuries, physical disabilities and hearing loss. She has highly developed assessment and treatment skills and is passionate about occupational therapy and aims to achieve great functional outcomes for the people she works with. Kate is committed to ongoing professional development and regularly engages in training, courses and conferences, to ensure she delivers current, best practice.
Leah Beadsworth – BSc Occupational Therapy 2009
Leah is an experienced Occupational Therapist who has worked in Perth and the UK in both community and hospital settings. Leah’s primary experience is working with individuals in the community to assist them to reach their goals and thrive within their homes and communities. Leah has worked with individuals across the lifespan with various complex needs and is passionate about working with them to find individual solutions, through rehabilitation, equipment prescription and home modifications. Leah has an interest in complex assistive technology and home modifications and is qualified to complete complex home modifications assessments and recommendations through the NDIS.
Carly Bloomfield – BSc Occupational Therapy (Hons) 2013
Carly has worked in a variety of roles including workplace rehabilitation, aged care, and disability. Carly is passionate and highly experienced in assisting people with a variety of conditions and needs, to live more independently in their home and community. Carly is passionate about supporting people through assistive equipment and home modifications. She is dedicated to taking a collaborative approach, working with the person to identify their needs and with suppliers to find the best solution. Carly is also interested in supporting clients to explore housing options including SIL/SDA. Carly is dedicated to learning and engages in regular training and upskilling to continue to improve on her knowledge and skills.
Karina Bowden – BSc Occupational Therapy (2008)
Karina has a wealth of experience in the health care system, she has worked in a variety of roles as an Occupational Therapist and complex care coordinator. She has worked in Australia and England in acute care, surgery, palliative care and cancer care. Her passion is palliative care, complex conditions, aged care and disability. She is currently on the Palliative Care WA board and was on the Cancer and Chronic Conditions interest group committee for 10 years to provide further education for Occupational Therapists in Western Australia. She is enjoys working with people collaboratively to allow her clients to have the best possible quality of life.
Jess Chandler – BSc Occupational Therapy (2008)
Jess works predominantly within the deaf and hard of hearing community where she has obtained wide knowledge in the assessment and prescription of assistive technology specific to this unique client group. She is deaf aware and understands the complexities of the communication barriers faced by the deaf and hard of hearing communities, working closely with Auslan Interpreters to ensure communication is clear and open at all times. Jess has excellent clinical skills in functional assessment, rehabilitation, scar management, compression garment prescription and measurement as an accredited Lymphoedema Practitioner (Level 1). Jess describes herself as a creative soul and enjoys the challenges that come with community Occupational Therapy work. She is passionate about the role of Occupational Therapy in bringing meaning and fullness to the lives of the people she works with.
Emma Clifford – BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy (2016)
Emma’s passion and skillset lies in working with people and their families in their home and the community and she has worked as a community based OT since graduating from Curtin University with a Master’s of Occupational Therapy. Emma has worked with clients with complex needs across the lifespan and predominantly with those with neurological conditions within the NDIS space. Emma has developed her clinical skills in equipment prescription across all activities of daily living and is passionate about sourcing the right solution for the person and their needs, spanning from basic to complex assistive technology. Emma has an interest in 24 hour positioning and postural care and how the appropriate equipment can facilitate engagement and participation in the roles and activities that are valued by the person.
Karen Daly – BSc Occupational Therapy (2002)
Karen has had a varied career starting in Scotland in the clinical areas of neurology, oncology, respiratory and aged care. After moving to Australia in 2011 she has focused on working with people with neurological conditions. Her recent roles have provided her with an abundance of experience in specialist assistive technology, complex seating and postural needs, powered wheelchairs and complex home modifications. Karen has a genuine passion for supporting individuals to achieve their goals and working together to realise potential.
Jess Dinsdale – BSc Occupational Therapy (2013)
Jess is an experienced occupational therapist with a passion in supporting individuals to maximise their independence and occupational potential through the use of assistive technology and collaborative, solution-focussed interventions. Jess has worked to support individuals across the lifespan, gaining particular experience in the prescription of complex equipment, vehicle modifications and home modifications including specialised and custom seating, manual and powered wheelchair prescription, alternative and integrated controls for access, and 24-hour positioning.
Naomi Hollis. BSc Occupational Therapy (2010)
Naomi has spent her career working within the adult and aged care sector both in the community and hospital sector including supported living accommodation, acute medicine, surgical and palliative care. Also with a background in Positive Behaviour Support and Autism she is passionate about using a strengths based, solutions focused approach to her collaborative person centred supports.
Naomi is highly experienced in assisting people with community inclusion and independent living skills through capacity building therapy and assistive technology. Her interests in life transitions, academic engagement and employment assist her to support adults to live the life they wish.
Jacqui Lund – BSc Occupational Therapy (1989)
Jacqui has spent a significant amount of time working with clients who have complex clinical needs particularly in the field of vision impairment. Jacqui’s special interest areas are Parkinson’s Disease, Acquired Brain Injury, vision impairment, hearing loss and Autism. Well versed in advanced skills for teaching compensation strategies for visual field loss and the use of assisted technologies, application and smart devices, Jacqui aims to maximise independence and increase confidence.
Amber Marshall- BSc Occupational Therapy (2003)
Amber has developed her clinical skills over the past 20 years by working in a variety of hospital and community based clinical settings. Amber has had extensive experience in working in Aged Care such as with the Aged Care Assessment Team team, Rehabilitation in the Home, Stroke and Acquired Brain injury and Neurology in both the acute and rehabilitation services. Amber has a particular interest in working with clients who have a neurological condition, and has excellent clinical skills in functional assessment, rehabilitation, equipment prescription and client education. Amber highly values ongoing participation in regular professional development and loves her role as a community based Occupational Therapist who strives to always have a client-centred approach to her work.
Rachel McGough – Bsc Occupational Therapy 2009
Rachel has worked extensively as an Occupational Therapist in Aged Care Rehabilitation across both public and private hospital settings. She has a wealth of experience in the treatment and rehabilitation of a variety of diagnoses across the lifespan. Home visiting has formed a significant part of her working career and she enjoys finding solutions for her clients that will make their everyday life a little easier. Rachel is an associate member of the Australian Hand Therapy Association and has experience in the treatment of acute multi trauma hand and upper limb injuries. She enjoys supporting her clients to maintain their independence and participate in the activities that are most meaningful to them.
Alice Johnson – Practice Manager
Alice has a broad skill set and depth of knowledge from working in administration and customer service for over 18 years, as well as completing a BA in English & Communications. Passionate about helping people and creating efficient work systems, she is highly organized and diligent, and guided by values of kindness, empathy, and integrity.
Gina Giannopoulos – Accounts
Gina has been doing the bookkeeping and accounts for Positive Step Occupational Therapy since 2012. She has over 20 years of bookkeeping experience and is a Registered BAS Agent with a Cert IV in Financial Services.
If you would like to discuss how our experienced occupational therapists can help you, please contact us.