About Us

Kirsty is the founder and director of Learning Doing Living, an occupational therapist and specialist behaviour support practitioner. She brings knowledge and skills from these disciplines to provide a holistic and collaborative service that considers both the individual and their support network. Kirsty is a firm believer in the importance of translating knowledge into practice and focuses on providing implementation support to achieve measurable and meaningful positive outcomes.

Kirsty has provided support to people with multiple and complex needs related to intellectual, physical and psychosocial disabilities for over 14 years in various roles, including senior clinical, management, and practice leadership roles in occupational therapy and behaviour support across the government and non-government sectors.

Kirsty is passionate about continuous professional development and has completed extensive further education, specifically in the fields of complex trauma and self-regulation.

Kirsty holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Occupational Therapy), Masters in Developmental Disability and Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.

Melissa is a passionate and skilled leader with 19 years of experience in disability services and has held various clinical and leadership roles across government, non-government and private sectors.

Melissa maintains a strong focus on delivering efficient and high-quality services to people with a disability and their support networks.  Melissa takes a goal-oriented and outcomes-based approach and seeks opportunities to make a difference to people’s lives.

Melissa holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Speech Pathology) and a Graduate Certificate in Management.

Melissa also speaks Croatian

Tara is a specialist behaviour support practitioner who has held various clinical and leadership roles across government, non-government and private sectors for the last 20 years. Tara specialises in positive behaviour support servicing people with cognitive and psychosocial disabilities and complex support needs. She has extensive experience in forensic disability, trauma-informed practice and restrictive practice authorisation.

Tara strongly believes that the lives of vulnerable individuals can be significantly improved when evidence-based support models and person-centred approaches are used throughout intervention. She has developed and implemented several state-wide practice guides, facilitated training and education programs for direct support staff and practitioners, and presented at conferences across the human services and education sectors.

Tara holds a Masters degree in Developmental Disability and is currently completing further postgraduate studies in psychology.

Susie is a psychologist and specialist behaviour support practitioner who has worked for government and non-government agencies within the disability sector for 15 years. Having worked with children and adults, Susie understands the issues and impacts for individuals with complex needs and those who support them. For Susie, translating behaviour support into meaningful steps for all stakeholders is crucial to ensure implementation and positive change.

Susie can assist with psychological assessments or interventions and understands the unique challenges of maintaining relationships and connections for people with disabilities. Susie has held senior leadership positions, managed multidisciplinary teams, and is confident in addressing issues related to team cohesion to build capacity towards empowered and collaborative systems.

Susie has completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Psychology and is an approved Supervisor with the Psychology Board.

Christine is a specialist behaviour support practitioner with over 17 years of experience working with people with intellectual disabilities. Most of her work has been at regional and state-wide levels with people who have complex needs. Her work is guided by her values of authenticity, collaboration and optimism. She uses a holistic, strength-based, person-centred approach to empower the people she supports to maximise their quality of life.

Christine is skilled in providing behaviour assessment, accommodation support model and related needs assessments, risk and safety planning, psychoeducation on sexuality and healthy boundaries, developing behaviour support plans and providing training and implementation support to families and support staff. Christine is also an accredited trainer in emotional-based social skills training.

Christine holds a Bachelor of Education – Habilitation (Disability Studies) as well as a Masters degree in Education (Human Relations & Community Education).

Hayley is an occupational therapist who has had 14 years of experience working with children, young people and adults with physical and intellectual disabilities and complex needs.
Hayley has held various clinical and senior clinical roles in both government and non-government sectors. Hayley uses a collaborative, holistic and person-centred approach to promote an active, healthy and meaningful life for the people she works with.

Hayley is skilled in providing basic to complex assistive technology assessments to support a person’s mobility and daily living, functional assessments, and assessments to guide a person’s housing and support needs. She is also skilled in providing occupational therapy interventions to address a person’s sensory needs and daily living skills.

Hayley holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Occupational Therapy).

Cecilia Rossi is a certified practising speech pathologist and member of Speech Pathology Australia with over 20 years of experience working in disability, both in government and non-government sectors. She enjoys working with children and adults across all settings.

Cecilia has experience supporting people with their complex communication and swallowing needs. She values having a multidisciplinary team to ensure that a holistic approach is taken when supporting the person with a disability to meet their goals. Cecilia also has had experience in managing multidisciplinary teams as well as in managing teams of speech pathologists as well as multidisciplinary teams. Cecilia is currently the co-representative for AGOSCI in NSW.

Cecilia has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Speech Pathology) and Masters in Applied Science (Communication Sciences and Disorders). The focus of her masters was on cultural attitudes to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and the use of bilingual AAC. Cecilia also speaks Spanish.

Jenny is an occupational therapist and a specialist behaviour support practitioner. She strongly believes in working collaboratively with her clients, their families and support networks using a holistic, strengths-based and person-centred approach to help them reach their goals.

Jenny’s values of reflective practice, creativity and collaboration inform her work with clients and families. Jenny has provided support to people with complex physical, psychosocial and intellectual disabilities for over 13 years, across both government and non-government sectors.

Jenny is passionate about supporting individuals to reach their full potential and empowering individuals and their support networks to continue to grow and learn for positive quality of life outcomes. She has experience in trauma-informed practice, regulation support needs and skill-building across the lifespan.

Jenny holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Occupational Therapy) and a postgraduate Diploma in Play Therapy with Play Therapy International.

Jenny also speaks Vietnamese.

Cara is an occupational therapist with 12 years of experience working with people with varying intellectual and physical disabilities across all life stages. She has held clinical and senior clinical roles in both government and non-government disability sectors.  

Cara is passionate about empowering children and young persons to participate and engage meaningfully in their everyday life. Through person-centred and evidence-based interventions, she works collaboratively with the individual and their support networks to maximise the person’s independence in all activities of daily living.  

Cara has facilitated numerous professional development opportunities for teachers about fine motor skill development, handwriting and self-regulation, and parent information sessions around self-care skill development. 

Cara holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Occupational Therapy), is a member of Occupational Therapy Australia. 

Cara also speaks Cantonese. 

Megan is an occupational therapist who has over 13 years of experience within the disability sector. Megan has held various senior clinical, management and practice leadership roles in occupational therapy and student education across government and non-government sectors. Megan has provided support to people of all ages with various needs and diagnoses, including intellectual and physical disability.

Megan is passionate about quality evidence-based clinical work. She is always seeking ways to contribute to the further development and improvement of practice to achieve better outcomes for people with a disability.

Megan is a strong supporter and contributor to allied health student education and supervision, believing that it is essential we continue to focus on building a future disability skilled workforce to meet the needs and aspirations of people with a disability.

Megan holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Occupational Therapy) and Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills.

Sabrina is a speech pathologist who has experience working with a range of clients aged between 6 months to 75 years. Sabrina is originally from Canberra, where she worked with Child and Family Centres, the Canberra College Cares young mothers’ program and indigenous preschool programs.

Sabrina is passionate about supporting her clients to work on meaningful speech pathology goals that aim to increase enjoyment, participation, and quality of life. In addition, she focuses on building positive relationships with clients and their support teams and endeavours to make sessions fun and enjoyable.

Sabrina is a certified trainer for The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS), Hanen (It Takes Two to Talk, More Than Words programs) and The Sequential-Oral-Sensory Approach to Feeding.

Sabrina holds a voluntary position as an NSW co-representative for AGOSCI and holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Speech Pathology).

Georgie is a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist and member of Speech Pathology Australia and holds a Bachelor of Applied Science-Speech Pathology from the University of Sydney. Georgie has over 20 years of experience working in the disability field across the government and non-government sector. She has worked across the lifespan and within many different settings including homes, schools, childcare centres, nursing homes and group homes.

Georgie has experience working with participants who have complex communication needs and dysphagia. She enjoys assisting participants and their communication partners to achieve functional communication goals and ensuring mealtimes are safe and enjoyable, enabling increased participation in their communities and improved health and well-being. She believes a person centred approach and collaboration with all team members is vital for participants with disabilities to achieve their goals.

Helen is a behaviour support practitioner and social worker who has over 10 years of experience working with people of all ages who have an intellectual disability in positive behaviour support. She has over 25 years of experience in providing direct support to people who have an intellectual disability.

Helen’s approach is positive, holistic, collaborative and strengths-based. She is committed to working towards maximising the well-being of individuals, families, groups, communities and society. Her work is guided by principles of social justice and respect for human dignity and human rights, and the need to develop socially inclusive communities.

Helen is skilled in providing behaviour assessment, social skills development support, developing behaviour support plans and providing training and implementation support to families and support staff.

Helen holds a Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) as well as a Masters of Social Work.