Hi, my name is Chris, and I am currently the Acting Occupational Therapy and Clinical Governance Lead Royal Far West.
What does your role involve?
The Occupational Therapy Clinical Lead side of the role is primarily about supporting the team of amazing OTs at RFW. There are many aspects to this, including ensuring our supervision structures are in place and the team have consistent opportunities for ongoing learning and development. I provide a lot of clinical supervision for individual clinicians, and am available to consult with OTs if they need support in their clinical work. I meet regularly with the Clinical Leads of other disciplines and work with the organisation’s leadership teams to ensure the OT team and the OT perspective is represented in broader projects and decision-making processes. The goal is to set up the OT team for success in their work, so they can consistently deliver best practice Occupational Therapy services to the children, families, and communities we support.
The Clinical Governance side of my role is similar, but with a broader view that doesn’t just focus on the OT team. The aim is to support our clinical teams across all disciplines and all programs to deliver services that are in line with external standards set out by bodies such as the NDIS quality and Safeguards Commission, and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare, among others. On a day-to-day level, this means making sure our policies and procedures are in line with these external standards, overseeing a wide range of data and information about our service delivery to ensure we are meeting and exceeding these standards, and working with programs and clinical services to implement improvements and ongoing quality projects. Again, the end goal is to do everything we can to ensure our clinical teams and the whole of RFW is delivering the best possible services to the children, families, and communities we support.
How long have you been with Royal Far West?
I little over seven years now, but I’ve got a terrible memory for dates… Which is one of the reasons I’ll never write an autobiography.
What led you to work at Royal Far West?
When I started out in OT I didn’t think I’d work with children and certainly wasn’t intending on becoming a paediatric OT. After a few years of working in some fairly niche roles and often as a sole or at least isolated OT, I needed a change and to be part of a bigger OT and Allied Health community. But I really didn’t want to work in a hospital… I’d always been aware of RFW, and was very much aligned with their purpose of supporting country kids. I put in an application as soon as there was an opening and was lucky enough to convince the OT Manager that I was worth a shot (she is still the OT Clinical Lead, I’m actually acting in her role currently and eagerly awaiting her return).
Can you describe your typical day?
A typical day doesn’t exist, which is one of the things that keeps the role interesting. On any given day I could be supporting OTs with complex aspects of their work, checking the equipment in our Sensory Gym, working on policies and procedures, reviewing incidents, working on quality improvement projects, sitting on recruitment panels, or working through broader challenges in our clinical governance committee.
What do you love about working with families from rural and remote Australia?
There’s so much to love about this work, and too much to list. I guess one of the main things that makes it so satisfying is that we make genuine connections with communities and individuals in so many different and amazing places around the country. It’s really satisfying to know that we are working with these communities and helping them to access the supports and services they need, when they might otherwise have missed out just because of where they live.
What do you think makes Royal FarWest unique?
I’ve honestly never worked anywhere else like it, and I could go on and on about all the ways it’s unique. But one of the most important ways is something that probably sounds quite generic—the people who work and volunteer here are incredible. We really have been very fortunate to bring together so many exceptional people, from so many backgrounds and with such amazing skills that it’s often difficult to believe that we are all here in the one place and working towards the same goal.
Where’s your country? – Where do you feel most connected to?
I’ve lived on Sydney’s northern beaches for over a decade and this is my home and community. But I’m also drawn to some of the wild places on the east of Australia, in particular the mountains in NSW and Victoria, and so many places through Tasmania, and I try to visit them as often as I can. Finally, my family heritage is mostly Scottish and Irish, and the few times I’ve been fortunate enough to travel there it really has felt like being home even though I was a tourist from the other side of the world. So I guess I felt a little bit of that sense that the world sometimes holds a place for you where you’re welcome, regardless of how long you’ve been away.
Can you share some career highlights from your time at Royal Far West?
I’ve been very lucky in my time at RFW, where I’ve had so many opportunities to grow and develop as an Occupational Therapist and as a person, and step into a range of new challenges and different roles. Outside of the professional sense, going on the 100-year anniversary Ride for Country Kids last year, riding through Bourke, Cobar, and Nyngan was an absolute highlight.