Robyne Cottee is the principal of Childworks. She has a wealth of experience, having graduated in 1985 with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Occupational Therapy and working in a range of settings, including treating children with autism, motor and co-ordination problems and developmental issues. Robyne is registered with the Australia Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and is a full member of Occupational Therapy Australia. In addition to her Occupational Therapy qualifications and experience, Robyne has a Master of Business Administration as well as a legal qualifications.
Robyne is committed to a science based, family centred practice, where the best possible interventions are used, based on the quality of research behind them. These interventions are tailored to the child’s needs and the family’s circumstances. Robyne believes parents and carers are an important part of the therapeutic process.
Brianna Fitzalan is a creative and empathetic person, dedicated towards helping children reach their full potential. She is a registered Occupational Therapist with the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia (AHPRA), and also works as an assistant ‘Danceability’ teacher on the weekend. Brianna’s energetic and fun nature radiates through all she does when working with children and their families. She is passionate about making everyone she meets feel safe, happy and inspired to always keep trying.
Brianna strives to always be a listening ear and a helping hand to anyone in need, and continuously seeks to assist people to meet their occupational goals. She has established a holiday handwriting program for children preparing to transition from kindy to year one, aimed at encouraging children to develop their handwriting skills, gross and fine motor skills. Brianna has also worked in Applied Behavioural Analysis. She is always encouraging children to “Do your best because practice makes progress!’
Brianna understands that each child has their own unique set of strengths and capabilities, therefore Brianna applies a client-centered approach to all that she does with her clients and their families.
Ellie Mercer is a registered Occupational Therapist. She is passionate about working with children to enable them to participate in everyday occupations that are of so much importance to them. Ellie says that she feels privileged to be able to work with Childworks families and to help children, at a stage where it will make an impact on the whole of the rest of their lives.
Fine motor skills and sensory processing are areas where Ellie is developing a special interest. She also loves helping children with self-care activities, motor skills, and social skills.
As well as these areas, we at Childworks are particularly grateful to Ellie for her invaluable input into the development and delivery of evidence-based resources for our Ready Set Kindy programme, aimed at helping children to develop the skills they need in preparation for kindergarten.
Ellie has adapted our Write On programme, for children who live in regional and rural areas, and for children who cannot access therapy in person. The Write On programme is an intensive handwriting programme for children in Year 1-3 who need extra support with their in developing skills in this area. The on-line programme makes Write On accessible to a wide range of children.
In her spare time, Ellie enjoys bushwalking, painting, grabbing a coffee with friends and playing with her adorable toy poodle, Percy.
Julia is our Practice Manager.
She is a local mum who says she really enjoys welcoming children and their families as they come into our clinic. She loves spending time with her family and walking her Cavoodles!
Julia can help you with rearranging appointments, working out payments and generally with any other information you need.
Nigel You is our Allied Health Assistant. He is currently studying a Bachelor degree of Occupational Therapy.
Nigel is a compassionate Allied Health Assistant who is dedicated in making a positive impact for children. He enjoys working with children and their families in partnership with the exceptional therapists at Childworks to achieve their goals. He has an interest in the development of fine motor skills and handwriting skills.
In his spare time, Nigel likes to spend time with his friends and family. He also enjoys playing guitar/piano and spending time with his pet parrot at home!
Ashlee Shimmon has recently joined the Childworks team as an Allied Health Assistant. She is studying a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy and had a placement at Childworks last year, so she is enjoying returning to the clinic! Ashlee has an interest in executive functioning skills, social skills and emotional regulation, and enjoys the creativity that comes with working with children.
