Local occupational therapy and allied health service, Hallmark Integrated Heath (HIH) Group, has been recognised for its work in the sector at the 2024 Enablement awards.
The group took out the most outstanding provider of occupational therapy and allied health services for regional and rural areas in Australia in 2024, while its chief executive officer and senior consulting occupational therapist, Aunty Kerrie Thomsen, of the Wook-koo Butchulla Peoples, won the most innovative senior occupational therapist award.
Kerrie was also inducted into the Australian Healthcare Hall of Fame for her extensive work in the sector and is now in the running in the International Enablement awards, which is held in London.
Kerrie has 42 years’ experience full time as an Occupational Therapist (OT) and in leadership roles for Occupational Therapists, interdisciplinary teams and students.
In those 42 years, Kerrie has spent time in QLD hospitals, becoming the first OT to work in the Psychiatric Consultation Liaison Unit at the Royal Brisbane Hospital, before opening a private practice with her husband in Victoria.
She also worked in Tasmania for five years, working primarily in private practice in both paediatrics and aged care, providing OT assessments and assistive technology prescriptions.
In 2017, Kerrie and her husband moved to East Gippsland with the plan to build her private practice, where she focused on working with the Aboriginal community.
“NDIS rolled out in our region in 2018 and with the intention of living and working where we are needed most, East Gippsland was a priority as the population of First Peoples is 13 per cent in this region,” Kerrie said.
“We met with the Traditional Owners and we were welcomed and given permission to open our practice in the towns of Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance.
“Both the Disability and First Peoples communities have welcomed us very warmly and our team of talented allied health professionals has grown to approximately 36 staff living and working from Eastern Melbourne – Dandenong/Hallam, through to Gippsland – Traralgon, Sale, Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance.
“We introduced university students on placement within our private practice across the Gippsland communities and they have wholeheartedly embraced students on placements for the past five years. We helped eight students during COVID complete their studies on time by coming rural to do their crucial placements.
“Our mission with our integrated NDIS Allied Health services is to empower participants and privilege their voices, use the
enablement approach from occupational therapy to set the bar high for participants to achieve their goals, to be holistic and to be a team of culturally responsive practitioners for First Peoples and people of all cultural identities.
“All our achievements are possible because we are family and community focused and at Hallmark Integrated Health we feel like a family. I couldn’t do what I do without my husband and close family and friends.
“There is more to be done but mostly I focus on helping young health professionals launch their careers and regional communities to know what is possible and to have their needs and wants prioritised and heard.”
