I am a dedicated and experienced Occupational Therapist with a passion for occupation, occupational justice and inclusion. My expertise lies in integrated therapy services within educational settings, with a particular focus on special education needs, autism, learning disabilities, sensory integration, and collaborative approaches between health and education that maximise engagement and participation.
I hold triple professional qualifications, including BSc (Hons) in Occupational Therapy, Professional Graduate Certificate in Education in the Lifelong Learning Sector, and Teacher of the Deaf and Language Therapist (Bachelor's degree) from Argentina. Additionally, I have earned Postgraduate Certifications in Collaborative Working between Health and Education (PGCert), Sensory Integration (PGCert) – Qualified as a Sensory Integration Practitioner, and PGCAP.
Before transitioning into academia, I worked as an Integrated Therapy Team Lead and School-based Occupational Therapist in a specialist school, where I established and managed integrated therapy services. My work has centred on designing and setting up the first occupational therapy service, developing and implementing a three-tiered approach with an emphasis on whole-school interventions for all the therapeutic input offered. In addition to this, I coordinated the integrated therapy team which included Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Dramatherapy, Physiotherapy, Music Therapy, and Counselling provision with a focus on the implementation of collaborative, innovative and affirmative practices which would improve the educational, health and wellbeing outcomes of children and young people with autism and learning disabilities.
Prior to my work in occupational therapy, I spent over a decade as a Spanish teacher in the UK, and worked extensively in health and education settings in Argentina as a teacher of the deaf, and language therapist.