Meet the Team

Our team of dedicated and passionate professionals are here to help you along your therapeutic journey. We have a growing number of Occupational Therapists, Psychologists, Speech Pathologists and Therapy Assistants, including our superstar Administration team.

Our team of professionals embed our values of Passion, Professionalism, Respect, Family approach and Fun on a daily basis.

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Our Occupational Therapists

Amy

Senior Occupational Therapist

“I am passionate about helping children achieve functional changes that positively impact their home, school, and social lives. Outside of work, I enjoy time at the beach, watching my kids play sport, and reading.”

Amy – Senior Occupational Therapist

Amy Jacobs is a Senior Occupational Therapist, who works in a clinical role as well as supervising a team of OTs. She is passionate about supporting young children and their families, helping them build skills that promote participation, independence, and well-being across all areas of life.

Amy graduated from the University of Newcastle and has been practicing as an Occupational Therapist for 18 years. She began her career in public health, working on acute wards in a large hospital, before moving into paediatrics, where she has been focused for the past four years. Amy particularly enjoys working with young children and their families in both clinical and community settings, helping them thrive across everyday environments.

Amy’s approach is highly family-centred, acknowledging that each child exists within a family and community context. She uses a play-based, engaging style of therapy, advocating for early intervention to support skill development and healthy attachment. Amy works closely with parents and caregivers, prioritising co-regulation and the creation of positive, nurturing experiences that foster growth and confidence.

Areas of Interest

Sensory processing
Emotional regulation
Developing gross motor skills
School readiness
Working with young children and their families

Outside of work, Amy enjoys watching her children play sport, going to the beach, bushwalking, and reading.

Ethan

Occupational Therapist - Clinical Lead

“I enjoy working with the paediatric population and have a real passion for contributing positively to the lives of the individuals and families I work with.”

Ethan Occupational Therapist & Clinical Lead

Ethan Ptolemy is an Occupational Therapist and Clinical Lead, supporting a team of clinicians through supervision, clinical mentoring, graduate support, quality assurance, and clinical team management. Ethan is passionate about helping children and young people develop confidence, independence, and meaningful skills that support participation in everyday life.

After graduating from the University of Newcastle with a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (Honours), Ethan has developed experience across private practice, NDIS, school-based, and community settings. Now in his fourth year as an Occupational Therapist, Ethan also brings two years of prior experience working as an Allied Health Assistant within similar settings. He particularly enjoys working with school-aged children through to adolescents, with a special interest in supporting pre-teens and teenagers as they navigate increasing independence, emotional regulation, and life transitions.

Ethan takes a family-centred, functional, and collaborative approach to therapy. He believes that effective therapy begins with building strong relationships, understanding what matters most to each person and family, and creating practical strategies that can be embedded into everyday routines. Ethan is passionate about supporting real-world outcomes by helping young people build the skills, confidence, and independence needed to participate in the activities that are meaningful to them.

Professional Development

Kim Barthel – Trauma Informed Practice (TIP)
Your OT Tutor – The OT Guide to Completing a Functional Capacity Assessment
Talking Toileting Series 1: A Clinical Framework for Bladder/Bowel Continence in Children
Emerging Minds Learning – Understanding Autistic and ADHDer Children’s Mental Health
Emerging Minds Learning – Practice Strategies for Supporting Autistic and ADHDer Children’s Mental Health
Umbo – Online Therapy Training Course
Hunter Home Modifications – Minor Modifications Workshop (currently not offering this service)

Areas of Interest

Autism and ADHD
Anxiety and emotional regulation
School participation and classroom functioning
Supporting school-aged children and adolescents
Executive functioning skills
Sensory processing
Handwriting and written output
Self-care and life skills
Functional capacity assessments
Transition planning and developing independence

Outside of work, Ethan enjoys keeping active through soccer, cricket, basketball, and gym training, and enjoys attending concerts in his spare time.

Amy

Occupational Therapist

“I enjoy supporting others and finding happiness in everyday.”

Amy – Occupational Therapist

Amy is an Occupational Therapist working across both clinic and school-based settings, where she also supports newer clinicians in her role as a clinical supervisor. She has experience supervising university students. Amy is passionate about helping children build confidence through meaningful participation and enjoys working closely with families to ensure therapy goals are functional and relevant.

After graduating from Western Sydney University, Amy has worked in Paediatrics for the past three years. She is especially passionate about supporting preschool and primary school-aged children and values working across both clinical and educational environments to help children succeed in everyday routines and learning spaces.

Amy’s therapy approach is family-centred, functional, and play-based, grounded in neuroaffirming and strength-based principles. She believes in truly listening to families and creating goals that reflect the unique needs of both the child and their support network. Her focus is always on building confidence, supporting independence, and celebrating each child’s progress along the way.

Professional Development

DIR–Floortime 101
0–12 Months Typical Child Development
Sensory Processing
Emotional Regulation
Attention and Challenging Behaviour

Areas of Interest

Play skills
Fine motor development
Social skills.
Regulation and attention.

Gabby

Occupational Therapist

“I’m passionate about helping and encouraging others to be the best person they can be!”

Gracie

Occupational Therapist

“I love to help kids feel a sense of belonging through fun, practical therapy.”

Gracie Rees – Occupational Therapist

Gracie is a Paediatric Occupational Therapist who helps children build practical skills, confidence, and independence. She works within the clinic and school settings to support participation through fun, strengths-based interventions. Since graduating from the University of Newcastle, Gracie has worked within the paediatric setting and enjoys working with children of all ages and backgrounds.

Gracie focuses on creating calm, supportive environments where children feel comfortable to try new things and grow. She works in partnership with families to develop practical strategies that fit into daily life, with a focus on what is realistic, meaningful, and achievable. Her approach is flexible, positive and tailored to each child’s individual needs.

Professional Development

Empowering Families by Using Parent Coaching in Practice
Neuro-affirming Practice
Recovery from Trauma and Trauma-Informed Practice
Interoception: The Hidden Sense

Areas of Interest

Executive functioning
Gross motor development
Sensory processing and regulation
ADHD
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

A bit about me

Outside of work, Gracie enjoys playing and coaching netball and her other hobbies include makeup artistry, dancing, and reading. She loves staying active and spending time with friends and family.

Emily

Occupational Therapist

“I love getting to know each of the children and seeing them reach their goals, no matter how big or small!”

Emily Fardell– Occupational Therapist

Emily is an Occupational Therapist who is passionate about supporting children to build the skills and confidence they need to participate in everyday life. She works with children and families across clinic and preschool settings, supporting the development of functional skills through engaging, meaningful, and goal-focused therapy. Emily has a particular interest in school readiness, sensory processing, and supporting children to reach their individual goals.

Emily graduated from the University of Newcastle in 2024 and began practicing as an Occupational Therapist in 2025. Prior to becoming qualified, she worked as an Allied Health Assistant from 2023, gaining valuable experience supporting children and families within paediatric therapy services. Emily is particularly passionate about working with preschool-aged and early primary school-aged children, including neurodivergent children, helping them develop the skills needed for successful participation at home, school, and within their communities.

Emily's approach to therapy is family-centred, child-led, strengths-based, collaborative, neurodiversity-affirming, and goal-focused. She values building strong relationships and trust with children and their families, ensuring families feel supported, empowered, and actively involved throughout the therapy process. Emily believes that every child learns differently and deserves support tailored to their unique strengths. She is passionate about making therapy engaging and meaningful, recognising that the most meaningful progress occurs when intervention is connected to a child's everyday experiences and routines.

Our Speech Pathologists

Mills

Senior Speech Pathologist

“Mills is passionate about supporting early communicators, preschoolers, and school-aged children to develop speech, language, and fluency skills, while mentoring future clinicians to provide inclusive, evidence-based, and family-centred care”

Bio

Mills is the Team Leader for the Speech Pathology Department at ATUNE Kids, she provides supervision and guidance to our team of Speech Pathologists. She aims to support the team to provide high quality evidence-based practice to caseloads. Mills also works at the University of Newcastle as a Practice Educator in the University of Newcastle Stuttering Clinic working with 4th year students. Mills is passionate about practice education and loves supporting students and clinicians others to exceed their potential.

Since graduating from the University of Newcastle, Mills has enjoyed working in Newcastle providing Speech Pathology services to people across the lifespan. She has always been passionate about working with children, particularly early communicators, preschoolers and primary school aged children.

Mills uses a family-centered therapy approach, aiming to upskill the important people in children’s lives to support them with their communication goals at home. She endeavors to provide a supportive environment for clients, honoring their own uniqueness and neurodiversity when working together to develop goals with children and their families.

Professional Development

Mills is passionate about ongoing professional development, always aiming to keep up with the research to provide the best therapy to her children and families.

Mills is trained in the following areas:

Hanen It Takes Two to Talk

Hanen More Than Words

Sounds Write

Story Champs

Lidcombe Program

Women and Girls on the Autism Spectrum

SOS Approach to feeding management

PROMPT (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets)

ALLY Training (supporting people with diversity in sex characteristic, gender and/or sexuality)

Cultural Responsiveness Training (supporting people from diverse cultural backgrounds)

Mills' Areas of Interest:

Speech sound difficulties

Language difficulties

Stuttering

Supporting Neurodivergent Children and Young People

Preschool and School-aged Communication Development

Katrina

Senior Speech Pathologist

“Katrina loves helping children and teens develop communication, AAC and early literacy skills, working alongside families with a warm, neurodiversity-affirming and collaborative approach.”

Bio

Katrina Allan is a Senior Speech Pathologist with over ten years of experience supporting children and young people across the paediatric span, from early childhood through to adolescence and young adulthood. She graduated from the University of Newcastle and has spent much of her career working within private practice and NDIS settings.

Katrina is both a clinician and a parent to two young children, which informs her warm, practical and relational approach. She understands the realities and pressures families experience when navigating therapies, and places strong value on collaboration, flexibility and shared problem-solving.

Her practice is grounded in neurodiversity-affirming and family-centred care. Katrina prioritises supporting children to feel comfortable, confident and understood. A key focus of her work is empowering children and young people to develop self-awareness, self-advocacy skills and pride, while supporting parents and communication partners to nurture their child’s strengths in everyday settings.

Katrina has extensive experience in AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication), early language development, literacy learning and social-communication support for neurodivergent children and adolescents. She has also facilitated a wide range of neurodivergent social groups and loves helping her clients to make positive peer connections.

Professional Development

She has completed specialised professional development including:

• HANEN: It Takes Two to Talk and More Than Words

• PROMPT training

• AAC training across LAMP, PODD, Proloquo2Go and AAC communication partner coaching

• Neurodiversity-affirming practice

• Women and Girls on the Autism Spectrum

• Macquarie University Reading Clinic – Assessment & intervention for reading, spelling and comprehension

• Training in audiometry

Outside of work, Katrina enjoys spending time with her family and two dogs, being outdoors in nature whenever possible. She also has a lifelong love of horse riding, which remains a grounding and joyful part of her life whenever she can make the time.

Hannah

Speech Pathologist

“Hannah is a Speech Pathologist who has experience working with children who have developmental delays and neurological conditions. She has specific interests in speech sound disorders and alternative and augmentative communication.”

Hannah Mitchell – Speech Pathologist

Hannah is a Speech Pathologist with experience supporting children with developmental delays and neurological conditions. She works face-to-face with children in clinics, schools, preschools, and home environments, using a play-based, client-centred, and neurodiversity-affirming approach. Since graduating from the University of Newcastle in 2022, Hannah has worked in private practice with children aged 0–18. She is passionate about helping children reach their communication goals through collaborative and evidence-based therapy.

Hannah focuses on building strong rapport with children and families, tailoring interventions to each child’s needs. Her approach is to empower children and their families while celebrating their individual strengths, ensuring therapy is practical, engaging, and meaningful.

Professional Development

ADHD Matters
More Than Words – Hanen
Key Word Sign
Phonological Puzzles: Problem-Solving Complex Cases of Phonological Impairment in Children
Gestalt Language Processing – Meaningful Speech
LAMP Training
SoundsWrite Program
AISP Minimal Pairs Training

Areas of Interest

Speech sound disorders
Literacy development
Early language development
Alternative and augmentative communication (AAC)

A bit about me

Outside of work, Hannah enjoys spending time with her dog, Hughie, going on walks, relaxing at the beach, and catching up with friends and family.

Courtney

Speech Pathologist

“Courtney has developed a passion and interest in helping children with speech sounds, literacy and alternate and augmentative communication (AAC). She also strives to be a neurodiverse affirming therapy who wants children to believe in themselves and to love their own brains.”

Courtney – Speech Pathology

Courtney is a Speech Pathologist at ATUNE Kids and a Certified Practising Member of Speech Pathology Australia (CPSP). She has three years of experience working with the paediatric population, primarily within the disability and NDIS space. Courtney is passionate about supporting children to communicate confidently and meaningfully, while celebrating their individuality and strengths.

Since graduating from the University of Newcastle, Courtney has enjoyed working with children and young people across a range of communication needs. She has developed a particular passion for helping children with speech sound development, literacy, and the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).

Courtney takes a neurodiversity-affirming and family-centred approach to therapy. She aims to empower children to believe in themselves and to love their own unique brains, while equipping families with practical tools and strategies to support communication growth at home and in everyday life.

Professional Development

Courtney is committed to ongoing professional learning to ensure she provides the best support to her clients and families. She is trained in the following programs and approaches:

Hanen More Than Words
Lidcombe Program
Sounds Write

She has also completed professional development in:

Neurodiversity Affirming Practice
Trauma-Informed Practice
Phonological Speech Disorders
Key Word Sign
Selective Mutism for Speech Pathologists

Areas of Interest

Speech sound development
Literacy and written communication
Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)
Neurodiversity-affirming practice
Communication support for children with additional needs

Outside of Work

Outside of work, Courtney loves to travel, dance, read, bake, and do pilates. She also enjoys getting creative and is currently learning how to sew!

Our Psychologists

Dr Magdalena Wilczynska

Provisional Psychologist

"Magda is passionate about helping children and families build emotional resilience, confidence, and practical skills to navigate everyday challenges in a warm and supportive environment.”

Bio

Magda is a provisional psychologist who works with children and families to support emotional wellbeing, behavioural development, and everyday functioning. She takes a warm, collaborative, and practical approach, creating a safe and supportive space where children feel understood, empowered, and comfortable being themselves.

She works with children experiencing anxiety, emotional regulation difficulties, behavioural challenges, adjustment-related concerns, and social or confidence difficulties. Magda supports young people in understanding and managing their emotions, thoughts, and behaviours while helping them build resilience, confidence, and healthy coping skills.

Magda works closely with parents and caregivers, providing practical strategies and guidance to support children both within sessions and in everyday life. She values strong therapeutic relationships and believes that meaningful progress happens when children and families feel supported, heard, and actively involved in the process. She aims to make sessions feel engaging, supportive, and tailored to each child’s unique personality and strengths.

Her approach is grounded in evidence-based therapies, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and behaviour change strategies tailored to each child’s individual needs and strengths. Alongside her clinical work, Magda has a strong background in health psychology, behaviour change, and research, including experience in emotional wellbeing, stress management, and chronic disease prevention.

Magda is passionate about supporting children in a holistic way and values the importance of connection, movement, routine, and the outdoor environment in overall wellbeing.

Areas of Interest

Anxiety and emotional regulation
Behavioural and adjustment difficulties
Confidence and resilience building
Social and emotional wellbeing
Parent support and behaviour strategies
ADHD and emotional regulation
Neurodiversity-affirming support
Health behaviour change and wellbeing

Professional Development / Therapeutic Approaches

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Behaviour change strategies
Emotion regulation approaches
Strengths-based and family-centred practice
Evidence-based psychological interventions

Outside of work, Magda enjoys spending time outdoors, running, enjoying coffee by the beach, and spending quality time with her family.

Our Leadership Team

Madeleine

Practice Manager

“Working with children and watching them learn, grow and achieve their goals is an incredibly rewarding experience and I love that my position enables me to witness this every day.”

Madeleine combines her skills as an Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) and administrative expertise to deliver exceptional experiences for all families.

With a Leadership and Management Certificate, qualifications in Allied Health Assistance and more than 30 years of experience working within a variety of office environments; Madeleine is ATUNE Kids go-to person when it comes to managing the day to day of the clinic. Her previous work within paediatric centres also makes her the perfect person to talk to when you are looking to understand and access the various services and supports that are available.

Jadie

Operations Manager

“Jadie believes in working smarter, not harder—creating streamlined systems and supportive processes that give our therapists more time to do what they love: helping children grow, learn, and thrive”

Jadie Reid (she/her) – Operations Manager, ATUNE Kids

With over 20 years of experience in healthcare and administration, Jadie oversees the daily operations of ATUNE Kids, ensuring the smooth and efficient running of our clinic. She manages everything from systems development, HR, finance, and compliance to IT, marketing, and NDIS administration.

Jadie is passionate about streamlining processes, creating automation, and designing systems that allow clinicians to spend more time doing what they love—supporting children and families. She takes pride in building structure and clarity across the team, always aiming for continuous improvement and smarter, more efficient ways of working.

Before joining ATUNE Kids, Jadie spent two decades at John Hunter Hospital, holding roles in Clinical Information, Finance, and Children’s Services, as well as experience in local government administration. Her background in healthcare and leadership has given her a deep understanding of both operational excellence and compassionate, family-centred care.

Outside of work, Jadie enjoys spending time with family and friends, listening to audiobooks, and finding inspiration in nature—whether at the beach or outdoors with her next creative hobby.

Simon Ashley

CEO

“Working at ATUNE Kids just excites me because we are having an impact on families lives every day.”

What energises you about working here?

I just love kids having 4 of my own I understand the need for parents to get the right help. Working at ATUNE Kids just excites me because we are having an impact on families lives every day. For me seeing our team of professionals working together for you, our clients are so rewarding and inspiring. The role so far has energised and motivated me, so much so, when work doesn’t feel like work but fun it is not something that drains you at all but spurs you onto greater things.

What training and or qualifications do you have?

I am a Doctor of Osteopathy and have a business degree from Ballarat University. But my qualification for joining The Rainbow Clinic was my experience. Sarah and Pat have seen ATUNE flourish over the last 5 years into one of Australia’s leading integrated medical facilities.

They recognised that the future for our kids well-being is in collaborative care, that removes professional silo’s. So they asked me if I would bring my 15 years of experience and help The Rainbow Clinic to become Australia’s leading Paediatric integrated centre. Knowing the professionalism and passion that is The Rainbow Clinic, I was very excited about the prospect of working with this team.

I enjoy – my family. My wife and kids are the greatest blessing in my life. They are full of life and passion, and I just love watching them all enjoying and thriving in life. From drama, music to sport I love hanging out with them all and doing life with this crazy crew.

My passions are: Integrated, wholistic health care. I nearly died at aged 19 and through this experience I had the realisation that healthcare could be done so much better and working together and not against each other, was the only way this could be achieved. I have thus dedicated my working life to transforming healthcare in our nation, from travelling the world seeing how others do integrated/preventative care to building an integrated team, my passion for this change will continue until I retire. I also love sport and enjoy riding my bike around one of the most beautiful locations in the world Lake Macquarie.

When I'm not at work, you can find me hanging with my family, reading, riding or resting.