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Neurological Occupational Therapy

Rehabilitation after stroke, brain injury or a neurological diagnosis, delivered in the place you actually have to manage: your own home.

Select Your Funding to Book an Appointment:

Need help now? Speak with our team on 1300 765 456.

The Gap Nobody Warns You About

Hospital rehabilitation ends on a date. You go home, and every skill you practised in a gym or a therapy kitchen now has to work in your bathroom, on your back step, in the supermarket you actually use.

That handover is where progress most often stalls. The supervised program stops, nobody translates it into your house, and within a few weeks the gains start slipping. Families describe it as being discharged into a vacuum.

Neurological occupational therapy picks it up from there. We work in your home and your community, on your real tasks, using your equipment and your routine. Because the therapy happens in the environment, nothing has to be transferred from a clinic into real life afterwards. It is already there.

What Neurological OT Actually Does

Occupational therapy after a neurological event is not general exercise, and it is not the same job as physiotherapy. Physiotherapy builds the underlying physical capacity. Occupational therapy takes whatever capacity you have and makes a real task possible again, by retraining the task, changing how it is done, or changing the environment around it.

In practice that means four strands of work, usually running together.

Stroke and Brain Injury Rehabilitation

Practical rehabilitation after stroke, TIA and acquired or traumatic brain injury. Upper limb and hand function, everyday tasks, cognition, and the work of getting back to what you did before.

Everyday Independence

Showering, dressing, toileting, cooking, managing medication, transport and getting out into the community, retrained in your own environment rather than described in a handout.

Cognition and Fatigue

Memory, attention, planning and problem solving, plus fatigue management and pacing built around your actual week. Fatigue after a neurological event is not ordinary tiredness, and it does not respond to simply pushing through.

Equipment and Home Modifications

Assistive technology and home modification assessment so your house works for the body you have now, with reports written to the evidence standard funding bodies require.

Conditions We Support

  • Stroke and TIA
  • Acquired and traumatic brain injury
  • Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Motor neurone disease
  • Spinal cord injury
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Dementia and progressive cognitive conditions
  • Epilepsy
  • Huntington's disease
  • Guillain-Barré syndrome
  • Functional neurological disorder
  • Post-viral and chronic fatigue conditions

You do not need a confirmed diagnosis to be referred. If function has changed and nobody has yet worked out why, an assessment is still useful.

What We Work On

  • Showering, dressing, toileting and grooming
  • Transfers, moving around the house and reducing falls risk
  • Arm and hand function, coordination and spasticity management
  • Memory, attention, planning and problem solving
  • Fatigue management and pacing
  • Cooking, household tasks and managing medication safely
  • Getting out: transport, shopping and community access
  • Returning to work, study or volunteering
  • Routine, structure and behaviour strategies after brain injury
  • Equipment, assistive technology and home modifications
  • Driving, and the referral pathway for a formal driver assessment
  • Training for family and carers, so support at home is sustainable

When to Refer, and What Cannot Wait

Refer for neurological occupational therapy when someone is coming home from hospital, when function has changed, when a carer is struggling, or when an NDIS or aged care plan review is coming up and the evidence needs to be current.

Call 000 immediately if you notice any of the following, which may indicate a stroke:

  • Face drooping on one side
  • Weakness or numbness in an arm or leg, particularly on one side
  • Slurred speech, or difficulty finding or understanding words
  • Sudden loss of balance, vision change, or a sudden severe headache

This applies even if the symptoms pass. A TIA resolves but is a warning of a stroke to come, and it needs emergency assessment on the day.

See your doctor the same day if:

  • Coughing, choking or a wet-sounding voice when eating or drinking. This can indicate an unsafe swallow, which carries a risk of chest infection and needs speech pathology assessment
  • A sudden increase in falls, or any fall involving a head strike, especially on blood thinners
  • New or rapidly worsening weakness, stiffness, confusion or drowsiness
  • A new pressure area or broken skin over the tailbone, heels, hips or anywhere you sit or lie for long periods
  • A seizure, if seizures are new or the pattern has changed

Occupational therapy supports function and safety. It does not replace medical review, and we will say so plainly when something needs your doctor rather than us.

What to Expect

The first visit. Your occupational therapist comes to your home, usually for 60 to 90 minutes. They will watch how you manage now rather than ask you to describe it, because difficulty tends to show up in the doing. Bring a family member or carer if you would like to. It usually helps.

Goals in your words. We set goals the way you would say them, not in clinical language. Getting to the letterbox. Cooking dinner again. Two days a week back at work. A plan built around our priorities instead of yours does not get used.

Therapy where the task happens. Sessions run in your kitchen, your bathroom, your street, your workplace. That is the point of the service.

Review, evidence and honesty about the ceiling. We measure progress and write the reports your plan review or care team needs. We will also tell you when a goal is not realistic in the timeframe you are hoping for, and what the alternative is, rather than letting you find out months later.

On recovery, honestly: the fastest change usually happens in the first six to twelve months after a stroke or brain injury, but function can continue to improve well beyond that, particularly when therapy targets specific everyday tasks rather than general exercises. Late referral is worth making. With progressive conditions the goal shifts from recovering function to holding onto it for longer and staying safe as things change, which is a different kind of work but no less useful.

Where We Provide This Service

Occupational therapists across Victoria (Melbourne, Roxburgh Park and the northern suburbs), Queensland (Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich and Logan) and New South Wales (Sydney and Western Sydney).

Melbourne
metropolitan Melbourne, including the inner city and the northern, western, eastern and southern suburbs, with the Roxburgh Park clinic serving the northern corridor
Brisbane
inner Brisbane, and the northern, southern, eastern and western suburbs
Gold Coast
northern, central, southern and western Gold Coast
Sunshine Coast
Sunshine Coast and hinterland
Ipswich
Ipswich and surrounds
Logan
Logan and surrounding suburbs
Sydney
Sydney metropolitan
Western Sydney
Western Sydney and the outer west

Appointments are delivered in your own home, in residential aged care, in supported accommodation or in the community. Clinic appointments are available at Roxburgh Park where you prefer to come to us.

Funding We Accept

  • NDIS, for plan-managed and self-managed participants. Therapy sits under Capacity Building, Improved Daily Living. Equipment and home modification assessments draw on the relevant Capital categories. inOne Healthcare is not NDIS registered, so we cannot accept agency-managed participants.
  • Support at Home, where occupational therapy sits in the clinical care category and is fully government funded regardless of income or assets, with no client contribution
  • AT-HM scheme, for assistive technology and home modifications, in tiers of $500, $2,000 and $15,000 across a 12-month period
  • Medicare, under a GP Chronic Condition Management Plan, which provides five services per calendar year across all allied health, bulk billed with no gap
  • TAC, for Victorians injured in a transport accident, billed directly with no gap
  • WorkCover, where we are registered with WorkSafe Victoria, billed directly with no gap
  • DVA, for eligible veterans with a valid referral
  • Private, with no referral required

Simple Process

Getting Started

1

Make a referral

You, your family, a support coordinator, plan manager, GP, specialist or hospital discharge team can all refer. Call 1300 765 456 or submit a referral online.

2

We match you with the right clinician

Referrals go to an occupational therapist with experience in your condition, in your region.

3

First visit at home

At a time that suits, with family and carers welcome.

4

Goals and a plan

Agreed with you, with strategies to use between sessions rather than only during them.

5

Review and reporting

Progress tracked, with reports for plan reviews, your GP or your care team.

Got Questions?

Frequently Asked Questions

How soon after a stroke can occupational therapy start?
As soon as you are home and ready. The earlier it starts after discharge, the better the outcome tends to be, so it is worth referring before the gains from hospital rehabilitation start slipping.
Is it too late if my stroke was years ago?
No. Function can still improve well after the acute phase, particularly when therapy targets specific everyday tasks rather than general exercises.
What is the difference between this and physiotherapy?
Physiotherapy builds the physical capacity: strength, balance, movement. Occupational therapy makes the task possible with the capacity you have, by retraining it, adapting it, or changing the environment. Many people see both, and where you do, our clinicians plan together.
Can you help me get back to driving?
We can assess function and advise on vehicle modifications, and we refer on for a formal driver assessment. Medical fitness to drive is determined by your doctor and your state or territory licensing authority, not by us. There are mandatory non-driving periods after a stroke, seizure or brain injury, and you are legally obliged to notify the licensing authority of any long-term condition affecting driving.
Which part of my NDIS plan pays for this?
Usually Capacity Building, Improved Daily Living. Equipment and home modification assessments draw on the relevant Capital categories. Note that we work with plan-managed and self-managed participants only.
Can I get this through aged care?
Yes. Occupational therapy sits in the clinical care category of Support at Home, which is fully government funded with no means-tested contribution and no client contribution.
How long will I need therapy?
It depends on your goals and your condition. Your occupational therapist will give you a clear recommendation after the first assessment and revise it as you progress. Therapy that continues out of habit rather than purpose is not a good use of anyone's funding, and we will tell you when we think you are done.
Do you support family and carers?
Yes. Carer training and practical strategies are part of the work, because support at home only holds up if the people providing it know what they are doing and are not injuring themselves.
Do you take hospital discharge referrals?
Yes, from public and private hospital discharge planners and rehabilitation teams across all our regions.

Ready to Book?

Book Neurological Occupational Therapy

Contact inOne Healthcare on 1300 765 456, email info@inonehealthcare.com.au, or submit a referral online.

Monday to Saturday, 9:00am to 5:00pm. Closed Sunday.

Related: Assistive Technology Assessments · Home Modification Assessments · NDIS Vehicle Modifications · Stroke Recovery at Home · Parkinson's Disease · Multiple Sclerosis · Neurological Rehabilitation Physiotherapy

Ready to get started?

Make a referral or contact our team today.

Make A Referral 1300 765 456 info@inonehealthcare.com.au

Reviewed by [CLINICIAN NAME], [QUALIFICATION, AHPRA registration number]. Last reviewed [DATE].

This page provides general information only and is not a substitute for individual clinical advice.