Services

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY 

Living Without Boundaries provides Occupational Therapy services for NDIS, Medicare, TAC funded and private paying clients. All services are individually tailored to the clients /Institutions needs and provide assessment, recommendations, intervention planning and support for children, teens and adults in areas including:

– OT assessment, evaluation and intervention planning to increase functional independence

– Functional Capacity Building with independent living skills

– Practical applications of evidence based strategies in Mental Health

– Social competency based skills development

– FCE’s Functional Capacity/ Independence Evaluations

– Education/ skills based sessions for individuals and small groups

– Home and school based visits

– Sensory Profiling Assessments

– Sensory Diet Planning and Development

– Social/Emotional Regulation skills development

– Therapeutic Supports including Positive behaviour support strategies, interpersonal and social skills, daily living skills, sensory needs

– Anxiety, stress management and self – care planning

– Fine, Gross Motor Planning and Coordination skills development

– Falls and Balance Prevention and Education

– School Based Therapy and Handwriting Assessments

– Workplace and Schools Ergonomic Assessments and manual handling plans.

 

Social Skills Development Programs (7-12yrs)

 

LEGO Creations Club is an 8 week Social Skills Program. What makes it unique, is that it is a collaborative, peer led, play based model drawing upon the principles of LEGO-Based Therapy  developed by its pioneer, Dr Daniel LeGoff. 

Living Without Boundaries Director and Principle OT, Carly Treloar, recently  travelled to Malaysia late 2019, in search of more comprehensive training surrounding LEGO-Based Therapy and met with Dr Daniel LeGoff to complete the ‘Foundations of LEGO-Based Therapy’; After meeting with the Pioneer of LEGO-Based Therapy and other Experienced Health Professionals in Social Skills Development, we are now ready to share our knowledge by implementing these well researched findings into our own Social Skills Development Program ‘LEGO Creations Club’

LEGO Creations Club is an individually tailored program to assist your child in meeting their needs in building ‘Social Competency’ and is facilitated by experienced Health Professionals that work with children who experience social engagement challenges.

This program is appropriate  for children diagnosed with Neurodevelopmental or Mental Health challenges including:

  • Autism Spectrum Disorder (High Functioning)
  • ADD/ADHD
  • Social Anxiety
  • Generalised Anxiety Disorder
  • Selective Mutism
  • Social Withdrawal, Reduced Confidence and Social/Emotional Regulation challenges 

How is LEGO Creations Club Beneficial to my child?

Drawing upon the objectives of LEGO – Based Therapy, we will be working on KEY social experiences including:

  • Turn Taking
  • Verbal & Non-Verbal Communication skills
  • Eye contact
  • Collaboration
  • Joint Attention
  • Joint Accomplishment
  • Gaze Following
  • Sharing
  • Division of Labour
  • Building Positive Releationships

Is There any Evidence?….YES

  1. Long Term outcome of social skills interaction based on interactive LEGO (c) play

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16908476

  1. Use of LEGO as a Therapeutic Medium for Improving Social Competence

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15628609

  1. An Exploration of a Community based LEGO (R) Social Skills Program for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder

https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1151&context=eei

  1. LEGO Therapy and the Social use of Language Program: An Evaluation of two Social Skills Interventions for children with High Functioning Autism and Aspergers Syndrome

http://docs.autismresearchcentre.com/papers/2008_Owens_etal_Lego_Therapy.pdf

HOW to get your child involved!

Step 1. Call or email the clinic for more information and set up an initial appointment

The purpose of this session is your child’s initial intake and to  engage with an Occupational therapist to help identify and determine your child’s needs. Your therapist will explain how LEGO Creations Club works and help you determine whether or not you feel the program is best suited to your child’s needs..

Step 2: BUILDING BLOCKS

You and your child will attend the ‘BUILDING BLOCKS’ session where assessment and Evaluation will occur in the form of  semi-formal standardised goal setting and a 1:1 Functional Play – Based assessment with one of our team members ending in provision of recommendations on the best intervention process to meet your child’s individual needs.

Step 3: JOIN THE GROUP!

Your child will be required to attend 8 x 60min weekly sessions in clinic and possibly individual 1:1 sessions with their OT dependent on the agreed upon needs for Occupational Therapy Intervention.  This is determined and discussed in the BUILDING BLOCKS session.

Step 4: ‘SORTING OUT THE PIECES’ Parent Workshop

This 90min workshop is held on week 4 and is for the parents! We come together as a group with other parents on week four of the program to meet with your child’s team to discuss the key elements to your child’s success! and to help you navigate what’s needed for these skills to be transferred and applied at school, home and in the community.

These include:

  • ‘The Elephant in the room’ (parent child relationship)
  • Helping your child become a ‘Social Thinker’ and more aware of their actions
  • Direct vs Indirect instruction- ‘How to empower your child in making the ‘Right Choice’ in a social encounter
  • Skills and strategies manual for parents and teachers with resources including LEGO workshops school holiday activities in clinic and around Melbourne/local areas

Step 5: LEGO Creations Club GRADUATION!

Your child graduates from LEGO Creations Club on week 8!

This includes:

  • Completion of creations/Freestyle
  • Certificates + take home surprise!
  • Round circle achievements activity

Step 6. WHERE TO FROM HERE? ( End of Term review)

You will be provided with a final report summarising our findings and will engage in a 30min virtual meeting to discuss the amazing progress you child has made during LEGO Creations Club.

During this session you will have an opportunity to discuss ‘Where to Next’ in relation to Therapeutic Intervention associated with your child’s goals

 

Myotherapy & Soft Tissue Therapy Clinic

(Wednesdays & Saturday’s)

Provides evidence based musculoskeletal assessments, interventions and treatment for soft tissue dysfunction and pain management purposes supporting people towards participating in daily activities that they want to do.

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What can be provided within a Myotherapy session?

  • Myotherapy Treatment for myofascial pain and dysfuction
  • Therapeutic  Massage Therapies including Sports recovery and deep tissue
  • Myofascial Release & Dry Needling
  • Pre & Post Natal (Pregnancy) therapies
  • Manual Lymphatic Drainage for Oedema

Common Conditions Addressed:

  • Occupational and Sports injuries/strains

NB: With all injuries an initial assessment will be performed followed by treatment and discussion in relation to rehabilitation using a holistic approach.

  • Pre & Post Sports Event Massage
  • Postural stiffness and pain
  • Acute and Chronic Back Pain
  • Pregnancy Pre & Post natal
  • Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue
  • Anxiety/Stress conditions (Relaxation Therapy)
  • Headaches/Migraines
  • Neck Pain
  • Carpal Tunnel
  • Scar Tissue Management
  • TMJ Disorder
  • Sciatic Pain
  • Upper Cross Syndrome
  • Oedema Management
  • General stiffness and soreness associated with occupational activities such as work or leisure requirements.
  • General chronic muscular tension

 

Art Psychotherapy

Art therapy is a dynamic and sensitive form of therapy that speaks straight to the source of our human experience. The arts allow us to access our lived experience in a gentle and honest way, externalising our inner worlds within the safety of the marks made within the artwork. The arts enable us to reveal, explore and understand our stories with meaningful clarity and creative precision. In turn promoting a heightened sense of self awareness, well being and optimum opportunity for positive change.

Art therapy is for everyone and some examples might include:

Children:

  • A child is displaying some prolonged nervous behaviour after moving to a new school.
  • A young boy with autism is learning to make friends.

Teenagers:

  • A teenage boy has experienced the loss of of a close friend and is displaying some aggressive and defiant behaviours.
  • An eighteen year old girl has just been diagnosed with a chronic illness and has become very withdrawn.

Adults:

  • An adult woman is experiencing grief after a relationship ended. She is struggling with her self esteem and the meaning of life.
  • ​​After leaving a job a man in his fifties wants to explore his identity and his hopes and dreams for the future.

​Later in life:

  • A man in his eighties is interested in using objects to narrate and journal his meaningful life stories.
  • Creating a space where a woman in her final years can share and teach her creative skills in a collaborative based art project.

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Art therapy can be used in all of these examples to encourage the participant to share and express their story, understand and uncover what is meaningful, in order to  find new and more positive ways to be with it.

 

 

Mindful Practice, Meditation and Advanced Pranic Healing Treatments

Mindfulness Practice

Kabat–Zinn has defined mindfulness meditation as “the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally”. By focusing on the breath, the idea is to cultivate attention on the body and mind as it is moment to moment, and so help with pain, both physical and emotional.

Meditation Practice

In accordance with the Meditation Association of Australia; It is difficult to trace the history of meditation, but there were several seals dating to the mid 3rd millennium BC, discovered in India at Indus Valley Civilization sites. They depict figures in positions resembling a common yoga or meditation pose, showing “a form of ritual discipline, suggesting a precursor of yoga,” according to archaeologist Gregory Possehl. Historians also know that techniques for experiencing higher states of consciousness in meditation were developed by the shamanic traditions and in the Upanishadic tradition of Hinduism.

Originally meditation practices were largely aimed at spiritual enlightenment, a central part of which was the alleviation of suffering. Since then the practice of meditation has traversed virtually every culture and religion, although a rise in materialism coincided with a decline in spiritual practices. The beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th C caused a lapse of interest in meditation in the Western world.

The duration of Twin Hearts Meditation is about 22 mins. It is a guided meditation but near the end, there is SILENCE  for 3 mins. During this SILENCE people can experience extraordinary peace, happiness and love for oneself and others.

Learn the forgotten art of breathing that has helped elite athletes to increase their performance levels by 300% – 500% while simultaneously boosting their brain function, reducing recovery time, curing anxiety, fatigue, sleep problems.

22 min of meditation can provide you with a boost in your overall energy levels up to 100-200%

  • Reduce fatigue
  • Lessen stress and anxiety
  • Sharpen brain function
  • Accelerate recovery time
  • Better sleep
  • Improved sense of well-being

 

Pranic Healing Treatments with Ambika Achanta

Pranic Healing is a tested system of energy healing methodology founded by  Master Choa Kok Sui that utilizes prana or chi to cleanse, energize and balance the energy system of the body. It is a no touch- no drug healing therapy. It has been widely used to help people manage an array of physical and emotional ailments. Removing energy blocks from the energy body leaves you feeling relaxed and energised. Pranic Healing is an effective and complementary therapy and can be safely applied in conjunction with other medical treatments and recommended therapies.

Pranic treatments are individually tailored to the client needs. If you have experienced pain (emotional or physical), have injuries or a specific diagnosis, then Pranic Healing may be something you wish to explore.

The focus of Pranic Healing is on treating the Energy Body of the patient.

The focus of medical treatment is on the Physical body.

When both the energy body and physical body are treated together… It is referred to as a Holistic Approach

Ambika provides wide range of healing practices for Children, Teenagers and Adults to alleviate:

  • Simple & Chronic Physical Ailments
  • Relationship Problems
  • Stress, Anxiety, Traumas, Phobias & addictions
  • Cognitive and behavioural issues
  • Pranic Face Lift with Crystal Healing

Common conditions that may benefit from Pranic Healing

  • Fever, Headache’s
  • Stress/strain/depression/tension
  • Immunity and defense system
  • Disorders of the eyes, ears and throat
  • Skin disorders
  • Heart and circulatory ailments
  • Respiratory Ailments
  • Gastrointestinal Ailments
  • Urinary Ailments
  • Reproductive Ailments
  • Endocrine Ailments
  • Skeletal and Muscular Disorders
  • Blood Disorders
  • Disorders of the Brain and Nervous System