Celebrating Jodi’s career at Yooralla on World Physiotherapy Day

Jodi graduated with a Bachelor of Physiotherapy at La Trobe University in 1994. After graduating, Jodi worked abroad in London before returning to Australia and taking on a junior role at the Royal Children’s Hospital. 

It was that early time at the Royal Children’s Hospital which first introduced Jodi to Yooralla. She spent six months rotating out to the Glenroy Specialist School, where at the time Yooralla was providing allied health and nursing services. 

“It was a really eye-opening experience, it was fabulous to be able to work with children with a disability in a more real-life setting as opposed to the hospital where they're often very unwell ” said Jodi. 

After finding her passion for paediatric physiotherapy during these rotations at Glenroy School, Jodi joined Yooralla part-time in 1999 – marking the start of an incredible 25-year long career. 

Thanks to the flexibility of working at Yooralla, Jodi has been able to experience many things, including further study, raising a family, and work overseas,  while progressing her professional career.

Jodi juggled work and study and in 2004, received a Masters of Physiotherapy from the University of Melbourne. Through Jodi’s work she found her passion for working in the community and wanted to continue that work, while working in a more senior role. In 2008, Jodi landed the role of senior clinician at Yooralla. 

Jodi has had many opportunities during her career at Yooralla, including the opportunity to provide physiotherapy in Vietnam, funded by Charles Sturt University. From 2007 to 2009, she spent two weeks each year providing clinical supervision for the CSU students on placement at the Phu My Man Orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City. She also developed and delivered a two-day pre-departure training program for students traveling to Vietnam, facilitated by Yooralla.

 After 10 years as a senior clinician, Jodi was thinking about what “she could do next, something different”. When Jodi was asked if she would cover a parental leave position in allied health management, she was up for the challenge. This parental leave position turned into the next 5 years of Jodi’s career, where she managed a multi-disciplinary team of allied health professionals. Her career has continued to progress, most recently being successfully appointed to the role of Professional Lead – Physiotherapy at Yooralla. 

Jodi’s years of experience at Yooralla have seen her grow and flourish throughout the many phases of the NDIS and the organisation. 

Jodi credits the varied workload and flexibility as some of the things she enjoys most about working at Yooralla. 

“I think no two days have ever been the same throughout the whole time,” said Jodi. 

“I think there's been opportunities for growth for me professionally. There has been lots of flexibility… I’ve been able to work in a professional role while having a family,” said Jodi.

With all the different opportunities available for physiotherapists, why should they choose Yooralla? “I think we have supportive teams, and we have a real focus on providing quality services,” said Jodi. 

“If people want to ensure that the supports and services they're providing to people are best practice, then I think [Yooralla] is the type of organisation that you want to work for,” said Jodi.

“We’re here for the right reasons. It is about making sure that the person with a disability gets the right supports at the right time,” said Jodi. 

Jodi also credits Yooralla’s commitment to ensuring that staff have the right supports in place to be successful and to enjoy their role, and Yooralla being a supportive workplace throughout her life-stages. 

The flexibility of her work has allowed her career to grow while pursuing a family outside of work. Through Jodi’s long and successful career, she has even been able to reconnect with clients she supported as children who are now adults! 

After many years in the industry, Jodi has some sage advice for junior physiotherapists at the start of their career. 

“Choose a place of work that offers you opportunities to grow and develop your skills, a place that gives you time and space to become skilled and confident,” said Jodi. 

“Make sure you have access to support, supervision, and time to work on your knowledge and skill development. Find an organisation like Yooralla which offers a broad range of experiences,” she said.